Family Picture Madness

My good friend Katie Erb came up with a brilliant idea to meet at our Nation's Capital and do a combined effort family photo shoot.  The idea was, she would take our pictures and I would take theirs.  Sunday morning, November 4th:  the weather was a bit nippy, but mostly perfect and overcast.  The fountain to the north of the Capital wasn't on, of course, which was probably a good thing because water tends to attract my children as well as disastrous situations involving wet clothing.  Despite the ideal conditions, my kids were showing some of their most colorful (and least photogenic) personalities, even without the water temptation. All  four proved unbelievably un-cooperative (except when given the chance for some one-on-one camera time). Out of the hundreds of photos Katie so graciously snapped, not a single one turned out because my kids had fingers in their noses or other parts of their bodies, someone was screaming or crying or doing something other than smiling an/or it was obvious they were smiling through tears...tears?? Really?  Neal resorted to making farting noises to get his kids to cheer up and laugh at his silliness, but instead we got a series of pictures of Neal making farting noises...and then Noah making the same crazy tongue protruded fart face...and then Simon in his adorable way making the same obnoxious face distorting sounds.  Amazing.  Thank heavens the Erbs were ridiculously photogenic as well as cooperative, so our efforts weren't in vain.  I didn't even have the excuse of four kids being a little too much to handle, since the Erbs also have...yes you guessed it, four kids, 8 and under I might add.  I LOVED taking their pictures and it was a perfect idea to do it together!

Our second attempt was not as ideal, same time (the following Sunday) same place, but no clouds so it was bright and sunny and...very shadowy.  Which meant flash was necessary.  Our friends the Hargadons were visiting so they came with us and Steve (who has an incredible amount of photography experience) helped me set up the shot as well as took the photos.  My kids behaved just long enough to snap one decent picture and then lets just say I had many bloopers to choose from to include on our Christmas card this year. This was also the day following my marathon so it was great to have a few extra adults there so I could concentrate on remaining standing.

Gotta love fart faces!

Noah tends to "drop trough" in the most inappropriate of places.  And he continues to get praise for choosing not to go in his undies :)

Simon has a sparkle in his eye that my camera loves.  I just couldn't decide which picture was my favorite.  He was cooperating for about 2 minutes so I took advantage.  I am pretty sure I had this same problem last year. 

 Take Two:

Janna took some of these pictures on her smart phone.

  
The final product: