our family christmas picture

merry christmas! as of yesterday, we had yet to take our family christmas pictures... and i knew how busy this week would be getting ready for christmas and all... so i was determined to get them taken TODAY. we got up on time for church (even a bit early) and had just a few minutes to snap some shots before bolting out the door. we have used the tripod and timer on our camera in the past for family pictures, but having an additional child in your lap poses an extra complication in this process! so the question was... who would push the button on the camera and have 9 seconds to look decent with child in tow for this picture? originally, i voted brian for this duty (since i gotta make sure my hair's in place and all...), but i wanted him to hold caroline and me to hold ethan to get the red & white all balanced out. and after one shot, we realized it takes at least a minute and an extra set of hands to get caroline's dress situated and her head propped up right on daddy's chest... so alas, ethan and i had the responsibility of snapping these pictures...and sitting down in a whirlwind! i really didn't think this would work, but thankfully, ethan was thoroughly entertained by the blinking light of the 10 second delay on the camera. he eagerly awaited every flash, and after each picture, he jumped up, ran over to the camera exclaiming "on! on!" i was pleasantly surprised at how they turned out--we even captured ethan without his thumb in his mouth! now that's success!! :)