A Picture's Worth a Thousand?

I have to start out by apologizing for taking so long to post anything new.  It was Homecoming time here and we do a ton of stuff (hats, shirts, and sashes for the duchesses) for the occasion, not to mention all the other orders that had to be done.

My wife has been planning a trip for a while.  She has made our appointment and has been prepping us for a week, and today is the day she has been waiting for and we have been dreading.  Today, well, today is the day we go to the Sears portrait studio and do the deed.  Take family pictures.

I have to tell you that for years I have not enjoyed taking pictures.  I guess when I was a kid I didn't have a choice.  The funny thing is, now that I am grown and married, I still don't have a choice.  But at least now a days the bribes for cooperation are better.  

I never knew there was so much involved in getting a picture shoot together.  The "outfits" that we will wear (for each pose) have to be chosen.  The cloths have to be ironed and pressed and gone over with a fine tooth comb.  Someone might see the piece of lint on the lower left elbow area of the baby.  What shame.  I never would have known that you had to have an "outfit" to wear on the way tho the studio.  This is just in case one of the kids, or myself, get something on the real "outfit".  And what IS an "outfit".  Is there such a thing as an "infit" or an "out unhealthy"?  I don't get it.

The naps for the little ones, and me, have to be planned.   You know you can't feed the baby between the time you  dress him and the time the pictures are taken.  I don't care how hungry he is.  Haircuts were done a week ago.  Seven days is the exact perfect amount of time to look your best after a haircut.  I won't even start on the intricacies of where to place everyone.  And with nine people to place, it truly does become mind boggling.  What ever happened to tall people in the back and short people in the front?  

You know the strangest thing about this thing is that just last week I bought a new digital camera.  Go figure.  I don't like being in pictures but I do enjoy pictures of my family.  

El Toro Negro