Yep, That's Really the Best One

We tried to get a family portrait done at the grandparents for Father's Day, and we utterly failed. We think we know why, and want to offer some suggestions on how NOT to prepare your kids for a decent photo:

1) Don't feed them crepes with chocolate-hazel nut spread, whipped cream, powered sugar, and toffee chips for breakfast. It's great and all to have a dessert breakfast for Father's Day, but we set the kids up for a major crash--and crash they did.
2) Don't expect to have happy kids after an hour drive, where they have enough time to get very, very tired, but not enough time to have any productive sleep.
3) Don't try to do outdoor shots when it's 95 degrees and 80% humidity. The kids no likey.

Monday at Grandma Baker's

The girls got to spend all day in Newberry at Great-Grandma Baker's House--and Aunt Maria and cousin Cadence were there too. Here are some pics:

There are 4 girls in Grandma's Yard. Can you tell which ones?

Well, one of them isn't Mikala, she was sick on the couch the whole time.

Meanwhile, Claire was practicing her parallel parking.

And Cadence was getting down in the driveway.

Amy was found making her mark.

Then the little ones had some bonding time on the swing.

Christmas 2007

...and through the woods

Amy and Mikala spent the day yesterday in Newberry with Grandma and Grandpa Baker. Their favorite part about going to Newberry is the trampoline. "I wanna bounce" is the first thing Amy says when she gets there. The rest of our family joined them after work for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. The kid's cousins were there too: Ethan, Evan and Ari. Mikala was pretty grouchy (Grandma let her stay up too long the night before--invoking her grandmotherly right to lax discipline). Amy's cousin Tyler has made Amy scared of monsters lately. Every time she would hear a sound, like an acorn falling or crickets chirping, she said that it must be a monster. Some good news is that we were able to drive the van up to Newberry. It needed a repair that may or may not be permanent. Unfortunately, that leaves us crossing our fingers every time we drive it.