This is why our last family photo is 3 1/2 years old...

*Disclaimer* This is a complete VENT post...feel free to skim or skip it all together. I promise it won't hurt my feelings.

Our last family photo was taken at Stacy and Matts wedding. It was a spur of the moment thing. The photographer asked if anyone wanted family photos done. So we went outside and plopped down in the leaves and she took pictures. And we loved them. I didn't plan, I didn't coordinate our outfits, we just did it and the results were fabulous. So three and a half years went by and we still have had the same family photo hanging on the wall. I do realize that there will be a time that I can't use the excuse that I have twins for things not getting done. But that time has not come. That is my excuse.

So last fall Julie and Seth got married. They used the same photographer and we knew ahead of time that we could get another family photo taken. I was so happy. BUT this time I was going to plan. I was going to coordinate our outfits and be ready for an even more fabulous photo. After all if the first one turned out great with no planning think of how much BETTER the next one would be if I was totally prepared. NOT SO. I didn't like it. At all. It was outside on the grass but she had us on a square of fake grass and you could totally see the difference in the picture. (I'm weird, things like that really bug me.) The way she had us sitting very little of Cole's body is the in the picture. So he just looks like a head. So I just resigned myself to the fact that Cole and Cagney would graduate from high school yet still be 4 months old in the family photo we had on the wall, and I was ok with that.

So then this last January I was at work and one of the nurses showed me some photos that her sister in law took for them. They were AMAZING! I looked through her blog and couldn't believe how beautiful her pictures were, totally insane (in a really good way). So I decided to take the plunge and I called her and set up a photo shoot. It is for this saturday, and thank goodness it is because I think I have changed my mind about 6 times about what I want us to wear. Casual or dressy? Short sleeves or long sleeves? I want to look coordinated but not matchy matchy. I had big plans to go out and buy everyone new things to wear, but then a couple of weeks ago just decided to pick things from what we have. Then this morning I work up and wondered what I was thinking? We don't have things that go together! I had to go shopping! So Cole and Cagney got dragged to five stores this morning. It is bad enough to try and figure out what to have seven people wear when I am shopping by myself. But throw into the mix two three year olds who think it is hilarious to play hide and seek in the clothing racks and see how fast they can make the racks spin. It was awful. BUT I think I may have finally made a decision. (Although I called Trevor on my way home and said, "Maybe this isn't right...maybe I should just start all over." He answered that with a resounding "NO".)

I emailed our photographer this morning and told her what I would love to get out of this shoot in a PERFECT world. And what I would be completely over the moon happy with in a very REALISTIC world...and that is a nice family photo (with no floating heads or two tone grass) to replace our out of date photo for the family room wall. So stay tuned. I will post pictures this weekend as soon as I have them, but until then I am staying out of clothing stores...I don't want to see something that makes me change my mind! again