Thanksgiving Family Pics

Ok, so, my Thanksgiving post is a leeeeetle late…  Better late than never though.  J and I headed over to Orlando to have dinner with his family.  J’s parents, brother, aunt, uncle and cousins were all there.  We always have a great time together!  The day is all about eating and watching National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation”.

This is the obligatory “family around the feast” shot that we take annually.  Gotta love tradition!

My dad, his wife and my step-sister came into town at the last minute for Thanksgiving this year too.  I had very mixed emotions about seeing them since they have not made an effort to see me since my wedding 11 years ago.  My dad had never met his grandchildren.  He stood us up three years ago on Christmas and I just was not sure I wanted to face all the drama when my grandmother invited us over for dinner on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  But I knew it was very important to my grandmother that she have as many of her family members present as possible.  So, I did what I felt was right by her.  We went and it was good.

My dad greeted me with the biggest, longest hug and apologized profusely for all that has (or hasn’t) happened in our broken relationship.  I’m not ready to delve into my real feelings on this topic yet.  I’m still pretty numb when it comes to him.  But I will say that the evening was good.  Everyone was pleasant and had a great time.  That’s the best I could hope for really.

I even brought my camera to take a big family portrait.  My uncle was in town from Alabama too.  So, my grandmother had all four of her children under one roof that night.  We were missing only two cousins and a baby to round out the family picture.  I’d say that’s pretty good considering the size of the group!

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Evolution of a Family Portrait

In true first-month-of-preschool fashion, Cutie Pie’s teacher is doing a lesson about families.  She requested that we send in a family picture to use on their classroom bulletin board.  It’s been a while since we’ve taken a family picture so I decided to gather the troops for a little photo session out by the pool last Thursday.  We had the camera positioned on the tripod, the kids were relatively clean and awake, J and I were looking pretty decent- perfect!

Kind of…

After setting the self-timer on camera, I hurdled myself over the tripod, pool railing and patio furniture to join my crew.  Cutie Pie decided to be a lump and would not move.  Somehow I managed to scrape his toe on the pavers while trying to pick him up.  The result was a less than fabulous family portrait.  Cutie Pie was sobbing, J was trying not to laugh, I had an overcompensating grin and Wildman had his eyes closed…

The second take wasn’t much better since Cutie Pie was still pissed about the toe and I have my hair blowing in my face…

The third take resulted in a keeper.  It’s not perfect but it was good enough for the preschool family tree!  Don’t you love my wind-blown model hair?  LOL!

“Look at the Camera and SMILE!”

Being the slacker mom that I am, I procrastinated on the family photo that Wildman needs for a preschool project on Monday.  We don’t really take family photos that include the four of us.  It’s usually some combination of J and I and our kids but never all four of us.  You will rarely find us at a photo studio getting a group shot either.  In fact, the last time we took a group photo was for Wildman’s preschool art project last year…  It was much of the same: me procrastinating and hurriedly posing my sweaty family in front of my point and shoot camera held at arms length.  I actually considered sending in last year’s photo to Wildman’s teacher tomorrow.

Last Year's Family Photo

This is almost an acceptable submission except Cutie Pie still looks pretty infantile what with his two teeth and all…  J, Wildman and I look pretty much the same though.

Given that Cutie Pie’s chub and lack of teeth/hair in the above photo would reveal my slackerly ways, I decided to round up the troops for another photo this evening.  They weren’t all sweaty from the park this year.  Nooooo!  They were salty, wet and sandy from the Lab School picnic at the beach.  Awesome!  No oxford shirts and chinos for this family!  My kids are soggy and topless 🙂

What do you think?

2008 Family Photo

Wildman insisted on using his play house/swing set as a backdrop.  You can see him on the slide waaaay behind us.  It’s like A, Cutie Pie and J featuring Wildman.  But whatever!  At least we’re all looking at the camera, right?  And we’re somewhat smiling, right?