Family Pictures

So we have carved pumpkins, taken Halloween pics, and finished our family pictures. However, I'll spare you all the pics ... especially since most of you have seen them on Facebook already. :)

Anyway, last year we kind of skipped family pictures. Well, we took a few, but we didn't try very hard to get good ones. We took great ones of the kids as individuals and together, so we were fine without getting a new family photo. Let's face it -- we were freshly worn out from our addition, we knew it would be outdated soon with the addition of Austin, and we've got a lovely family picture hanging as a canvas on our wall -- and we won't pay to get one of those done anytime soon (I won the one we have).

So, this year I wanted pictures again. Not only had I been rebuked for having an outdated one on my parents' wall (no Austin), but I am big on pictures ... in case anyone hasn't noticed.

So the first thing to do is to coordinate shirts. My, oh, my -- who knew so much stress could be involved with one picture! I didn't want to buy any new clothes this year (we're trying to get out of debt in only one year, so no new clothes that aren't essential!), so we had to see what we had. It's funny trying to coordinate clothes we already have and hope they'll look fine!

Then we had to pick a day. The first day we picked poured. It wasn't supposed to rain until evening, but it rained all day. Oh well. Attempt number two was going to be it -- but Austin isn't on a totally firm schedule, so we had to get the others ready enough to go when he woke up, but not ready too early that they'd get their clothes dirty. I'm sure none of you have ever experienced this stress ... ;)

Anyway, we remembered the camera and tripod. Phew. Only problem was that when Paul went to set it up he realized the memory card was missing. Oops -- last time I uploaded pics I hadn't returned it to the camera. Sigh. Good thing we have a spare -- we just can't take as many pics on it. That's okay -- it's just one group of family pictures, so we should be okay.

The sun was bright, which isn't good for shadows and sunspots. But we managed. Then cute little Austin was intent on picking grass and trying to eat leaves, so he's not looking at the camera for one picture. Oh well. It was our family that day, and I think it turned out pretty well all things considered.

I don't know that we'll ever have the "perfect" family photo, but I think we managed pretty well considering we didn't have a photographer. The kids (other than Austin) were old enough to look at the camera and smile anyway, and no amount of noise, persuasion or singing would distract Austin from that fun ground.

With that I guess I'll post my favorite after all: