Annual Picture

We finally managed to take a picture of the kids a few days ago. Paul and Joel were playing cowboys when I announced that it was picture taking time. They weren't very excited about the change in plans. Lydia was wearing one of the frilly frocks from the dress up box and despite my suggestion that she change her clothes, she was determined to keep the dress on. The dress looked a little like something a woman of the West would have worn, so I decided to roll with it. Since half the kids were already in Western attire, I told the two big girls to go put on shawls and hats and then I tied a bandana around Jude's neck. We then moved on to getting everyone to be still and smile.

The baby cried and refused to cooperate. Various complaints ranging from "He's touching me!" to "She's not smiling!" were voiced. I finally resorted to giving Jude cut up gum drops to get him to stop crying. Then Joel squealed because he wanted gum drops, so between Daddy's camera shots I was shoving pure sugar into the boys' mouths. It worked great until Joel started bouncing. Joel always bounces after he eats sugar. I ran to the fridge to get some cheese for him to eat in an attempt to stop the Tigger action.

Anyway, here's the final shot. Paul and Grace were going for the authentic serious look of the old time Western pictures. Everyone else had their eyes open, so we called it a day. As Matt said, "all's quiet on the Western front"--until we to do it all over again next year.