What $42 Will Get You

Bona fide passport photos.

 (And no, we didn't plan the rainbow shirt outing.)

Yeah.  Looking back at my lovely bathtub effort, we came to the conclusion that we'd both be pretty angry if we got to the post office only to find out they wouldn't accept them because there was a bottle of Pert Plus in the background. 

I'd like to say it went better with Eli than the shower experiment, but that would be lying.  We frantically ran out of the house this morning to try to get this all done before we both had to be at work and the boys had a bus to catch for a field trip.

Not wanting to risk Walgreens again, we headed to CVS.  I tried putting Eli on a stool in front of the white back drop and he wasn't having anything to do with that.  No Way Hose B (as we say in our house, opposed to No Way Jose).  He was screaming and flailing and producing massive amounts of snot.  Even more than in yesterday's photos.

I tired to reason with him and tell him that he will have this passport until he's nearly 7 and he'll probably want a good photo.  But that too bombed.

Then I got my brilliant idea.  I'd hoist him up on my shoulders and they could take his photo that way.  All good except for the part when he kicked me (accidentally, I am sure) in the mouth on the way up.  I, of course, had put some nice dark, MAC lipstick in anticipation for my lovely photo op, and he smeared that all the way up and onto my nose.  So much for a great passport photo for me.

So what we got was a mug shot.  One he will hate when he is 6.  But we think it's hilarious.

Oh, and while the official USPS web site said that they didn't take photos at our particular post office, when we got there, she told me they could have just done them there.  She then looked at the CVS ones and told us they were too small.  But after some creative trimming, made them work.  Another $455 for passports and processing fees and we were done.

Ah yes, if that isn't my life, I don't know what is.