The One Where We Start Here And End At Eternity

What do you get when you combine 1 ornery dad, 1 hyper 5-year-old, 1 grumpy-I-need-a-nap 6-month-old and 1 mom who wants to take some family photos, herself?

It's interesting but over the last year I have become more and more intolerable with those photo places at the mall, department store, whatever. The photographers aren't actual photographers and they don't do what I want. (I think the last straw was when I was with my sisters and mom and we went here for pictures. They were bad. Not cute. Not purchasable. And the whole event was a fiasco with kids not wanting to cooperate and crying babies, blah, blah, blah...) I want my pictures to look real - real life - me and my boys - our family. I want to maintain complete creative control. So, with my little back-pocket camera with a self-timer and a tripod, we ventured out. There was some whining, complaining, yelling, and many "this is taking too long." But Zach and Eli did great! The verdict? I need a new camera - a real one this time. And a new tripod. I already have my next location picked out for when I have real equipment. I would have gone there this time but I want Eli to walk for that place. And I'm not telling where I want to go next time because then you might steal my idea and then I would feel angry and mad at you. And I'm thinking it would be so much easier to have my sister come out and take them. And how much would it take to bribe Jason to pretend like he's having a good time? (Probably a lot. A whole lot.)

The quality on here isn't very good and I need to do some more photoshopping. But you get the idea. Anyway,this is what you get:

PS. I'd love to hear what kind of "real" camera you have and why you love or hate it. Christmas is coming and I need to upgrade. (Real means not a small little portable one but one that you can do lots of different things with and change the lens and so on.)