Nothing brings out the Murphy dysfunction more than a holiday, nothing that is other than a holiday combined with the annual Christmas card photo shoot. I put the turkey in the oven around 10:30, I asked the girls to be ready for pictures at 11:00, that gave me plety of time to get back to the house before the turkey needed to be basted. Lauren rolled in the house at 10:45 with a hang over and offered anyone that was willing $300 to do her hair and makeup . Sam showed up at 11:00 ready and a little aggrivated that she is the only one who was ready. Erin/Sybil didn't even roll out of bed until 11:15. We were finally ready at 12:30.

We went to a nearby park, the ride was actually kind of fun, Maggie started a game in the van. My name is Anna, my husband's name is Aaron, I live in Alabama and I sell Apples and so on. The kids, especially the older ones had fun playing a dumb little car game just like when they were little. For a moment I though, wow, what great kids I have, I think they really love eachother. When we got to the park everyone was complaining because it was freezing cold. I took a few shots and Lauren stepped in dog poop in her Ugg boots. She was less than pleased. I always take 50 to 100 shots trying to get one where everyone has their eyes open and looks happy. The cold temperature coupled with Lauren smelling like dog poop shortened the photo shoot. We did our last couple of shots in a tree. We have done that before on a Christmas card but the kids were smaller. Erin got mad at Ryan (surprisingly) and Shannon got mad at EVERYONE. She announced "I hate Thanksgiving" and stormed out of the tree crying, Ryan's water works followed shortly after. The picture above is the last picture from our family field trip. Normally we have at least one kid crying during the family Christmas card. This year we had two, I 'm sure we can go for three our four next year. The ride home was silent other than a few complaints about Lauren's dog poop smell. I thought about starting a new game, My name is Colleen, I wish I was in Colorado selling coconuts and my husbands name was Carl!!

Today Ryan told me he got in trouble AGAIN in gym class. I was wondering why he snitched on himself until I got the email from his gym teacher. She must have warned him that it was coming. It said, "Dear Mr and Mrs Murphy, Ryan was disruptive in class and doesn't listen to me." I thought about responding, "welcome to my world". Instead I emailed back "I would love to help you out with this matter but Carl and I are in Colorado selling coconuts!!"