Needless to say, I heard a few moans and groans, but they took my request in stride, having done this since they were in pre-school. I can hardly believe that my daughter has only one more year of this family tradition.

 

After breakfast, they stuffed their backpacks, and the three of us traipsed outside and into the cool dusky morning. “OK,” I said. “First I’ll take pictures of you separately, and then a few of you two standing together.” As in years past, they stood in the foreground with our front door behind them and their backpacks by their feet.

 

Focus – click – focus – click. I tried not to linger as I looked through the viewfinder, but I sensed their excitement and hoped to capture a bit of that feeling on their first day of 7^th and 11^th grades.

 

After I downloaded the photos, I couldn’t resist peeking at ones I took in previous years. It was like looking through a backwards time tunnel as my children’s sizes, clothing styles, expressions (and even the landscape) changed.

  2009 Back-to-School Photo ---->

 

Next year, I’ll make a book of my daughter’s photos from pre-school to 12^th grade, and perhaps I’ll add her annual school and classroom pictures too. Unless I can finagle a photo from her first day of college.