#10 - Take a family portrait every 6 months

My baby is 15 months old and we have only had one family portrait made. I don't really want to go to WalMart or Sears and I can't really afford a professional photographer. So we wait until we have an occasion to all be dressed nicely and have someone take our picture informally.





I found out a few weeks ago that a guy at church was offering to do free family photos on Easter. Awesome. I made the girls' Easter dresses and was stoked about them... I coached Bill all morning to practice smiling... I was so excited. We were going to get a new, even better family portrait. I just knew it.

OK. So I'm not going to blow this up to put on the wall. The old one will suffice for another 6 months or so.

My husband swears he is smiling. Do you see even a hint of a smile? No. You do not. He's a liar. He even looks like this in our wedding pictures. Completely miserable. One day, our kids are going to look at all our family pictures and wonder, "Why didn't Daddy ever look happy? Was he that miserable to be with us?" That's OK, because I look happy at least. Not that you can really see me that well...

Next, let's look at Zoe. Do you notice her bare feet? Yes, I got them all dressed up for Easter and forgot to put shoes on the baby. I was so embarrassed.

And my darling, demon possessed Olivia... She was happy and smiling until the moment we mentioned taking a picture. Then she shrivelled up and we're pretty lucky that I managed to keep her dress down because she was flailing about for a while.

One day I will have a nice family portrait. I might have to hire actors to stand in for my family, but I will have a nice family portrait.