What I Learned from the Family Portrait...

My dad turned 70 this year so for his birthday this year the only thing he asked for was a family portrait. It sounds simple enough, right?    Well, it was much more difficult than it looked. 

It took quite a bit of planning to get all of us together.   First, there are quite a few of us and my sister lives in South Carolina with her family and the rest of us are up here in New Jersey.   Then there was coordinating the outfits and trying to keep everyone clean for the picture.  Lastly, there was deciding on the spot to take the picture.

Here's a little graphic with a guide to who is who? in my family:

So... what did I learn from the portrait?  

Was it that white is not the best color to wear when toddlers are in the picture?  

Was it that not everyone will ever agree with what to wear or where to take the picture?  

Was it that no matter what I do, I will never get my hair to look the way I want it to in a picture?  

Believe it or not, No!

I learned that my 9 year old daughter is a really awesome big sister!

In the midst of all the chaos, she was the one that watched her little brother and sister and kept them out of harm's way.  You can see in this picture that everyone else is worried about the portrait but Sydney is carefully helping her little brother and sister cross the road.   The camera was on a timer and this picture was taken by mistake but it showed me how awesome my oldest daughter is.  At the time the picture was taken I was oblivious to the fact that she was doing this.  I am glad that this photo was taken to show me how grown up she has become!

This picture was a mistake but "some of the best things in life are mistakes."