A few changes around here

Someone complained about the old pic, and about the color scheme, so I made a few alterations.  Probably I'll tinker with the site some more in the next few weeks but this is a good start.

The main pic is from a photo shoot we did in Hilton Head this summer.  "Can of worms" does not do justice to the act of trying to get all our kids to look in the general direction of the camera at the same time, let alone trying to get a few smiles out of them.  "Can of worms strung out on meth" maybe comes close.  So the fact that we got lucky enough to manage a few really good pics is a small miracle.

Might as well post some of the individual pics here too, because they're really good.  I'm a bad father because in the midst of this mess of my life, I haven't taken the time to pay attention to the fact that I have 4 beautiful kids.  (Admittedly part of that comes from the fact that they have not been behaving so beautifully of late...)  So for a moment let's celebrate the fact that somehow Steph and I created some adorable human beings.

Faith.  Like me, smiling on command is an awkward, unnatural process for her which produces mixed results at best.  Since I know her so well, I can tell you about this look.  Notice the eyes.  They're not really looking at the camera.  She's looking back at her siblings behind the camera, because SOMEone is getting to do something that she's not getting to do right now.  Something not fair is happening, and it's taking every ounce of self-control she has to not blurt out the injustice of it all and storm away from the camera.  God bless her, she still managed to put on a decent smile and look cute.  So....she's coming along.  Faith's obsessive concern for fairness and justice may very well lead her to a career as a superheroine.  I love her.

Mari.  Much more able to effect a natural smile.  Clearly that gene comes from Steph, not me, as witnessed by my expression in the main blog pic.  Mari has a very expressive face and I pray for the young men who may fall under its spell ten years from now.  Mari's eyes are right on the camera, because this is far more her element.  At home, she likes to put on plays and fashion shows where the strangeness of her movements is eclipsed only by her priceless sincerity.  She may look like she's doing avant-garde performance art, but in her mind it's graceful and fluid.  And with a face like that, I dare you to tell her otherwise.  I love her.

Robby.  Similar to Mari, I think he may leave a trail of broken hearts in his wake at some point.  If, that is, he can find something to talk about besides Mario.  I suppose it's my duty as a father to teach him some new subject matter that the ladies will find more interesting, but thankfully he's still very disinterested.  Robby also inherited from his father the unfortunate 'smiling when in trouble' gene.  Poor guy, it's not his fault.  I can remember the same thing.  This picture is not the best one of him, but I chose it because of that smirk.  Imagine how frustrating it is to be angry at this guy while he pulls out this look.  But still, I love him.

Oh Hannah.  Hannah, Hannah, Hannah.  She's the oddball in a family of oddballs.  I'd say she follows her own path, but that would imply some kind of direction.  She pretty much just goes.  This is her version of a smile.  We call it "Line Mouth".  Her other version of a smile is a ridiculous display of teeth which cause her eyes to squint shut...and for some reason it is usually accompanied by a 'thumbs up' which blocks the rest of her face.  So...Line Mouth works better for the pictures.  It saddens me to say that as I look into those eyes, I have no idea what they're thinking.  I haven't figured her out yet.  Other than to say she's just weird.  But I look back on the weird kids I remember from school, and most of them I thought were pretty cool.  So I think she'll be all right.  I love her.

And these guys.  Well...yeah.  This is the reason for it all.  This is the reason I get up in the morning.  I'm a lucky man.  I've got what I can only describe as a kick-ass marriage.  We should give seminars and charge lots of money to teach people what's common sense to us.  We're making it through this mess together.  And...we ARE going to make it.  I love her.  I love us.


Meanwhile....


Stay tuned for more big news.  Our family is going to be getting bigger....








(Umm, don't worry, it's not THAT!)