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."

45 comments:

  1. The pictures turned out nicely though. We are just happy if we can get all the littles to stand within view of the lens at the same time. I do like the white. It looks crisp. And lastly, good job big sis. I love it when we capture those unscripted moments!

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  2. What a gorgeous fam!! Thanks for sharing y'all :)

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  3. Hi Amy, Somethings are learned by mistake, and in this case it was a good thing, how neat to find this photo!!! Your portrait turned out well I thought. Thank you for stopping by Mondays Reflection this week. I hope you enjoy your week!

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  4. What a beautiful picture and an equally beautiful post. I love this - accidental shots that tell a wonderful story :)

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  5. Yes, a moment in the chaos. Isn't there where so much really does happen or reveal itself? :)

    Stopping over from Meandering Mondays!

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  6. What a beautiful family portrait! I'm sure your dad was very happy with it! #HDYDI

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  7. What a fun post...Family portraits are so wonderful! I have 2 taken over 20 years ago, and when family comes home, They love to look at those pictures..( and make fun of each other!) I found you on this Mommas blog hop, and I'm so glad I stopped by. I hope you will take a peek at my blog!
    http://karanandmichael.blogspot.com/

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  8. oh I love that some pictures may not be perfect but they tell a 1000 words, we have an old one my grandma with all girls, we call it snow white and the 7 dwarfs x

    #PinItParty

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  9. What a great photo and ..learning experience, too!

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  10. It's lovely to see the little stories that unfold behind the scenes and although it might have been hard work to organise the shoot, the photos turned out beautifully. I love the pure white and the blue background. Gorgeous!

    Thanks for linking up with Monday Parenting Pin It Party!

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  11. What a great photo! Pictures really do tell stories!
    Popped over from the Parenting Pin It Party

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  12. Aww, what a wonderful story! I love all your pictures. And I just love outtakes. What a fun surprise! :) I saw your post on the Merry Monday link up.

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  13. That's absolutely adorable. She looks like an awesome big sister which means she's had awesome parents to model after!!!

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  14. I think your family photo turned out beautifully, and I think having everyone wear white was a perfect choice for the beachy setting.

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  15. Beautiful moment despite the worries of matching or where to take the pic. I hope he loved it!
    Thank you for linking up to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Party. I have pinned your post to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest board.

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  16. This is such an adorable post!

    Thanks for joining the Link Up this week!

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  17. I love this! And I love these types of pictures. Some of my favorite pics are the ones that are taken by mistake:) Thanks for linking it up to Motivation Monday!

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  18. We've done huge family gathering photos, but we've never really planned a photo out. I can only image how hard it would be to try to get the entire family to try to coordinate. BTW- what a great big sister your two little ones have.Thanks for sharing on Merry Monday.

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  19. Family photos are so hard to coordinate! It turned out well though!

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  20. this was a gorgeous family photo...and sydney really is awesome!

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  21. What a sweetheart!! I agree this picture is perfect, it captured her loving & caring heart :) And yes I totally agree white isn't necessarily the best for photo-taking with littles! We've done that :-/
    Thanks for linking up to Mommy Monday!
    XO

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  22. My super huge family {over 60} of us had the chance to take a family picture and we totally could not get it together. Makes me sad that we missed the opportunity. Love how your family portrait turned out!

    I'd love for you to share at my Show-Licious Party. We are live now! ;)
    ~ Ashley

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  23. LOL! My SIL has been trying to plan a family picture for months now! She hasn't yet gotten it together. It's wonderful that your daughter is such a great big sister. I think when push comes to shove, your children can truly show who they are when no one's looking and finding out that they're awesome is such a blessing! Thanks for sharing with Creative Style!

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  24. Hi Amy, just wanted to lyk that you're one of the features on tonight's Merry Monday Linky Party. Hope to see you again tonight at 6pm PST.

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  25. Oh, that's sweet. :) I love family pictures. But with 10 kids, ours are getting to be quite the logistical nightmare!

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  26. Just wanted to let you know we’re featuring your post this week on Motivation Monday! Have a great week!

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  27. What a sweet photo. You're lucky to have caught that. Thanks for sharing! Hello from Merry Monday!

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  28. A great picture and I love that everyone was in white however practical! #MagicMoments

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  29. I just found you from CharlieBeth's Bloghop :) I hope I can have a family photo like this one day, at the minute there's only three of us!

    This Girl Loves

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  30. Awww! I was wondering what you were going to say because I can imagine what it was like trying to make sure small children and even adults stayed clean in white. LOL. But wow she is holding onto her siblings in that picture and they looks so precious! Thank you for sharing this with us at the Creative Style Linkup!

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  31. What a beautiful picture and the "mistake" picture/story behind it is great encouragement. You have a wonderful daughter, she's stepping right in and helping - wow!

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  32. Gorgeous family! I had to laugh, because I KNOW how the craziness would have oozed from my family's pores if that had been us. What a beautiful lesson to learn among the chaos of the moment! I'm so glad you found me at the Saturday Soiree Blog Party and I hope you will continue to link up to the fun. :) It was a blessing to find your blog and I am a new follower!

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  33. Aw, what a lovely big sister :) Great achievement too :)

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  34. What a gorgeously positive post! How lovely that she was looking after her siblings, and also that you found out about it in the end. #sharewithme

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  35. This is such a sweet post! I get so frustrated with parents that are always putting their kids down, esp. in public. This post just warmed my heart! Thank you for choosing to see the positives in your daughter.

    I loved it so much I'm featuring it on this week's Weekend Wind-Down party! Come see the feature at 6pm Friday. You can grab a button and link up new posts. Thanks for giving us great, heat-warming content to feature!

    Nicole =)

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  36. Loved this post! Sometimes we think the things we do in life are going unnoticed. We never know who is watching :) Just beautiful!

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  37. What a beautiful photo but even a more beautiful moment that was accidentally captured.

    So wonderful and heart-warming.

    Thanks for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).

    Wishing you a lovely weekend.
    xoxo

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  38. Beautiful family! I love how God made sure you saw that and took a picture for you! ;)

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  39. I'm SO glad you came by the Saturday Soiree Blog party and shared this! I hope you'll be a regular and share more of your heart with us on a weekly basis! God bless!

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  40. Awww, what a sweet "accidental" shot!

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  41. That is such a lovely shot!! What a sweet thing for her to do without being asked :)
    I love the family portrait shot too! Such a great idea!
    xxx

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  42. This is just precious! Thanks for sharing at the NEW #PinFest!

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  43. Gorgeous photo! Everyone is dressed perfectly!

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  44. What a beautiful family portrait. I would love to do that with my family someday but with eight siblings and all married with kids it gets very complicated. I can relate to your efforts for sure. White scary but more people agree to white than most colors. Good for you for surviving it all and getting your father the one and only gift he asked for that's amazing. Love the setting too. So bittersweet to see your eldest in action, loving and caring for her younger siblings while everyone else frets around them. Magic moment right there indeed! Thanks for linking up to Share With Me. Hope to see you again this week. #sharewithme

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  45. Hi, visiting from Paula's no rules weekend link party. Love this photo. Treasure it and make sure you attach the names for future viewers. Who knows who might see it in years to come. Fran @travelgenee

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