family pictures = organized chaos

oh yes. that's right. chaos. pure chaos. now, granted you have to give me credit because i was doing this myself with a tripod and, well, i had no idea what i might get. three boys, one husband, two big dogs (with minds and plans of their own), and one antsy, perfectionist mother. oh, and did i mention this little session was after three hours of church?? at lunch time when everyone's tummy's were growling incessantly. spirits were not high at this moment. but, somehow we managed to pull it together and look like a chummy family of five (minus, of course, the dogs with attention spans of fleas!!). i thought you would like to see the outtakes - these will definitely make it into at least one of my scrapbooks!! they are, after all, the BEST moments. real and as tangible as you can get.
i did do my very best to get those darn dogs in our picture. but wouldn't you know it, as soon as one of the dogs behaves, the four year old decides he's done.

had to do a silly, stupid one. come on, didn't you read the part about THREE boys??!!

.....and now, without further ado.....the final picture:

(the airbrushed version :)

ah, isn't Christmas time grand?