Was that too much to ask???

Before they even arrived, Kim said "Yes." The man is wise.

Two-year-old Juni was squalling before we even started.  I took her aside to talk to her (it worked once when I was taking photos another time...), but that afternoon she just wasn't having it. I was grateful that she was even sitting still.

Then 19-month-old Lucy started wailing.  

At this point, someone should have been photographing the adults behind me. They were shouting names and acting silly, trying to get the children to look at the camera and laugh.

That's probably why Lucy was crying...

The distraction sorta worked for Juni, and her squalling turned into quiet sobs...

Lucy took a brief crying hiatus and there was a very small sliver of a window of time that I thought my dream photo had a chance of happening.

How foolish of me...

The little girls were merely taking a few breaths, regrouping and revving up for more tears.

This is real life with 8 children ages 9 and under.

It is what it is.

And even as it is, this precious group of sweet grandbabies is picture-perfect to me!  

I wouldn't trade them for all the catalog-worthy photos in the world!  (Which, by the way, are heavily photoshopped to look so perfect!)

I could do the same thing and create my own perfect photo in Photoshop. But it wouldn't be real and I'm all about REAL.

And I kinda like the sweet craziness of my crew...I absolutely adore each one of them, just like they are!

Aren't they all just SO STINKIN' CUTE???

It was a wild, loud, stressful photo session, but I came away with some memorable shots. Thanks for...

...humoring Gramaw.