Amused by: Daniel's journal entry for today. I asked him if he wanted to write about his Halloween, but he declined, choosing instead to look ahead a few weeks to Thanksgiving!

Picture Imperfect

Yesterday was such a lovely, mild day that Tab was inspired to do some outdoor pictures of the boys. We send out a group portrait of the three of them in our Christmas cards every year; and every year the process of getting an appropriate image, one in which all three boys look good at the same time, is long and arduous.

This year, the trouble started even before we left. Tab likes the boys to wear coordinating outfits in the annual group picture; in his view, the sole focus should be on the faces. Last year the two younger boys wore black sweatshirts over white turtlenecks, and Daniel wore a grey sweatshirt also over a white turtleneck. The year before they wore similar blue and grey jackets. While I agree that their clothing should be coordinated, I don't like them looking like three little peas in a pod. Fortunately, I was able to dredge up three sweatshirts in different shades of blue, and Tab pronounced them acceptable.

After an early lunch, we drove to nearby Colonial Lakelands. As soon as we arrived, the power struggle began. The boys wanted to run down to the lake right away and weren't too happy about having to pose on the fallen yellow leaves under a tree.

My job on these shoots is to serve as kid-wrangler. I have to get the boys into position, fix stray locks of hair, brush leaves off shirts, and try to get them to look in the right direction. Once they were finally all sitting in the same place, the fun began.

"Stephen, move over closer to Daniel. Look over here. Matthew, put that leaf down. Smile, Daniel. No, not that fakey-smile, a real smile. OK, don't smile. Stop throwing leaves, guys. Look at Daddy, everyone."

After another set of pictures on a big rock, we walked down to the lake. There, Tab went in search of good locations while the boys threw stones and rocks into the water, standing on the bank and leaning too far over the edge for my comfort.

"Careful, guys. Not so close to the water! And watch out for the geese poop!"

Colonial Lake is home to a thriving population of Canada geese and mallard ducks. The water fowl approached the boys, quacking hopefully, until they realized we had not brought food with us. Then they paddled off.

Daniel found a long stick and started dredging the lake bottom. He fished out a clump of muddy, drowned leaves. "Hey, look what I got!"

"I want a stick, too!" yelled Matthew and Stephen.

"Daniel, don't touch that rusty old can."

"I'm not--I'm using my stick!"

"There's a leaf on Daniel's head. Looks like geese poop!" Stephen cackled.

Finally Tab returned. The boys were even less cooperative for the next few sittings than they had been earlier. Daniel would refuse to smile until I cajoled and then finally yelled, and then he'd paste a huge, artificial smile on his face. At one point Tab threatened to eject him from the group photo. Finally, Tab declared we were done.

"So what do you think?" I asked him as he packed his camera equipment.

"We have a few usable shots," he said.

"You mean we don't have to do this again? Good!"

"It's funny," Tab commented. "I have people who are willing to pay me big bucks to take pictures of them; but my own sons, whom I photograph for free, are my toughest subjects."

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