Bluebonnets 2008

I finally found the time (and energy) to take the kids out for our annual bluebonnet pictures. I was more than a little frustrated with Gracie, because I guess she's at that stage where it's impossible to get a good picture of her. I have to sneak up on her to capture a decent photo.

If I tell her to smile, she either scrunches her nose up and squints her eyes, or she smiles beautifully and looks away from the camera. Without Trevor there to hold her attention and make her smile a real smile, the pickings were slim this year.

Nathan, on the other hand, is a pro at having his picture taken. He's always loved to be in front of the camera, even when he was a baby. He just follows my instructions, and we're done in about 30 seconds. I spent the majority of this photo shoot counting to ten over and over again as I tried in vain to get Gracie to do what I asked.

So, here are the 2008 bluebonnet pictures. Enjoy!

Revision: For those of you who don't live in Texas, here is a brief history of the bluebonnet:

It is the state flower of Texas. The legend of the bluebonnet says that one summer the land was dry and the buffalo had no food to eat. Soon, the Indians were faced with starvation.

The Great Spirit spoke to the chief in a vision, and said that the rains would come if the tribe sacrificed its most precious possession to the Great Spirit. Fine horses and beautiful bonnets were offered, but no rains came.

One evening, a small girl named She-Who-Is-Alone (because she lost her parents to the drought), sacrificed her favorite corn husk doll that her mother had made her, tearfully laying it upon the coals of the sacrificial fire. With morning came life-giving rain and a miracle -- the dry fields were covered with grass for the starving buffalo. And everywhere that the ashes of the fire had blown grew a carpet of beautiful blue flowers--the bluebonnet.

The song Nathan and Grace were singing is the story in a nutshell:

Bluebonnet, bluebonnet

With your coat so blue

Your bright eyes are shining

Through the silvery dew

I know you're a dolly

Offered for the rain

I know you'll return again

To Texas in the spring.

To Texans, the way we tell that spring has finally arrived is by the carpets of wild bluebonnets in the fields. For bluebonnet ettiquette, go here.