Every year I wait for the peonies Mom planted along the side of the barn to bloom. In fact, half of the good town of Chestertown does. They are the most beautiful announcement that Spring is officially here. So, when they do bloom, I run for the camera.

I have about a million pictures like this, from different angles, different apertures, different cameras, different years. They pretty much all look the same, but I can’t seem to help being smitten with them every year. When Alden was born, we decided she ought to celebrate as well. Here’s a shot from 2008 (it helps to have a child in the picture for easy date reference).

Good lord! I look at that picture now and think, “How did no one ever tell me my child’s head was disturbingly gigantic?!” I distinctly remember at the time thinking my baby was cute. Clearly I had on my mom blinders. And oh, I thought I was so immune.

I believe Alden was in Kansas for the bloom of 2009 (I have photos of the flowers, but not of her with the flowers). Time speeds ahead in the next photo to 2010.

Those extra couple months more that Kato got to develop before the photo sure served him well. He pretty much looks like himself, just with less hair.

And our most recent photo:

I hate to say it, but this was the best I could do with getting both of them in the shot at the same time (on two separate occasions). Well, not entirely true. There was also this one:

Apparently, getting your picture taken with peonies is extremely harrowing. I had no idea.