We Did It! (12 Family Pictures)

In January, I resolved to take one family picture a month. And we succeeded! Every picture isn't frame worthy but we're all in them and in most cases, our eyes are open.  Given our current state of flux, the fact that I'm fond of the resolution, and the choas that comes with two littles,  I plan on repeating the resolution in 2014. It's probably the right size goal for me right now. I may up the ante by challenging myself to get the dogs in one of the pictures, but otherwise the goal will be the same: one picture of all of us each month of 2014.

 December

November

October

September 

August 

July

June

May

April

March

February

 January

[Overdue] Resolution Update

We're still going strong with our 2013 Resolution: one picture every month with all of us in it. These pictures certainly aren't a "Best of" collection but I'm so glad we've stuck with it. With all of our recent and upcoming changes, I decided we should take our October picture in front of our house before we pack it up and move on.

October

September 

August 

July

June

May

April

March

February

 January

On The Boardwalk

A trip to Rehoboth isn't complete without a stop at the boardwalk. The mile-long boardwalk is home to a number of eateries, shops, and Funland. Funland, which has been open for over 50 years, is a small area with rides and games. While there are a handful of rides for older children, Funland caters to the wee ones. Cole had a blast on the boats, trucks, swings, and other rides.

 Ever fond of her baby ASL, Cole asked for "more, more" each time a ride would end. I should mention, she spent a few minutes eye-balling the big rides and even asked to go on some of them. The child was born an adrenaline junkie. 

I believe Cole set the record for longest time spent in this ride. The concept is simple: cross the ball pit, go down the slide, walk through the punching bags to the trampoline and bounce out. Cole wanted to get her money's worth. After crossing the ball pit and going down the slide the first time she turned around, crawled back up the slide and jumped back in the ball pit. All told, she was in there for twenty minutes.

Nothing like some mother-daughter enthusiasm about the helicopters! 

After our first trip to Funland, we stopped for some standard boardwalk snacks: fries and ice cream. To say Cole liked the snack would be an understatement. She absolutely ruined her dinner that night. But, hey, it was vacation. 
As we set out to, we got July's family picture. It's not the best we've taken or the worst but I'm hoping August's picture is better. Then again, as I've said, the goal isn't perfection. We're just hoping to get all three of us in the picture.

June's Family Picture

It came down to the wire, but I actually managed to get a picture of all three of us before the month ended.  We decided to have a little picnic today after church so I grabbed the camera and tripod and figured I'd give it a whirl. My tripod + remote + timer skills still need work, but I'm getting better. At least you can't see remote in this month's picture.

 June

Maybe next month we'll actually look at the camera! Actually, next month that should be very feasible because we're doing a bit of traveling with family so hopefully we can have someone else snap a picture or ten for us. Then in August we're having family pictures taken (I'll be 36 weeks pregnant so they'll also be maternity pictures). Come September we'll have baby sister's arrival so I guess the real challange will start in October when I try to capture our family of four. 

To recap, here is our growing collection of 2013 family pictures:

May

April

March

February

 January

Resolution Catch Up

I haven't forgotten or given up on my 2013 resolution. There just hasn't been much to show. After a less than stellar first attempt with the remote in January, we've just handed our camera off to friends or family and asked them to take a picture simply to satisfy the monthly goal. 

This month, I decided to buck up and try the remote again. (I still haven't used my tripod for our monthly family pictures but the day is coming.) On Sunday, I rested our camera on top of Cole's stroller and got out the remote. It was a Mother's Day miracle when we got a handful of decent pictures!

May

Now for a quick recap, here are our monthly family pictures from earlier this year. The only requirement I have for these pictures is that all three of us are in them.  It would be nice if each of us was smiling and looking at the camera, but you can't have it all:

April

March

February

 January