Family Pictures and Ticks

We had our family pictures taken at the beginning of June and it was about time!  The last time we had family pictures taken was when Benson was 2 months old, so yes it was definitely time.

Getting three children to look and smile at the camera at the same time is extremely hard, thank goodness for Photoshop.

Reese is having a hard time smiling lately and so trying to get one of her where she is looking at the camera and smiling is almost impossible.  Reese has the cutest smile and I am sad we didn't capture her cute little smile in these pictures, but she does look beautiful in this picture.

I seriously LOVE Benson's smile and I am so glad that his great smile was captured in so many of our pictures, but we did have to bribe him with candy to get him to smile.

Tanner is my handsome little man and I love these pictures of him, his big eyes, and his different facial expressions captured in these pictures.

I know that I say this all of the time, but I am so thankful that Reese and Benson love Tanner so much.  They are so sweet to him and they are always taking care of him.  Tanner lucked out in having the best older sibling ever!

This backyard that we took our pictures in was amazing.  I loved this little tiny river that ran through their backyard and I am so glad that we got at least one good picture on the bridge.

Benson also loved the bridge and loved pretending that he was fishing.  He wouldn't sit on the bridge unless he had a stick in his hand and could pretend that he was fishing.

By the end of our session Reese and I were VERY hot and VERY sweaty.  It was so humid and I thought for sure our pictures were going to look terrible but I am so happy that we got so many great pictures of my cute little kids.

I am so thankful for Ben and I am thankful that we got a good picture of just the two of us.  I am so blessed that he is my husband and my "baby-daddy" as some people in the south would say.

Reese was freaking out the whole time we were taking pictures because the long grass was touching her legs and there were bugs everywhere.  As we were leaving Tippy, {the lady who took out pictures} found a tick on her arm and told us to make sure we check everyone for ticks.

By the time we got home that night, it was late and I am sorry to say that we forgot to check everyone for ticks.  We had our pictures taken on a Tuesday night and on Sunday night of that same week, we were sitting down to eat dinner and Reese told me that there was something black in her belly button.  I told her it was just lint and that she could dig it out if she wanted to.

I went back to making dinner but a few minutes later Reese came back and told me she couldn't get it out of her belly button and that it was hurting.  I told her to just leave it alone and I would take a look at it after dinner.

After dinner I sat down and started looking in Reese's belly button and there was definitely something black in her belly button.  I got out a Q-tip and tried to wipe it out but it wouldn't come out.  After digging around for about five minutes I called for Ben.  He came in and whipped out his tweezers and went to work on Reese's belly button.

I was taking care of the boys in the other room when I heard Ben say, "It's a dead tick!"  Right then I kind of freaked out and I thought maybe we should rush Reese to the emergency room, but thank goodness I have a very calm husband.  He told me to look up online to see how to remove it and then Ben yanked that darn tick out.  Reese was a little traumatized but she was okay.

We kept an eye on her belly for the next few days to make sure she didn't get a rash or get sick or anything.  Thankfully she was okay and it is now a fun story we get to tell about that time we took family pictures in Georgia!