family picture

a couple of weeks ago my mother-in-law emailed all of the family members asking for a family picture that she could use for their christmas card this year. i had high hopes of asking a friend to come over on a sunday afternoon to snap our picture in front of our nice green holly bush in the front yard. i should have known that wouldn't really work because right when we get home from church andy goes to bed and benny gets a little something to eat followed by "crib time" (not to be confused with nap time). during the week spencer is so busy and never home during the day. the boys are almost always in bed by the time he gets home. so no luck during the week either for a picture.

i had all of these things running through my head and nothing ever came with them. i was on the phone with lilly ann some days later and we ended up deciding that she would use the picture from after spencer's white coat ceremony. not a bad picture. there are two different options: benny looking away from the camera while andy's actually looking or benny looking and andy's head turned to the side. definitely something to work with.

the evening after i talked to lilly ann, spencer got home much earlier than i thought he would (i don't even remember why). amazingly enough, i thought, "family picture!" so, we set the camera up on top of our tv, sat ourselves on the couth in the family room and did 10 timer pictures. i am not at all disappointed with the results. i'll spare you and just show the favorite.


this is actually the cropped version. in the original you can barely see that benny's not wearing any pants. actually, the only thing he's wearing (besides his diaper) is the jacket you can see. of course there are problems with the picture stylistically (and the glare on my forehead), but for a spur-of-the-moment shot, i am thrilled!

*to dispel any doubts, we are expecting number three and we are very excited. i am about nine weeks along.