with dutch in front ...

with dutch in front ..., originally uploaded by pr9000.

This is from a shoot I did last year in Minnesota, not too far from my house and right around the end of September. By that point, the leaves were already starting to change, and, as any Minnesotan will tell you, the end of September means you've got one month left of "decent" weather before the cold moves in ...

It was obvious that the boys loved their sister, and she was just as enamored of them as well.

Parents usually ask me "How should I dress my children?" To that, I have two stock answers:

(1) You can dress them far better than I ever could, and
(2) Solid colors, on the whole, tend to go over better than patterns.

I always start with (1) because, well, I'm a man, and as a man I can safely say that my knowledge of "what matches what" disappeared when Garanimals stopped making adult clothing. As for (2), solid colors are always nice. In the photo above, the boys were wearing white shirts and dark jeans, and Dutch's dress was black and white. The color shots we took emphasized Nature's awesome backdrop, and the kids still looked fantastic.

So moms (and it's always moms): keep on doing what you do. Your kids will look great no matter what.