Smile for the Camera...

Yesterday I finally had a sunny enough day & enough time to bring the kids over to the local park & take some photos. I was hoping to get one shot good enough for our annual Christmas card photo. This is always a bit of a challenge to get a shot where all four of the kids look pretty good. I'm of the theory take at least a hundred pictures & maybe one will be acceptable. So here are some of yesterday's shots.
This tree is where the adventure got started. I had this image in my head of all four of the kids up in a tree, but there really wasn't one that worked right for that. Plus after Rachel got her foot stuck in this one & was covered with bark I thought maybe I should scrap the tree idea.

This fence shot is actually the one I will be using for the cards. I think everyone has the most natural look in it.
This one of them laying down up the hill from me I just love. Too bad Kailey was squinting. I think Connor looks so cool in this one.
I took a few shots in this gazebo right before we left. The kids had fun goofing off after Mama was so cranky trying to get good shots of them. It was good taking pictures & not being so picky about where everyone was standing & which way they were looking.

This hill just begged to have kids rolling down it. Caleb was the first to give in to the temptation.

They rolled down the hill a number of times. Everyone was laughing & muddy.
Connor would roll down in an angle bumping all the others on the way down. It was too funny that he couldn't stay in a straight roll.

I think we need to go back next week before it gets too cold. I plan to let them dress in their junky play clothes & just have a blast. They won't be young enough to be this silly for long. I was glad they had some fun even if I was so serious about the pictures in the beginning.

I love that they remind me that life is too short to take things so seriously. I mean really who cares if we have a perfect Christmas card picture?? Maybe it is really more perfect that we are having too much fun to have a perfect picture.

Hope everyone is having a great week!