Everbody Say CHEESE, and I Mean It.

Family picture time is always one of my favorites. The only appropriate word is 'debacle'. Usually we have Raelynn crying, Miles raging, Paige screaming and arching her little back, and Mike headed for the car within 10 minutes. Good times. This was our best year yet! Raelynn lasted the entire session without crying--in fact I never heard her complain. One for one. The only one.

Miles isn't exactly capable of holding still in any position, and understands posing about as much as he understands clear instructions to clean his room. I'm pretty sure he hasn't been able to attach any real meaning to any phrase that functions as a command, certainly not a command which involves the word 'clean'. I can't help but remember those old photos of the siblings where Brady wouldn't quit cocking his head to the side and mom went a little savage. Miles and Brady have a good bit in common (savage mother included). Add to that his total inability to fake a smile that doesn't look like he's pretending to be a sweet old lady without her dentures in, and you get the idea of what we were dealing with.

Paige generally is about as good at the holding still as Miles, but smiling on demand is not really in her repertoire. She has some good moves, don't get me wrong--the limp fish, the stiff-as-a-board, the arch-and-slide--but smiling on demand isn't one of them. She fusses, she fumes, she screams, but she never once cracks a true smile.

This leaves me generally screaming at the kids through my smile (at which I'm remarkable skilled), and Mike faking his smile (which is better than Miles's only because his mouth is open and you can see teeth) while inching his way toward the car. He's pretty much over it before we even get there.

So you'll get a Christmas card with the best we could manage, but just know that the reality is something more like this: