Well.
I was a bummer yesterday.
Sorry about that.
But thank you for all the encouragement. It is nice to know that I am not the only mother with children who tend to be naughty.
Or.
Am.
I?
We went to town today and did many fun things. I would not know if my children were not listening to me because I was having my fill of chatty-chatty-girl time with some friends.
Ignorance is bliss.
Some of you may recall that we got our family pictures taken this year. Don’t worry if you don’t recall. It’s not important.
The gal who took them, Monica, is a friend and does a great job! My in laws liked them and decided we should get our whole family done. Yes. That would be 16 people. At the same time. In one photo.
Dear Monica,
Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?
Regards,
Taylor
Before we begin this intriguing journey, let us take a moment to look at the family picture from a year and a half ago.
Does anyone else see where the background ends in the photo?
Crazy.
And yes. My son is trying to grab his crotch.
Alright. Moving on.
Now, it is hard for anyone to get my husband to smile in a photograph.
This we know to be truth.
But guess what.
He has a brother. And that brother is Alex. And Alex is just as bad.
Can you guess which one is Alex?
Hint: He is wearing black. ha.
Better Hint: He is on the far right.
Oh, boys.
Here are some more group shots.
Things to notice:
1. Alex looks cheerier. Not.
2. David looks cheerior. Not.
3. Handsome Dude is not trying to grab his crotch. Not.
This was the silly shot.
This is what Alex smiles for.
Points to notice:
1. Where is Little Dude looking?
2. My father in law is giving me bunny ears. Odd.
3. Great Grandma has looked at Handsome Dude. This has caused him great fear and made him stop his crotch grabbing.
Thank you, Great Grandma.
Now this is a lovely shot of my husband with his family.
If you ignore the two Grumpy Grumpertons over there on the right.
Love it!
Let’s all covet Lisa’s gorgeous hair together now, shall we?
And what is with the smiles?
Fact: I know what coerced the smiles. Someone told the boys to think about 10 cords of Tamarack.
10 cords of Tamarack is every wood-cutter’s dream! Keep up, people!
Are you confused?
Are you?
Are you?
My in laws with all their grandchildren.
*sigh*
Oh, Handsome Dude.
Well, people. I tried. I truly did.
I think they turned out splendidly.
100 (meaningless) points to anyone who knows what 10 Cords of Tamarack might mean.
Over and out!
Your ma-in-law sent me some of these in the mail! They are lovely! But I will admit I noticed straight away – where is Alex’s smile?! Come on, Boys! Man up! Points to Jason for crackin’ his mouth! No doubt in-laws and G-Gma were happy to have you all together!
Love the pictures! And as a mother of a 4 year old boy…I totally feel your pain 😉
I love the pictures! I especially love your new header thing, you know the picture of the kids and great grandma? Love them all they are very nice and good choice on the black and red.
I’d have to look it up and that is cheating. But my GUESS is that is has something to do with cutting down wood for all eternity and forever and ever.
As I believe this would make those boys turn their frowns upside down.
And, oddly enough, may be just threat enough to stop HD from crotch-grabbing.
What is UP with little boys and touching their frontal nether regions all the time? My son is NINE and still does it when he’s in his PJ’s. (i.e. his underwear)
Are they afraid it is going to fall off? Or walk away? Or shrink back into their bodies and turn them into little girls? WHAT IS IT?
If you find out, please enlighten me.
Love the photos!!
Great pics! But I have no clue what the tamaracks are! Happy Friday!!! 🙂
I think 10 cords of Tamarack might mean a really, really nice cruise somewhere warm…
I love your pictures, very stylish in your black and red. Monica does GREAt work. I hope she forgives you, I think she might, maybe.
10 cords of tamarack. Sounds like we need to write a “12 days of Christmas” song specific to Lumberjacks. Have to get back to you on that one.
10 cords of tamarack = wealth, security, satisfaction for LJ that he has provided for his family’s comfort by the sweat of his brow, and you may burn fires for a good long time, knowing the fuel is close at hand. That’s assuming it’s cut, split, stacked, on your property, and that you have a wood stove to burn it in. Hmmm. . . .
I have no idea… but I LOVE these pictures. She did a great job.
Marla @ http://www.blueskiesphotoblog.com
I think they are great! We need a family picture but, eek the last attempt was not great. Thanks for the pressure! 🙂
It’s weird that you’re not standing next to your husband in the family shot from a few years ago. It looks like you’re married to his brother!
