After seeing the adorably funny Spring pictures of kindergartner Stronajai Miles that went viral last week, I couldn't help but remember my own son's pictures from last Spring. My first grader came home and gave me his purple take home folder like every day and when I opened it up and saw the face pictured staring back at me I was in shock. Like Stronajai's mom I had a lot of questions! Why wasn't he told to take off his jacket? Why did he look like he had been sitting on the toilet for an hour waiting for a bowel movement? Just kidding. But seriously, my first reactions were not happy ones. But after a few minutes I began to see the hilarity of the picture and how priceless this would be in years to come. So, I bought them!

But I also like to imagine how pictures like these go down...

School photographer: let's see...ummm... just unzip the jacket a little. Enough so we know you're wearing a shirt underneath, but not enough to show you actually care about this picture. And don't smile so hard. Let's do a closed lip smile and smirk-it on the end for that "who gives a crap" look that's so in right now. Good. Good. Now, think about something sad... like how it would feel to wake up to no presents on Christmas morning or if we forgot your birthday. Good... perfect. SNAP.

But the reality of pictures like these goes down like this...

"Why didn't you smile or take your coat off??"

"I was tryin' something different."

"Oh. Well, you nailed it. " 😂😂