Crazy Cousins

 Morgan had a great time hanging out with his cousins at our Christmas party.

 So many silly boys in one place.

Very brave of Teenie to sit with these crazies!

One, two, three.... Jump!

I prefer taking pictures without a flash, whenever possible.  That's a tad bit tricky in the dark with only Christmas lights as your source of illumination, but I thought we could give it a go.  Again, the kids were very cooperative with taking pictures.  More pictures.  And they made it fun!  Such good kids.  I need to remember that the next time I'm super-annoyed that they don't want me taking their picture!

First, they struck a contemplative pose.  So thoughtful....

Then they got this crazy idea that they'd do a picture jumping off this concrete curb in unison.  I set my camera to take continuous shots and away we went.

It was trickier than they thought it would be.

They had various take off and landing times.  (Despite counting to three!)

They'd jump and then run over to me to look at how the shots turned out.

Then they'd do it again.  They kept at it and we had four or five retakes.

They wanted to all lift their legs high at the same time.  Again, harder than it sounds.

Success!  This was our final take and it was perfect.  And it's by far my favorite.  They look so joyful.  So pleased with themselves!  And they should be.  Life is good.

Gingerbread

One of the backdrops for the cousin picture were these adorable gingerbread men.  This first photo wasn't so great, but I laughed out loud when I saw Emily's expression.  Here, let me blow it up for you.....

Adorable, isn't she?!  I love it!  Not sure what that was about, but I enjoy it.

 That's a little nicer.

They're supposed to be "eating" the gingerbread men.  I know - it's weird.  There's always a few photo fails.  It can't be helped.

Cousins at Christmas

We have this great holiday tradition where my family and my brother's family meet up in Lewiston for dinner and to take in the lights at a park that's all decked out.  It's always fun.  It's sometimes frigid.  This year, the weather was delightful, even for me.

We always take a cousins picture.  And this year, the kids were very cooperative about trying different backdrops.

There's always a little craziness going on with this bunch of hooligans.  That's what makes it fun.

Pretty great looking group of kids, if you ask me.

Growing up too fast, though.  They range in age from 10 to 16.  I don't know how that's possible.

And here's a selfie of Glenn and I under a pink-lighted tree.  We're not as cute as the kiddos are, but we manage.