Family Photo Shoot!!!

After we rescheduled 3 times, we finally accomplished our family photo shoot!!! Thanks SOOO much to Ashley and Jake for gifting us with this great photography session!  (By the way...Jake and Ashley will be traveling in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS TO MEET THEIR SON, CARTER!!!!  SOOO excited for them! Please be praying for them too!)

I had been totally stressing thinking about this session since the middle of July when they gave us this certificate. My biggest stressor - what to WEAR! (Story about our shirts at the end as well as a plug for "Handiwork for Lilly".) The "what to wear" stress has prevented me from having photos taken of the kids since Rebekah was a baby...Ya, I know, I get the "Mother of the Year" award for that one. So, without further ado...here's most of the photos from the night. Ashley did a FANTASTIC job!  We are SOOO blessed! Thanks Ash! Enjoy!

Rebekah (almost 5)

Isaac (7)

Anna (9)

Sarah (13)

Elijah (4)
(Have I mentioned that Elijah has gained 10# since he came home in January?  :-) I think some of it went to his belly.)

Rachel (almost 2)

Jonathan (1)

Trying to distract Rachel with a feather...

She still has the feather in her hand. :-)

Sarah and her Ukrainian brothers

And last but not least...Lil' Miss Personality's "Funny Face" Photo!

Ok, the little story about our shirts. How in the world to I find something for the 5 of us girls to wear?  I finally got a divine inspiration while shopping at our favorite fabric store last month. Sarah has made lots of blouses like we are wearing, and they sew up very quick. So we got 6 yds of fabric, several different patterns and away we went.  Each shirt is a little different with either decorative stitching or the rick-rack. 

For any of you "Suzy Homemaker" types that are curious about what patterns we used, here is the list. * Rachel - Simplicity 5695, view D leaving the bottom ruffle off. 

* Rebekah and Anna -  Simplicity 4206 view A, sizes 5 & 10, but they are too short and barely cover their tummies. We should have added at least 2-4" to the bottom. 

* Sarah - McCall's M5451. This pattern is several years old and we couldn't find a new one in any stores to use for me. But as I was just looking up the link, it is listed as out of print on the McCall's website, but it can still be ordered. Also, we added about 2" on the pattern to the top of the front, back and sleeves to make the shirt more modest. 

*Finally, for me - McCall's M5050. I also added 2" to the top of each piece as well. I probably wouldn't have needed to, but the pattern drawings showed it to be much lower than it sewed up to be. This pattern must have replaced Sarah's pattern as they are very, very similar. 

Sarah wanted to me to tell you all that if you are interested in a shirt for a special girl in your life, you can custom order them through "Handiwork for Lilly". Sarah and "Big Rachel" have been working VERY hard to make items to sell to raise Lilly's ransom. I think everything on their blog is crocheted right now, but Sarah will sew for you too. :-) Just email them if you are interested. 

Finally, I got the little boys' shirts at Target.com. They don't sell the white polos in the stores, but the shipping was reasonable and they were only $7 each.