Holiday Photos 2014

So, this mom dropped the ball this year on scheduling a photo shoot for our family Christmas cards.  Honestly, I've been overwhelmed with the massive amount of photos that the new photographer we used for Hattie's newborn shoot sent to us.  The CD has around 300 photos on it. Getting through them all put me in denial about it being time to do it all over again....finding the right outfits for everyone, praying everyone behaves and cooperates, going through and choosing which ones to use, etc.

I decided that I had seen so many great photo ideas on Pinterest that I'd just try to get a few shots of my own.  Can't be that hard right?  I mean, who needs a fancy camera, a baby that doesn't flail around and a 4.5 yr old that sticks around when the camera comes out?  I can do this.

Um, maybe not.  To start with, it's been a trying weekend with Owen pushing limits.  Our advent calendar got taken down and put away because I cannot keep rewarding his poor behavior with little gifts each day. (Which breaks my heart because I don't want to stop talking about and learning about Advent.) The two days that he's gotten letters from Jolly (our elf) telling him that Santa wants him to try harder to be a good listener and the warning from Santa today while we were visiting him don't seem to have been enough to encourage him to make better choices.  Yesterday, he threw such a fit at a birthday party that I physically picked him up and carried him to the car without his coat on.  Today, he got sent up to bed at 5:45.  Lucky for him, Daddy felt bad about him not having eaten and brought a plate up to him.  Man, I tell you, being a parent is HARD work! 

I took 94 pictures today and here are just a few reasons why I am calling the photographer next time.