The Perfect Christmas Card Picture

Yesterday the Cappellis came over and I took their family Christmas pictures.  They turned out GREAT! 

How gorgeous is this little girl?!  These pictures turned out so great that I couldn't wait to take my kids pictures for our Christmas card.  Now for those of you who know me, "The Christmas Card" is a huge deal.  I spend a ridiculous amount of time getting the perfect picture and then even more time creating the BEST card ever.  There have been years that I have even ordered cards and then taken a better picture and ordered more.  I am a crazy woman when it comes to these cards.  It is an illness and I cannot help it.  So today after naps (probably should have done it first thing this morning) we got the kids all dressed up and it was PICTURE TIME!!

I started with some shots of Claire.  She was a dream.  She stood just where I told her to and did everything that I said to do.  Her pictures alone came out great!

Love her.

So pretty!

Claire just went with the flow and smiled like a model every time.

She really wanted to do a silly one.

Seriously, she is amazing!

So Mark went to get Oliver dressed and I set up the spot where the perfect Christmas card picture was going to be taken.

And we got a little silly while we waited.

Then Gus showed up. So handsome in his tie and vest.  Now we are talkin'!  Two gorgeous kids and a great background, how could we go wrong?!

Then we got started.  I didn't take into account that in order to get the perfect lighting from the tree I needed to turn my shutterspeed down, which means that my subjects had to be still so that they wouldn't be blurry.  Well, you tell an 18 month old BOY to sit in a certain spot AND sit still.  Yeah....not so much.  He wanted to get down immediately!

Ok, we will bribe him with a decoration that he not usually allowed to touch! Brilliant!  This will work!!

Til, we took it away.

This one would have been great if I was going for the whole "we are super serious kids who never smile" look.

Ok let's skip the chair and get them standing up.

This one would have been perfect if Oliver would have stood super still. But, nope.  He moved.

Then things took a turn for the worse.  

Ok let's take a little break.  We will just hang out and see what happens.  Ok, now we are having fun and we are relaxed.

Let's try the chair again.

Nope.  Oliver hopped off the chair and he was done.

This was his response to me saying "Why won't you just smile???".  He puts his little hands up and says "I know no." 

Then he just wanted his "Choo Choo".

Claire tried to help.  She told us "When I want him to do something I just rip the toy out of his hands and make him come where I want him to".  So we tried that with an ornament from the tree.

And here is Oliver pushing her because he is mad.  Apparently he is on to us.

Oliver wanted nothing to do with this situation!  He has had it!!

Then I tried to get one of them watching the train (which Oliver loves)!!

Oliver, of course, made the cutest faces while watching the train!

So I gave it one last try while they were watching the train.  Nope, Oliver was NOT having it.  He knew Claire was trying to hug him for the picture and he just kept pushing her away.  God love him.  This was the point when I thought "Enough for tonight" (or when Mark gave me the look that said "enough for tonight").  We are going on a train ride next weekend to see Santa, maybe then I will get a good picture.  Or maybe not.  We will see.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Turkey Day!!

This year for Thanksgiving my kids looked so adorable!  All I wanted this year was a nice family picture of all of us. I tried and I tried but this was the ONE day that my kids were NOT going to cooperate!  

 We started here.  Not too bad, except Claire looks miserable and Oliver is looking the wrong way.

Ok Claire is cheering up. But Mark isn't looking and I am apparently talking.

Now I may be yelling at someone and Auntie Rose's hand has entered the picture.

 Yep, things are going really well.

So this one may be the best.  Even though Oliver is making a goofy smile.  This was our best one of the night.

Oliver looked so handsome in his tie. I swear if you slapped some Old Spice on him and handed him a briefcase, he would be my father!!

Then of course, the turkey was hat was brought out.

We tried to get a shot with Papa....yeah that didn't go so well either.

Then we tried with Aunt Sue....nope not gonna happen there either.

Oliver did however, enjoy the pie.

Then it was time to head over to Aunt Irene's.

Where Oliver snuggled up with Tom and continued to eat some more food.

And then some more.

It was then that I decided to try to get another family shot.  Yeah, still not gonna happen.

It doesn't matter though.  This year I am so thankful for everything that I have.  I am so lucky to be surrounded by a wonderful family!  Also, I am thankful for the health of all of the people I love.  But, most of all I am thankful for the most amazing children in the world!  They complete my life and make everyday perfect (even when its not).  Also, I am thankful for a wonderful husband.  Mark is a great husband and an incredible father and I don't know what I would do without him.

Well now that Thanksgiving is over....IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!!!

So we started decorating!!

Oliver was amazed by all the lights and decorations.

Claire got the Christmas bug from me apparently because she LOVES decorating!!

We loved decorating while listening to Christmas music!

Claire's favorite part is putting the star on top of the tree.

She loves helping her Daddy.

Oliver loved helping too but he didn't get to do too much because he just shakes everything.  So he got very sick of hearing "no, no" over and over.

So he grabbed his Thomas book and hopped on the couch.

Then it was time to bust out the train.  As you can see, Claire and Oliver was SUPER excited to get started with the train.

Oliver was THRILLED with the train this year.  He just kept yelling "Choo, choo!"  and "Whoa!".

 The kids waited sooo patiently while Daddy set up the train.

They loved it when it was all set up!! 

 They watched the train for almost an hour! 

Oliver kept waving every time the train would go by.  Then he would blow it kisses.  I swear he was so excited every time that it went by that I thought he was gonna pass out!! 

My favorite season is here!  I can't wait to do all the fun Christmasy things with the kids this year!!!