Family Pictures

My friends and I were talking about family pictures. They told me that they were impressed that we always have good Trolinger family pictures. Every Christmas we put the camera on and take a picture in front of our tree. The finished product usually looks fairly ok. But, what goes on behind the scenes to get that picture is a totally different story. We usually take about 25 pictures, hoping that one might be good enough to send out. There are tantrums, yelling, bribery, etc.... all to get to that one "good" shot. And, the tantrums are not just reserved for the children! I thought I'd post some of the other pictures we took that day back in December to show to you and to my friends what most of our pictures actually look like. Madie's pouting, Noah's being silly, Livie's checking out her sweater - all while Pete and I are hoping upon hope that THIS will be the picture worth keeping. And, even if they are all looking at the camera and smiling, it doesn't mean that my glasses are glowing from the glare on them or that we're happy with the angle of our heads or whatever. It's quite a task! As you can see, we even try changing positions, hoping that will help and maybe keep them interested in sitting still for another 2 minutes. The top picture is the one we sent out. It was number 19 out of 23 taken that day. So, if you ever get a christmas letter from us and get our yearly family picture, you'll know now that it's not an easy process, but a long, drawn out, afternoon full of stress and exhaustion!! :-)