begone, grumpy frown!

Would you believe that this little one was perpetrating a grumpy frown all over the studio?

They are sweetness personified.

I would be less bitter about getting awesome cousin pictures if I had ALSO gotten a good sibling picture.

Still, three cheers for happy smiles!

awkward family photos

Thank goodness these will live on forever on the internet, so that when my children are teenagers and obsessed with their appearance, I can harass them with pictures like this:

I actually bought this one. I'm a sucker for Eva jumping.

This one is an awesome example of how SOMETIMES your leg just NEEDS TO BEND!

If it was your job to take photos and they turned out like this, how would you feel?

I am fairly certain that our photographer had a hangover. I can see why.

herding cats

Is there anything more fun than trying to get six children to do the same thing at once?

Because we are a family that is ever-hopeful, we decided that since all the Care grandchildren would be in town over Thanksgiving, it was also the perfect time to get a group picture taken.

How wrong we were.

Vivi (2) and Charlie (15 months) were less than enthused at the prospect of sitting in one spot, looking in a particular direction, and smiling. (although Vivi did demonstrate her ability to produce a self-described "grumpy frown" at will)

The following photos would make an awesome flip-book:

It's like you can actually WATCH Charlie pushing the block out of the picture!

big red

Alternate post title: What a little medicine & a nap can do for your attitude.

The day after Thanksgiving, Charlie woke up with a cough which sounded suspiciously like it was turning into something "interesting." He also looked like crap. So, he & I, and the rest of Lincoln apparently, headed to the walk-in clinic.

And then I missed going to the Nebraska vs. Iowa game. More specifically, I missed TAILGATING, which is a bummer.

And then, after some meds & a nap, this appeared:

Oh happy baby, where were you a few hours earlier?

outtakes

Here are some of the outtakes from our family picture photo shoot, Be advised, these are the best of the worst...I did not include any photos in which I appear to be 6 months pregnant (particularly vexing because I am NOT pregnant) or anyone in the family resembles the Elephant Man.

To be fair, this one was almost our Christmas card:

Look! Up in the sky! My dreams of a decent family photo are floating away!

Perhaps this would have worked with a "Wide-Mouthed Frog" themed Christmas card. There's always next year.

Here we are demonstrating some fine negotiation and baby wrangling. You can see how well THAT worked.

contenders

Yes, Virginia, these were the best of our family photos.

All were equal contenders for our Christmas card.

Since I didn't even manage to get a Christmas card OUT last year, you would think these would be a small improvement.

Except that they aren't.

So I ended up going with a family photo from May.

Which featured Paul wearing a yarmulke. Which is fine, except that we are not Jewish.

charlie gives thanks

Since Charlie was less than 24 hours away from an exciting visit to the walk-in clinic in Lincoln, he was in "a mood" for much of Thanksgiving.

Luckily, Charlie's moods are punctuated with activities like these:

Oh, he is delicious. Even when he almost has bronchitis.

Really, Charlie just wanted to get away from me (can you hear it? "Geez, Mom, leave me alone!") and go play football with his cousins.

Here, he tells me to step off.

If only he was that spirited the next day, when I would miss the Nebraska v. Iowa game because of his persistent cough. SOMEBODY nominate me for next year's Heroes Award, stat!