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I now have more respect for the Walmart photographers than I ever did before.

Several years back we took a big family photo there with grandparents, and this photographer was a pro.

First, she got my active child to sit still.

Next, she coaxed angelic smiles out of her.

Finally, my kid asked to go back and do it all again!

Sadly, our Mother's Day photo session yesterday did not go so well. Granted Perfect Husband is a fine photographer, but one of his subjects preferred running AROUND the rose garden to sitting on a bench and posing with Mommy.

This was after she had sat through and hour and a half church service followed by an hour Mother's Day brunch at a nice restaurant.

Perhaps my expectations were a bit too high.

During the session she grimaced, pouted, closed her eyes, opened her mouth and did just about every other contortion you can imagine.

We tried bribery.

Cajoling.

Then - horrors - PH tells darling daughter to stop making a "bad" face.

Face now contorts into full-blown tantrum.

In the end, the only thing that worked was turning the photo session into a game. I guess we should have tried this approach first.

Let's all run around the garden and see who gets to the bench first! When you get to the bench you have to freeze!

Mission accomplished: one semi-decent picture of mother and daughter.

All this in less than 25 minutes!