Annual Family Pictures

The adventure began on Saturday morning when we all in coordinating outfits arrived at my parents house. We decided to not even attempt going to the mall to get the family picture taken this year. Instead our friend, Dan, came over to take the pictures.

This was one of my favorites. I keep trying to justify the blurriness by thinking it's one of those romantic, soft-glowy pictures.

The session was supposed to start at 11am. All the kids were in the matching outfits that my sister sewed herself. This is what the set looked like at 11:05am.

By 11:15 we were ready to go. Ruthie was only content in her mother's arms. I think this one is a little too bright but it's acceptable.

Most of the pictures we deleted were of the kids moving their arms or legs around, looking down, etc. This one was an exception since it was my mother who couldn't stop pointing to the camera.

This was another good one too, but again, I think it's too bright. At this point Jamison is not sure he likes this and doesn't understand why the twins are screaming. There are a number of pictures we had to delete because he was giving them dirty looks.

Finally, it was time for a snack break.

Then we tried to get the kids on their own. (Maddie, Lily, Jamison, and Ruthie's rear)

Where are you going Ruthie? And where are your fancy pants?!?

And then we lost Maddie. Jamison promptly took Ruthie's spot. Lily is imagining the ice cream we have promised her.

So our next idea was to throw mom and dad into the picture to hold the kids. Ruthie was not pleased. Jamison's front was all wet from his snack and is on the verge of making a run for it. Did I mention that my sister made these outfits with her own hands? I don't know if you can really see them but she did an excellent job.

So these are the two that we like the best. Ruthie is looking down in this one and it's dark. I think Lily is slightly blurry in the next and I think it might be too bright. But we're trying not to be particular at this stage in the game.

Overall, we're just glad it's done with. Check that off of the list of things to do. We traumatized the kids enough with the flashes and demands of sitting still. We drove my dad crazy enough to spend the rest of the day at the office and my mother had an appointment with her masseuse two days later. Hopefully everyone will recover and extensive therapy will not be necessary.