Calgon, Take Me Away!!
This is the God’s honest truth…I am never more irritated with my husband and kids than when I am trying to get a picture of the five of us for the sole purpose of showing everyone we know how freaking happy, perfect, and adorable we are!!
Seriously people, it’s just wrong. By the end, I’m screaming and cursing like a truck-driver, Tom’s threatening all kinds of random punishment, the girls are crying and fighting, and all I want is to get away. I know I’ve said, “Stand still and smile dammit,” at least 432 times. I’ve learned that I can’t even look at the pictures until at least the next day. I need time to calm down. Amazingly, I almost always catch at least one shot that is Christmas card worthy, but I admit, I feel a bit dishonest using it, because I know the pure hell we went through to get it. That’s not to say I don’t truly believe we are a happy family and my girls are adorable, I’m just thinking I should go with candids and never put us through this tortuous process again.
This Just Screams "Happy Family"...Dont You Think?
On the last evening of vacation, we decided to get dressed up and head out to the park and the beach to get some pics of the girls and hopefully get at least one decent shot of the five of us. Our friends were out with us, trying to accomplish the same thing. It was disastrous and hysterically funny all at the same time. Steve knows a thing or two about photography so he was doing his best to pick the spots. Of course, it is best for the subjects to face the sun, but that led to a lot of squinting and scrunched up faces and constant complaining by the kids, and there are at least a half-dozen shots where I appear to be winking at Steve. Kate was in charge of the posing, and she was working so hard to keep everyone in place and make the baby smile that she was sweating her ass
Really Tom...WTF?
off before a single picture of her had been taken. Tom was so frustrated by the kids lack of cooperation that he basically gave up and just started making faces at the camera. We may have actually had a decent shot of all of us, if Tom had stuck it out a little while longer.
We finished up at the park and headed down to the beach. Addy was crying because she was sure she had ruined all the pics, Avery and Reilly were fighting over a bottle of Sprite, Tom was wanting to skip phase 2 altogether and head back to the house, and I was barely speaking to any of them because I was afraid of what I might say.
When we got to the beach, our friends were already working hard on their shots…again 
with the screaming, fighting, sweating, squinting, pouting. At that moment I made a decision to change my approach. I wasn’t going to put myself or my kids through that for another minute. I let go of the desire to keep their dresses clean and told them to play, and tried to capture some
Avery Playing in the Water
real, happy memories. The results were instantaneous. Addy was no longer clenching her teeth and giving me what I like to call her “constipated smile”. We were all laughing and actually having fun. I have some beautiful pictures of them walking in the water. We did actually attempt a few more posed shots of the girls and our family and even managed to squeeze in a few of the whole group, but it went a whole lot smoother since we had relaxed a little.
After it was all said and done, Steve had taken over 900 pictures and I had over 300. I would love to show you more of the outtakes, but I don’t want to bore you. I’m pretty hopeful that there has to be some jewel of a family picture still undiscovered in the midst of the 1200 shots that will make it onto our Christmas cards later this year, but I have yet to find it…
For today anyway, I think the picture below is my favorite, but that could change many times before December.
Until later…
I Love Their Dirty Little Feet!!
