family photos

i find family photos to be very stressful... that being said, i really wanted a good family pic to use as our holiday card. sometimes we go to portrait simple, but the thought of heading out to the mall just isn't appealing. once graham gets a bit bigger i would love to go to a location with a photographer, but with the cold weather, and a newborn, that really wasn't an option for now.

my friend cindy lives down the street, and also works for a photographer. the other day when she was here visiting, i asked if she could come over and take a family picture outside. it worked out really well... i gave her my memory card from my camera, and she took a bunch of photos and i was able to upload them, and order my holiday card last night.

were they perfect? well, no... mason has a very strange smile these days. hadley only smiles when she wants to, and carter complains about wanting to be done exactly 30 seconds after we started. it was quite chilly out, so i kept graham snuggled in a blanket, so you really couldn't see him up close, or what he was wearing.

here's a couple of pics from yesterday... i'll hold off on sharing the picture i used and card until they are mailed out to my friends and family. (all the family pics were done outside... the boys each just really wanted to hold graham in the house, so i took a quick picture.)




next up, i need to do hadley's 2 year photos, and graham's newborn. i brought mason and hadley when they were 3 weeks, so i am going to get some done of graham when i bring hadley. let's see if i am brave enough to do all 4 of them? i would love a picture of all of them in their christmas outfits w/out craig and i, but i just don't know if i am up for the stress of it. i may need to bring out the big guns in bribes for the boys - a trip to the lego store!!!!

* i am very thankful to have photographs to look back on and watch our family grow and change... as stressful as it may be, i cherish all my photos. and i very thankful to be in these photos with my kids. i wish i had more family photos from my childhood, and not just the standard photo from picture day at school.