Monday, Monday.../

I have this delightful plaque hanging in my kitchen for a very good reason. It serves to vindicate my imperfections and my tendency to relive Monday mornings.

Yeah. I know it's Thursday. But since I've had four Mondays in a row now, I think I deserve a little break, don't you? I mean, tomorrow is Friday and all, but the herald of a three day weekend no longer has the novelty it once had. Every weekend is a three day weekend around here!

BUT....

This weekend is a Daddy weekend, which means Roy has Monday off, which means WE ARE GETTING OUR FAMILY PICTURES TAKEN. Finally. Sophie is four and a half years old, and the last time we did this she was only one. So, for three and a half years, we've been staring at this darling photo of our little gems on our kitchen wall.

It really is sweet, isn't it? But so much has changed since then. Sara doesn't have braces anymore, and Emma does. Anne's hair is about five inches longer, Sara's is about five inches shorter. Sophie has hair now. Do I rest my case? Have I proven my point? Are you all going to defend me against He Who Hates Having His Picture Taken and Would Rather Have a Root Canal?

Poor Roy. It's not his fault. The last time we had our family picture taken before this one was when Emma was four, and we went to one of those Kid Friendly photo places in the mall that we adored, but.....HEAVEN FORBID.... they made us all take our shoes off. Roy hates having bare feet. HATES it like nothing on this earth. He'd even wear flip flops in the shower if I let him. But bare feet was the latest thing for professional pictures then, and he grudgingly complied because he didn't want to make a scene and embarrass his family in public.

What a sweet guy, right?

Well, imagine his joy when the pictures came out and... guess what? HIS FEET WEREN'T EVEN IN THE PICTURE. At all. You couldn't even his knees, let alone his bare feet. (And in this cropped version of the picture, you can't see anybody's feet, but this is the only copy of the picture I could find. Doesn't Roy look completely overjoyed? And isn't Emma the cutest, most photogenic little bug of a person? I love taking pictures of her! There is no such thing as bad hair days for that child! But more on that later...)

Anyway, back to my kitchen wall: I love that we were able to have our most recent pictures taken at the temple. I love this picture -- and no, that's not the sun glaring down on us. That's just the flash on my camera, but I couldn't take the picture out of the professionally framed frame because I would ruin the beautifully taped backside, not to mention get the hanging wire twisted out of place. Whatever. You'll just have to imagine it without the giant spot in the middle. Sorry.)

Meanwhile, here are the individual shots we took of the girls that same day. I think my kids are a lot prettier than I was when I was a kid!


Even with all the blogging I do, I can't wait to get our "real" pictures from the photographer next week! And I solemnly vow to my parents who've been wondering what their grandchildren look like now, as well as anyone else who cares, that I will never wait three years in between family pictures ever again!