Say Cheese!

So Wednesday before Catechism I took the kids to get their first family picture with all of them in it together.

Let me just say...what in the world was I thinking?

I guess maybe I was thinking because they are 5, 6, 7, 8, and 11 they could pull it together and just look at the photographer and smile. Uh...no. They couldn't. The poor photographer pulled them apart and did individuals and then tried again for the group. I felt bad for her. I've taken several pics of them all together and yeah I might have to retake a few but for the most part, it hasn't been too bad . But for some reason it was like a switch was activated in a couple of them that prevented them from taking a picture.

The boy and the 7 year old were driving me crazy. The boy could not just relax and smile. For some reason he was really tense. Like someone threw a bucket of cold water on his back tense. At one point we had a perfect picture with the exception of just him. He looked like Bush ...for real. I'm not trying to offend anyone but we all know that Bush looks less than intelligent sometimes. I said we couldn't let it go like that. The photographer agreed and quickly took another shot. The 7 year old kept looking to us (for approval, I guess) right before the photographer would snap the picture.

Finally about 10 minutes until Catechism started we were done. I kept apologizing to the woman with the toddler who had been waiting because of how long my kids were taking.

I have the printed black and white proofs. I think for all that we went through they came out pretty good. I'd love to post them when they come in but I don't think I will. It sucks because there are certain people that I am trying to protect the children from. Because we are related, this can't be a totally closed adoption so I'm sure at some point those people will find me. Instead of respecting my wishes, I know they will do whatever they can to sabotage what we have going now. That's why I can't ever be as free as I'd like to be and I can't share many of the things I would like to.

It's hard to know what's sharing too much. It's also funny in a way that I don't mind sharing with "strangers" but rather with the family members that I wish would just go away.

Maybe some how down the line, I will be able to figure out how to share with those that I want to and how to keep my family members out.

Until then, it's walking on egg shells.