No Regrets

Last night, just before switching off the computer, I decided to put up a quick post with photos of my oldest son from this Christmas holiday here in England.

Only I didn't have any decent pictures of him.

The lighting in our house leaves something to be desired and for most of his stay, one or all of us have been in our pjs.

There are certainly no family portraits or even a family snapshot with all of us in it--ever. That was my one goal this Christmas.

There was one day when everyone felt well, but the littlest brother was at his friend's house for the day.
There was the trip to London to see a show, but the 2nd-oldest child stayed home with the flu.
Every day was bitterly cold or the thickest fog blanket. Fate was working against me.

As I sat staring at a blank blog post in the quiet of the night, I got really melancholy at the realization that I was out of time. Today would be his last day with us- his siblings had school and Dad was back at work, so there wouldn't be anymore opportunities to take a decent family photo.

Sleep works wonders and this morning, I was determined to have no regrets, regardless if it meant stressing myself out (trying to figure out how to juggle everyone, getting them all home before the 3.30 sunset). I worried about it all morning.  #1 Son and I did a quick trip to the seaside and shot some pictures of some nearby ruins, making it home by 1.00pm.

At 2.15 I headed out to begin the race against dusk...

and it began to tip down rain.

3.00, Husband headed straight home-- without passing Go to collect his $200.00.
3.25 I gathered the last child

3.40 We managed to have everyone in front of the house just as the light got difficult. We didn't worry about hair or whether our clothing had some uniformity. I told everyone NOT TO MOVE since I didn't want to have to resort to a flash.

Not bad for our very first full-family photo ever, huh? 

Look who moved. 

Classy all of the way. 

I should become a professional photographer specializing in family portraiture.