Thrifty Thursday: Father of Eight

Days pass too quickly with a newborn in the house. Baby is already 2 months old, and Richard's first father's day as Daddy to 8 munchkins has come and gone.

I knew I'd need to keep things simple for our traditional father's day photo shoot. I didn't even end up adding any clever catchphrase to the finished print this time. Featuring so many little faces didn't leave much room for a punny slogan.

I thought I was being efficient when I decided we'd take the pictures outside at a park during our regular outing to the library. We wouldn't be making an extra trip because we already had books due, plus, we'd be able to do it without Richard seeing -- something harder to do now that he works more often from home.

But that morning with laundry to fold, a kitchen to clean up, and text messages about potential scheduling conflicts flying back and forth, I was beginning to dread the whole idea. Then, after listening to complaints about the possibility of the sun being in their eyes again ("I could hardly even open my eyes last time! I hated it!") it suddenly dawned on me: Why did we need to do this outside? Instead of procuring a picnic blanket and something to stand on to give me enough height to get the shot I wanted, instead of crossing our fingers hoping the sunlight would cooperate, why didn't I just lay the kids on the floor downstairs and get it over with?

I love that our basement windows are large enough to allow in lots of light, It's never felt dim or dreary down there thanks to that. So I snatched up one of our many quilts, ensured the kids were dressed and clean (bonus) with their hair done (even bigger bonus!) and thought, "Hey, this'll be a cinch."

Okay, maybe a tad more difficult than I'd thought. But after I'd calmed the baby down, we tried again, and it didn't take long before we got a keeper.