Say CHEESE, please...

Today had been planned for a little over two weeks now. I've been thinking about what to get the parents for Christmas. They love photographs of family. They line their walls and they are all in black and white. And all very natural. Since I love to take photos and could use the practice, I thought it would be a good idea to take the kids out and give it a go.

The morning started off in good spirits. Each child arose at his or her own time. When I arrived at 9:00, Balthazar was already awake and on the computer playing some horrible game that drains hours off of your life. Next was Barthelemy. The three of us sat around and chatted for a bit before Zac stumbled through and fell on the couch. Verena was the last to wake. After a while I went to check on her. I guess I can understand why she stays in her room. With three brothers, I probably would too.

I cleaned the kitchen from all the breakfast mess, and waited thirty minutes before getting it set up for lunch. Sandwiches, my specialty. Nothing too special. I made a trip to Proxi, grabbed a few things for dinner, and a treat for the kids - chips. I announced that after lunch, they had thirty minutes to get ready before we would get out to take pictures. Balth and Barth were getting a little rough with Zac. They tend to give him a good poke in the ribs during lunch. He even got kneed in the thigh. The poor kid. Part of me thinks he needs it, just to toughen him up a bit. Another part knows that I can't change the situation. I know how older siblings can be. Hazing is part of the territory and it's a rite of passage for all involved. Needless to say, this didn't really give him the best start to the day.

We crammed ourselves into the tiny lift. The fighting ensued. Verena had her hands on Zac's face, Balthazar is so tall so I don't know what he was doing, and Barthelemy so just numb by now. We went to the covered parking area of the courtyard near the stairwell to take some pictures. The lighting was great. We managed to get some classic sibling shots more than anything.


The boys realized that Verena was "posing" and they really weren't happy about it - notice Balthazar pulling a fist in the second picture.


Intentional goofy face photo


Regular torture of Zac



We were ready for a little change of pace, so we went to the little garden/parc/square next to Invalides. We walked around it a bit till we found a shaded spot. After taking a few more group pictures, I asked who wanted to get their picture taken first. Zac jumped up and down. After one picture, Barth got him in the ribs pretty good. Every picture after that progressively got worse. I told Zac to go off to the side to cool off, then I would come back to him. This isn't really want he wanted, but I tried everything from calling him "my tweet wittle boy" to playing with his ear while saying "flippy floppy flippy floppy" and nothing worked. Since I don't give attention to tantrums, it got even worse. I let Zac stay behind the bench while I took a few pictures of Barth and Balth fighting.


Not sure why Balth was so eager to punch someone today, but his fists are clenched in most of the pictures. Then he began with the horrendous imitation of a girl fight with arms flailing about which scared poor Barth half to death.




The solitary picture of Zac smiling

Verena is a natural in front of the camera

Barth loves when he has a good picture and then says "Who's that handsome guy?"

Balth can hardly take himself seriously. I have a "thinking" picture, a Clark Kent imitation, and an "American smile" to add to this one.

And my favorite!