Christmas Cards

In an attempt to save money, and show off my photography skills, I thought I would take this years Christmas pictures. I mean, how hard could it be? I had already scoped out the perfect spot, recruited my mom and Jon to help, bought some adorable outfits for the kids and even 'warned' them ahead of time of the big event. I was just going to get the kids dressed, take them to a nice place in our neighborhood and take some pictures of them being their adorable selves. This was going to be easy and fun, right?! I couldn't have been more wrong. First of all, it was colder than normal, putting both me and the kids in a bad mood before we even started. Secondly Camryn and Will were both suffering from nasty colds and sleep deprivation ... red, puffy eyes and runny noses look a lot worse in pictures than they do in person. And thirdly, although I hate to admit it, I am not a professional photographer. Photographers earn every penny they charge, especially if they can get all four of my kids to smile at the same time. Here are some of the outtakes from the day ...

Not quite Christmas card material, but I do LOVE this picture. It shows Kate's true reaction to a splinter.

This makes me laugh.

I wonder what Ben was thinking.

Not exactly the 'loving' shot I was going for.

It wasn't a complete waste of time, I didn't get any great pictures, but I did get one 'good enough' for Christmas cards. Keep in mind when you receive yours that I worked really hard to get one even that good!