So we had the rare and WONDERFUL experience of having all 7 moms and all 16 kids from playgroup together on Friday afternoon! The occasion was the celebration of Miss Kate's 3rd birthday at the St. Charles Scarecrow Festival. Especially now that we have kids in the group in elementary school, this just never happens where we are all together. Of course this meant a picture was in order!

Ugh. Easier said than done.

From past experience, I knew to just keep pressing the button on my camera once we got them into position (which is an entire other post believe me and as you can see we gave up trying to actually center them or arrange them symmetrically!) and so I was laughing so hard when I got home and viewed them all in order. Below is the transgression of the group picture adventure - from the beginning when it was going all right until it dissolved into disaster (and for some, convulsions) at the end. Elapsed time between photo 1 and photo 7 below? 90 seconds:

Photo 1:



Okay - not horrible. All children are sitting relatively still. We had not even said "smile" yet so that explains why Molly and Lilly are staring in another direction and Paige (to the right of Molly) looks like she wants to stab me. I can't see Delaney (holding baby Kennedy) or Braydon (skeleton man squatting behind the back row) but we are early in the game here so I am hopeful. PS: I have a crush on Marty there on the end on the right in the back row. Do you blame me???

Photo 2:



Wow! Not too shabby and probably the winner of the group, though I can't see Braydon as he is still hiding behind the back row, and Billy ("boo" shirt) looks mad about something. Check out Trisha (striped tights behind Molly) - she is REALLY committed to that "cheese"! I just might have to gobble Dean (4th from right back row) up by the way - those dimples are too cute.

Photo 3:



Another pretty decent one! Though Kennedy and Lilly are looking to the side and Braydon is still being a freak and hiding behind the back row. His mom is yelling "BRAYDON! get up and sit like normal! We can't see you...."

Photo 4:




....and so Braydon obliges with a giant jump in the air. Hey - at least you can see him though you can see we are clearly beginning to lose the rest of them. Paige is checking on Kennedy, Molly is starting to look like she is going to crack, and Maddy (pink shirt in front) is looking like she now wants to stab somebody. Check out sweet birthday girl Kate though (orange sleeves, center of back row). Such a good girl!

Photo 5:



Its heading downhill now for sure. Lilly starts to scream, most of the kids turn to check on her, Braydon is getting ready to exit stage left, Kennedy is getting heavy for poor peanut Delaney, and Maddy is...cold? Not sure on that one.

Photo 6:



All hell has broken loose. Lilly still screaming, Molly is yelling, "TAKE HER! TAKE HER!", Aubrey (next to molly on left) is a bit sensitive to loud stimuli and begins to twitch, Kennedy escapes the clutches of Delaney, and I have no idea where Lizzy is going. The few kids still paying attention to the mommies are either smiling, making a funny face or just looking really confused because half of us are yelling "KEEP SMILING" and the other half are yelling "MAKE A GOOFY FACE!".

Picture 7:



We try to regroup them but it is no use. Molly is just screaming "MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM" at this point, Aubrey is in full sensory overload convulsions, and Lizzy is SO MAD that we made her sit back down (and that she has had to spend this entire photoshoot NOT next to Molly which Molly was also complaining about the whole time). Trisha is VERY committed once again - but this time to the mommies asking for goofy faces, Delaney is holding on to Kennedy for dear life, Paige is SO over having to sit with all these babies, and Harrison (third from right, back row), well, that is actually a really impressive monkey face to be honest. I might crop the rest of them out and just keep that....

PS: I would like to point out that the best behaved kid in all the photos above is Joey (3rd from left, back row). This will mean nothing to those of you who don't know him, but he has a bit of a reputation for being naughty (I just think he is like Curious George). Since I have a ridiculous soft spot for that kid, I always try to point out when he is being good :)