![Senator Barak Obama spends time with his daughters Malia, 8, and Sasha, 5, and wife Michelle before the girls leave for school](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-01.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
A First Family Album
The Obamas made their entrance to the national spotlight on the campaign trail in 2007 and have captivated their supporters as first family ever since, in moments big and small. When President Barack Obama took office in 2009, Malia and Sasha were just ten and seven years old, respectively; with Sasha being the youngest child to live in the White House since JFK, Jr. The president and First Lady Michelle Obama faced the balancing act of raising their two daughters with a normal childhood in an extraordinary setting. Throughout the past eight years in the White House and around the world, the family has been documented in thousands upon thousands of photographs, posed and candid, private and public. Images from the White House reveal the intimate moments of childhood lived in a political world turned playground. Hide-and-seek in The Oval Office. Playing with the family dog on a snowy day on the South Lawn. Publicly, news photographers capture the family biking in Massachusetts on a vacation, pardoning a Thanksgiving turkey, singing Happy Birthday. The best of them capture the authentic moments in a sea of political orchestration. As the Obamas prepare to bid Washington adieu, TIME selected its favorite photographs from their political beginnings in Chicago to their last months in The White House. —Chelsea Matiash, Dec. 15, 2016
![Senate Hopeful Barack Obama Waits For Election Results](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-02.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![Behind The Scenes With Senator Barack Obama](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-03.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Malia Obama, Sasha Obama](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-04.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![On the Campaign Trail with Barack Obama](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-08.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![Barack Obama, Maila Obama, Sasha Obama](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-06.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Malia Obama, Sasha Obama](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-07.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![Sasha Obama, Malia Obama](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-09.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![In this official White House photograph, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha sit together in the Oval Office, Feb. 2, 2009.](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-10.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![In this official White House photograph, President Barack Obama plays with daughters Malia and Sasha on the new playground swing-set. on the South Lawn of the White House, March 4, 2009.](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-11.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![In this official White House photograph, President Barack Obama holds SashaÃÂ after finding her in an elevator after an eventÃÂready to head upstairs to the private residence. He decided to ride upstairs with her before returning to the Oval Office, May 19, 2009.](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-12.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-13.jpg?w=1200)
![In this official White House photograph, President Barack Obama works at his desk as Sasha Obama sneaks up on him in the Oval Office, Aug. 5, 2009.](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-14.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
!['Fiesta Latina' Music Series Held At White House](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-15.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![President Obama Pardons Thanksgiving Turkey](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-16.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![In this official White House photograph, First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia, along with family dog, Bo, play in the snow on the South Lawn of the White House on Dec. 19, 2009.](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-17.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![Obama Family Returns To White House From Hawaii Vacation](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-18.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![In this official White House photograph, President Barack Obama and daughter Sasha stand atop Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, Maine, July 16, 2010.](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-19.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![In this official White House photograph, President Barack Obama and his daughters Sasha and Malia watch the World Cup soccer game between the U.S. and Japan, from the Treaty Room office in the residence of the White House, July 17, 2011.](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-20.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![In this official White House photograph, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters Sasha and Malia, attend the Christmas in Washington taping at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2011.](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-21.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![USA vs Brazil](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-22.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-23.jpg?w=1200)
![Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Sasha Obama, Malia Obama](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-24.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Malia Obama, Sasha Obama](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-25.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-26.jpg?w=1200)
![Barack Obama Sworn In As U.S. President For A Second Term](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-27.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![Barack Obama, Malia Obama](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-28.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![In this official White House photograph, First Lady Michelle Obama hugs daughters Sasha, left, and Malia as they visit the Great Wall of China in Mutianyu, China, March 23, 2014.](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-29.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![US President Barack Obama goes shopping during Small Business Saturday](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-31.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-33.jpg?w=1200)
![Barack Obama, Kendrick Lamar, Janelle Monae, Malia Obama](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-34.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)
![Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Sasha Obama](https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/obama-family-album-barack-michelle-sasha-malia-photos-35.jpg?w=1200&w=1200)