Easter Pictures Adventure

So my sister and I decided that it would be great to get some pictures of the kids together. You know, since Easter is coming up, not to mention Caiden's birthday and of course Kiya's birth and all. How naive we were. We made some loose plans that I would meet at her house and then we would go take pictures of the kids.

I got to her house at 11:30am, I fed Kiya, she fed the twins (Caiden had already eaten) and we were off. We got to the picture place around 1:30pm or so. There were no lines so we got right in. Steph and I look at each other like "This is great...we will be done in an hour". Famous last words if I have ever heard them.

Oh, how I wish we would have been done in an hour. It was horrific. It was frustrating...it was horrible. We sat all the kids down in front of the camera. Things were doing great until Lindsay was afraid of the duster that they were using to get her to smile. She was the first to get all red faced and cry. Kiya decided she needed to be like her older cousin and turn purple and cry next. Kyle and Caiden are all smiles.

This is Caiden and Kyle while the girls are screaming...completely unfazed by their surroundings.
Even smiling at each other. Must be that selective hearing :P

So now we have two screaming girls, and two happy boys (the pictures of the two boys were taken while Steph and I were trying to calm down the girls so we can get a picture of the four of them. I decide to do an impromptu feeding to take the edge off of Kiya, and Steph breaks out the dolls that Lindsay likes. There we are trying to keep Caiden entertained, Kyle from rolling off the ledge that he was on, Lindsay from crying and Kiya from turning purple and screaming. Steph and I are exhausting all of the tricks of the trade, taking everything from our arsenal. We are talking to them, singing to them, shhing them, rocking them, holding them, making face, making strange and funny noises that no adult should make in public....etc.

Finally, success...Kiya is fed (sort of), Lindsay is quiet. We put the kids back together, and prepare for the pictures. How short lived was that. Lindsay decides NOT to smile and continues to alternate between staring and crying, while Kiya decides it is time to take a nap. Meanwhile, Kyle is practicing rolling all around and kicking props off the table and on the ground. Caiden has decided that he would like to make as much noise as possible, and tries to "help" calm down the screaming kids by telling them to "shh" or "you're fine" while he shoves his face so close to theirs that they probably see his two eyes as one. He even tries to rock them, but is quite aggressive in his approach. His intentions were good, but my patience was not.

At this point, we decide to get all the kids off and only take pictures of Caiden as he was cooperating at that point. Caiden's pictures are done in flash, so we switch to Kiya so the twins can have a moment to recover. Kiya decides to either fall asleep, cry, or just stare. We finally got a picture - what I call the lesser of the evils, and I give up. Of course, the minute I pick her up she is all smiles.
This pose was my idea as the ones they wanted him to do were rather cheesy or awkward
This was the best picture...she has a half smile.

Caiden likes to hold his sister, but was more interested in the orange egg by Kiya's feet. This picture was REALLY hard to get as Caiden wanted to play with the eggs and hide the orange ones so only he could play with it.

We then decided to get the kids together again. Only this time, Caiden is done and is REALLY misbehaving, Lindsay is now starting to come around, but Kyle has lost it...and Kiya, yes she is either crying or sleeping. *Sigh* Stephanie and I resort to sitting on either side of the twins, putting in their binkies (which keeps them calm) and at the last minute before they snap the picture pulling them out really quickly. This is how we got the following picture.

Lindsay decided to get into the pictures...she liked the eggs. Note: She HATED all other tactics, especially the duster.
The eggs were a big hit with Lindsay
Kyle likes anything. He was a very easy picture baby

After this picture, everyone implodes - including me. At this point, Caiden is out of control, I have exhausted my patience and Kiya has taken to wailing again. Lindsay is tired and Kyle is now crying. I suggest we take a break, which almost brings an audible sigh of relief from the photographer who must think that we are the absolute nightmares of all nightmares. We change all the diapers, feed the kids and then go get some lunch for ourselves. This gives Lindsay and Kiya a chance to take a nap. Kyle and Caiden refuse.

In comes grandma. That's right. We have now been attempting this for so long that my mom is off work. She comes in to rescue us and try to assist. We finish lunch, and then decide to go back and try this again. There is now a different photographer. It doesn't take very long for my patience to wear out, as does my mom's and Caiden...well his was gone a long time ago. My mom starts getting upset at the photographer who never seems to take the picture when all the kids are behaving...of course that is only a split second in time. The rest of this time goes a little like the fourth paragraph except all of the kids take turns crying or making weird faces.

Steph liked this one, but NO ONE is looking at the camera, and Lindsay looks slightly confused

At the end of the night because it is night time by the time we leave, we have taken SOME pictures, but at what cost. We are all tired from trying to be happy and making the kids smile, the kids are all sleeping or trying to, and I still have an hour drive to look forward to. I look at my sister absolutely exhausted and I say "Well, this was fun. Let's not do it again for a very long time".

Anyway, we got some Easter pictures, Caiden's 4th Birthday pictures as well as Kiya's debut picture. I would attempt the Easter pictures again, but I think I will be traumatized by this experience for many months to come.

Mental Note: NEVER take 4 children to take pictures and expect them to be decent when 3 of the 4 are infants.