I Wasn't Kidding

Remember when I announced we were expecting our third baby by parading our crazy pictures on the blog and saying how tricky it is to get decent family photos... and how that difficulty would multiply exponentially with the addition of a third child? Well, I wasn't kidding.

When Brian started his orthodontics residency, he was required to buy a nice camera to take pictures of his patients' teeth and track their progress. It seems sad to me, actually, that with such cute children at home, the nice camera sits at school and takes pictures of the insides of strangers' mouths.

So when Brian was headed off to a dental conference for two weeks recently, I asked him to bring the camera home for me while he was gone so I could take a few pictures of the kiddos. I'm no photographer, but I like to try my hand at getting a decent group shot every once in awhile, and I figure a good camera can only increase my chances of getting a quality picture.

After several rainy days, the clouds finally parted and gave us one of the most idyllic days we'd seen for awhile. We headed out to a gorgeous local park, and with such a setting, you'd think the perfect shots might come easily and plentifully. I mean, with backgrounds like this, how could one go wrong???


First attempt... hmmmm... This might be more difficult than I had anticipated. Fussy baby. Children complaining that it's too bright. Strained smiles. Disinterest.... Time to re-group.


When there's three to deal with, there's always gotta be someone making a crazy kid face.


Or someone with a crazy forced smile plus someone caught in a blink.


There's the "I'm-so-over-this" expression, combined with the mid-sniffle look, with the crying baby cherry on top.


Then there's always the risk one runs in outdoor shots of the distracting scenery, also known as the stick in Reeve's hand that is not only distracting but also sure to poke someone's eye out at any moment. I'm amazed we've managed to avoid major/visible grass and dirt stains so far, especially considering the frog they caught and despite a close call with Libby filling her shoe with gunky pond mud at the water's edge, though gratefully avoiding a full-body fall into the drink. (And I do have to laugh at Libby's saccharine smile below-- she was slowly melting down and threatened within an inch of her life-- and simultaneously bribed with an official Disneyland Mickey Mouse lollypop-- to smile and look at the camera or so.help.me!)


The meltdown x3 is winding up. Wait for it... wait for it....


And my personal favorite. I think we're all down for the count on this one. Time to call it a day.


And while I did get one good shot, of course the location involved a three-way compromise, in which we moved spots no less than twenty times to a place Libby deemed shady enough to open her eyes, Reeve found suitable for joining the group, and Briggs decided to settle down.


Of course this one mostly misses out on the background I'd specifically chosen, and I might have just as easily taken the picture in our backyard, but I'll take it. In the end it's those three I care about anyway. And maybe one day I can learn to not only take pictures with the nice camera, but also to use the fancy Photoshop.