I love the red…we’ve done black and white but I the red is really nice! Lovely family!
I LOVE the family photos. I will have to keep the red and black in mind for our next family shots. My sister-in-law does GREAT work, however, I am pretty sure that you do not want to travel all the way to Michigan for those shots (assuming you do not live in Michigan and from the previous clues you do not). I saw mountains in the background of some of your pictures and in my neck of the woods mountains do not abound. If you want to look at my new family shots go to my blog (hint, hint, and thank you for coming last time I have kind of been a slacker lately). 🙂 I appreciate being your internet friend. I have been telling my middle school students about blogging and how I am pretend internet friends with bloggers and they look at me like I am totally crazy. Also, I heard some of my students mocking me for having pretend friends, but I am not deterred! 🙂 I am glad that you had a fun time with Blimlissa.
Also, do you get hits if I read you on Google Reader? I read you every time you post, but unless I need to click on a link or reply I use Google Reader, I hope I am not screwing anything up…
Very nice pictures. We did pictures of my boys recently, and I asked my sixteen year old why he wasn’t smiling. He said that was his smile. It looked like a frown to me. I hope you’re going to enlighten us as to the 10 cords of Tamarack because otherwise it will bother me forever.
Don’t worry about HD’s crotch-grabbing. They do that off and on throughout their lives. Probably just reassuring themselves that it’s still there. (You never see girls doing that with their chests, though.) I just hope someday his wedding pictures don’t have that added feature. : )
Great pictures. I have a wall of family photos here. They are a year and a half old. I guess it’s time to fork out some dough for my niece to redo our family pictures!
You’ve done family pictures TWICE this year??? That deserves a medal of some sort.
Perhaps Handsome Dude had to use the facilities? Why, oh why, did you not let him relieve himself? 🙂 Of course, boys and men do like to grab themselves every now and again, when I asked my husband why, he stated “I did not know I was doing it”… makes one wonder.
We did pseudo family pictures this summer with my mom’s side. I don’t envy you with the getting everyone together and the children to behave, but they turned out beautifully!
Very nice pictures! I agree with others that you deserve a special medal for all the family photos you’ve had taken. Figuring out what everyone was going to wear used to really stress me out!
And to answer your question, I think a cord is the amount that the wood comes in and perhaps Tamarack is a type of tree…I’m just guessing now, but it sounds like a lot of wood!
That’s a whole lot of firewood! 🙂
Love the pictures 🙂 Sorry that the adult boys don’t seem to smile 🙁 At least the kids are cute! My favorite is the grandkids with the grandparents, they look so happy. And I can feign innocence and think that Handsome Dude is just holding onto his shirt *plugs ears & sings “la, la, la, la, la”*
I thought a cord was a measure of wood, and I thought a tamarack was like a sled, but I’m probably wrong because I can’t see how they would smile at burning a lot of sleds. I may have to go look it up now…
Your family is a glutton for punishment.
Why do you subject yourselves to such frequent photography?
And I have no idea about the cords of Tamarack, though I do know a little about the skiing of Tamarack!
I think those pictures are gorgeous. Who cares about smiles? they’re overrated.
Like, um Tamaracks.
How many Tamarack Pines would a Lumberjack chop to get 10 cords of Tamarack? I prefer Tamaracks in their standing tall and proud state like God planted them, especially in the fall as they turn yellow. My favorite tree. 🙂
Beautiful pics!
My little ‘crotch-grabber’ says he’s just checking to make sure it’s still there. I don’t really want to know, so I just go with that…
Great pics, btw!
Sorry yesterday was a hard one. Isn’t it nice to have hymns like that pop into your head just when you need them? As for today’s post, I absolutely love the pictures. And if the guys were smiling in all of them the people who know them wouldn’t recognize them! Or might wonder what they were up to! Everyone looks good in the black and red – even if they are crotch-grabbing….
Great pictures! I can’t believe you could get everyone looking at the camera at the right time. Whenever our extended group of 11 gets together for a picture it’s hard to get everyone looking.
Taylor, you make me smile & laugh. I love your family and no apology is necessary 🙂 I thought everything went great!!! Every time I take family pictures now I am going to want to say “10 Cords of Tamarack”, however, I think the only other person that would smile when I said that would be my own dad!
-Monica
P.S. I love taking your family pictures, it is like a challenge… Twice now I have gotten pictures of David smiling! Go me, just kidding!
Your photos are absolutely amazing. Really well done.