Photography is not my talent

I took a lot of pictures this week.  I have been wanting updated pictures of the boys and Piper to put on our photo wall and I just can't stomach the crazy amount of money to have someone take them for us and I haven't really wanted to go to the trouble of trying to coordinate with anyone.  And, truthfully, I'm feeling pretty fat these days and don't want my picture taken.  I know, I shouldn't call myself fat and because of my knee, there isn't a lot I can do about it right now.  That said, I'm not looking my best these days.  Boo.  Enough about that.  I don't really want us to get family pictures right now.  But I do want some current photos of the kids.  So I decided to try and take my own.  Some of them turned out ok but I realize that I just don't know a lot about taking pictures and I am not good at getting the boys to pose.  And Isaac is the only one that knows how to smile like a normal person.  Anyway, I should probably practice using my camera and taking pictures if I don't want to end up paying someone.  

Though, I do have a really good friend that took our pictures last year and she took pictures of Piper right after she was born.  She did awesome.  But I just bugged her with watching our kids while we were in Texas and I don't want to bug her again.  And I'm sure she would be happy to be bugged.  Anyway, I just wanted to see what I could do.  And I discovered that I can't do anything as good as her with the camera so I think I'll bug her again.  And now I'm just rambling....

But before we get to those pictures, I have two other random pictures.  

I found this potato last week.  It made me smile.  

 And this guy--he makes me smile too.  He is going through his deployment check-list and has all these random things to do to get ready.  He had to try out all his equipment and then show some dudes he knew how to put it all on.  So here he is trying out his gas mask.  Let's hope he doesn't need it.

 Piper likes to pull all of her bows and clips out of her container.  It's the first thing she looks for when she plays in her room.  Too bad she doesn't really like to wear those bows and clips...

 For all you who keep calling her bald--she is NOT bald.  Look at all that hair!  ;)  She has enough hair that when she is on the trampoline it sticks up all over.  I think her hair will be red like Eli's but right now it is pretty light red.

 Piper also likes to play with her books.

 And now the pictures of the boys.  Eli's lips are always cracking.  But isn't he so handsome?!  I love his freckled face.  He said, "Can you not post this picture for everyone to see me?"  How can I not post a picture of such a cute boy?

 This is about the most normal smile I can get from Will.  He kept telling me his butt was cold from the sidewalk.

 And then Isaac, who is by far my most photogenic child.  Those eyes!

 Next up was Piper.  She loves to be outside.  I can rarely get a smile from her when taking pictures and she doesn't like to look at me.

 She was very interested in the neighbors yappy dog.  That dog riles up the entire neighborhood with his yapping and then we have a loud chorus of barking.  Drives me nuts.

 Isaac got hurt on the trampoline.

 We had a "cleaning party" on Saturday which was just a fancy way for me to trick the boys into thinking cleaning the back yard would be fun.  It worked.  They cleaned happily for two hours straight with no complaining.  And then later that night when Isaac prayed for us he said, "Thanks for letting us have a fun cleaning party."  Bwahahah.  I love these boys.  They did get to go swimming because of how hard they worked so maybe he really was saying he was thankful for the swimming.  Either way, I'll take it.

 Isaac kept walking around saying, "Ho! Ho! Ho!  You are dirty boys.  You get a lump of coal for Christmas.  No toys for you!"  Yes, I think if Santa gave out presents for cleanliness, these boys would get coal.  Oh well, they try.

 I just had to post this picture because what in the world is Eli doing?  This is what most of our pictures look like.

 Mike and I like to pretend that the halo of light behind Eli is Laila.

 Will says, "Let me try out this tasty ear."  Isaac says, "Sure.  Why not?"

 I asked Isaac what he was doing and he said he was trying out a new pose.

 That's better.

 Eli photobombs the boys.

 These boys couldn't be more different but they are the best of buddies.

So there we go.  My camera lens seems to have gotten dirty with these last pictures and the boys move to much to get a good picture.