I wish I took pictures today.

Luckily, I’ll get some shortly. I had ramped up my children with excitement over the last few days, incubating the idea of how much fun we would have this morning.

And we did have fun. I think they’re finally getting to an age where we can do things with a minimum of pain and frustration.

The youngest isn’t out of diapers yet, but we’re working on it. The older two fight like cats and dogs sometimes, but other times they melt my heart when they watch out for each other.

So today, I took the three of them out, by myself, to have breakfast and a haircut.

I felt bad for the poor Starbucks staff. I’m not sure they’ve been exposed to wild animals during their shift before, but my children were narrowly restrained.

In fact, I’m pretty sure they were making cat and dog sounds while eating at one point.

Somehow, we made it out of the coffee shop without wearing our food on the clothes that their pictures were to be taken in.

Truly, miraculous!

The haircuts came next.

Matt’s first haircut.

Well, professional haircut. I’ve been trimming it forever, but wanted him to look nice, so paid someone this time.

He sat so perfectly still for her, and when the blow dryer came out, he closed his eyes, basking in the warmth like a cat.

Alex got re-buzzed, complete with zig zag racing stripes on both sides, and even I got zipped. Not to be left out, one of the women “did” Sam’s hair with a ponytail and some pink chalk.

And then the piece de resistance-

Scooter, the bunny.

A few years ago, we did a mini-shoot for Easter, complete with a bunny. A few weeks ago, I noticed they were being done again, and signed us up.

If I’d thought the pictures were cute three years ago, my heart completed exploded today.

The excitement the kids had holding that poor bunny was well worth the hassle of getting them dressed.

Alex asked if when all our animals died, could we please get a bunny? To which her father said, like a typical dad, “don’t kill the animals”

The look of horror on their faces was priceless, and we were assured that wouldn’t happen.

And after the pictures were over, we knew it was a good day when they tell you,

“It’s the best day ever”

It wasn’t big or fancy, but they had a perfect morning.

With my mental camera, I take another picture of them at this age, placing it in an album in my mind.

I don’t have any physical pictures of this day yet, but these are the images I’ll pull out, day after day, when times are sad or lonely.

They will not fade or grow old, but remain evergreen, freshly 3,5,7 in my mind.

And in a little bit, I’ll have real pictures to keep the moment, for others to see.