Mission: Accomplished.

Some moms — good moms, you might say — have professional photos of their children taken every few months during their first year.

I am not one of those moms.

Until yesterday, we had not a single professional photo of Calvin. I'm pretty sure my mom would consider that child abuse, as she never failed to miss a photographic milestone with the three of us. I wish I was that organized, but I'm more of a "fly by the seat of my pants" parent. I did, however, manage to get the three of us over to Minnehaha Park one morning in June (a very, very muddy morning in June), where we charged our lovely and very talented photographer with an impossible task — capturing sweet, memorable moments with The Crankiest Kid on Earth.

I feel like that's how these things always go — you put all this effort into scheduling a time, choosing an outfit, and waiting for nice weather only to end up with mud up to your eyeballs and a screaming child who refuses to smile. We'd actually planned to do the photos a week earlier, but had to cancel due to rain. Thankfully, since two days earlier Calvin wiped out on the pavement at daycare and had a massive scrape covering most of his forehead.

It's always something, I guess. Even for the most organized moms. I distinctly remember dropping a can of soup on Jill's finger before we had pictures taken as kids...and my mom has the photo to prove it. Baby Jill, looking all sweet and pretty in her little dress, sporting a big, ugly gash on her hand.

Eh, what are you going to do? Kids will be kids. That's why they invented Photoshop.

Despite the mud and crankiness, Jami somehow managed to capture some sweet smiles and a few of our favorite Calvin faces. She's good (and a mom, so very, very patient).