Keeping it real

Any one with small children, especially many small children, knows that is near impossible (read, it's never going to happen) to get them all to sit pretty for a group photo. In our case Spike has gone from two to teenager and pulls the attitude card all the time now. He decided he wasn't going to smile, or look in the direction of the camera or even be in the frame. Atty normally won't sit for a picture period, except that I have figured out if I bribe him with holding his sister he cooperates fairly well, or at least sits for the picture. Then there is Bubu who doesn't smile much for pictures anymore...he's like his daddy. He really did try for the first second or so, but that's just all he had in him. In years past I have felt frustrated about the fact that I never ended up with The Perfect picture to send out, but this year I decided to have fun with it. There's no point sweating the small stuff (because if there was I would be sweating all the time and it would be gross) so I just laughed my way through this one instead. It's sort of funny to watch the progression of the pictures, by the end of them you can tell that we are all very much done. This lasted all of a few minutes. Which is why I would never take my family in anywhere to get our pictures taken. It would be a nightmare deep fried inside of another nightmare. Good thing I have an awesome sister I can rope into taking our photo for us. She might possibly be the best "little" sister in the world. And so here for your viewing pleasure is a preview of the fantastic photos my sister captured. *

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...and there you have it. There were even more then this but I figured you've probably had more then enough by now. I picked three of the best of the best to grace the front of our Christmas card this year, and I have to say it's one of my favorites so far. It makes me giggle, and it is truly us, keeping it real.

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Now for a few more pictures of the baby girl. She knows how make a picture shine!

Oh my!

We will end with the photographer and her little Christmas niece. These two brighten up any room. Sweetness all around. Sweetness with a cherry on top, and not one of those nasty cherries, a real one.

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Merry Christmas!