I have wonderful inlaws, I'm just lucky that way. The parents are great, the brothers- and sisters-in-law are great, and so are the myriad of nieces and nephews. But there are a lot of them (8 original children) and when we all get together it gets kind of crazy. These people just keep reproducing, and so the family just keeps growing (33 to date and 1 on the way). The really mind boggling thing is that 2 of the original kids are not yet married, and 3 have not yet begun to have children. But most of them are passive-agressive so there's not a lot of fighting like you would expect with a family that size.
Whilst we were visiting the relations this weekend we took a LARGE family picture - which would have been great fun IF we had started at 10:00 like we planned. Instead, the photographer stood us up. But those Carter's, they're resourceful. Since it is so rare to have everyone all together at once we decided to do it ourselves, which of course took a little time to run back home and get the necessary equipment. And then more time to figure out where in the park would be best, and then even MORE time to figure out an arrangement that was pleasing to the eye. All this on top of standing around for a good half hour before deciding that we had indeed been stood up. But we finally got it together and took a bajillion pictures (probably more like 20 or 30, but it felt like a bajillion) and got it done.
By the time we finished it was 1:00 which every mommy knows is past lunch time and now into nap time, and the children were evidently willing to prove it. I do have to give the little ones credit - for the most part they held it together really well, and the fit throwing was kept to a minimum. Our kids were rewarded with happy meals and ice cream cones at McDonalds (don't leave me comments about the evils of using food as a reward - it totally works). I would post one of the shots but of course our copy of the CD doesn't work (of course).
The worst thing about this trip is the magnificent colds that we had - it just makes every bit of life seem harder when you want to rip your head off and use the dental spit-sucker-thingy to clear out the sinus cavaties in your face.
8.24.2008
It's A Nice Place To Visit...
Posted by Valerie at 9:35 PM
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2 comments:
Sounds quite entertaining. My family is quite large as well, with 7 original children 5 of whom are married and 25 grandchildren. Of the grandchildren one is 15 and 24 are 8 and under. It's a crazy day at grandma's house when everyone is there. and to take a picture on top of it.......frightful (although the last one turned out great).
I think you are fantastic. And not just because you threw in a dental reference. (I do know it's not all about me but it's nice when I can spin it that way!)
I'm glad everything worked out, besides your own copies, in the end. Photographers who stand up large groups with that many kids should sleep with one eye open. Retribution can be very painful from their moms.
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