Family Photos are a Pain

Here is a photo of us one and a half weeks before Christmas trying to get a family photo so we can mail out cards before Christmas. I am sure everybody else had theirs done by mid-November, but we found ourselves in this predicament again this year. It's hard to believe we are squinting at the bright sun in our eyes on a December day in Michigan, but yes it's true. It's also hard to believe that this was the best shot out of MANY shots. I don't know why we couldn't get good shots with our camera set on the railing with part of the strap under it so it would point at us, Dan setting the timer, then dashing into the picture as we bark orders at the kids for the 87th time to "smile a real smile--like your laughing, and don't squint". It really puts us all in the mood for a perfect family picture. I'm sure you can't tell by the "real smiles" on our faces that we had been taking pictures for the last hour and we're now 25 minutes late for church. By the way, we didn't use any of the pictures for our Christmas card.

Here We Go!

Well, here we go. This is my attempt at blogging to let anyone who cares know what we are up to and give me the opportunity to opine on some deeply held, but usually trivial, matters that come up in daily life. I hope you enjoy.