The Day Parker Refused to Take Family Pictures

Y'all..... it's Christmas card picture day and as I suspected but prayed against..... it was a disaster. Everyone woke up in good moods. The time change gave us ample time to get up, get ready and eat breakfast since Miss A woke up at 5:58am... SO close to not seeing the 6 o'clock hour! We talked in the car that good behavior meant a friend could come over and play and he'd earn a NEW train. He picked Paxton. Well... I'll just say his playdate was cancelled and Paxton has been put in storage for Christmas. 

I DO think we got a few good ones despite the fact that he would ONLY smile if he were running and tackling me and he refused to wear the vest I spent days trying to find. Children.... Poor Avery's face is still scrapped up and she just ran around kicking a football or being thrown in the air pretty much the whole photoshoot. I totally lost my cool with Parker which resulted in a phone call apologizing to the photographer. I put SO much effort into organizing this. Jotted down shots I wanted to "try" to get. Picked out just the right outfits. Appliqued Christmas shirts for the kids.... the works. I was SO bummed on the way home that we stopped by Starbucks for a "cheer me up red cup Starbucks" but the line was SOOOO long (church crowd!) that I just grabbed some International Delight caramel macchiato iced coffee and taquitos.... lunch of champions my friends. Despite being a committed lover of Starbucks, I think I'm gonna start having an affair with this ID iced coffee. It's THAT good... just don't look at the ingredients or nutrition facts.

After we got home, I sent Parker outside to the swing set to play out his grumpies. He came inside 15 minutes later saying he was itchy. Poor kid got bit by ants at least 10 times on his face, neck and hands. I felt so bad for him. I can't stay mad at him long...especially since he keeps coming up to me with a HUGE smile and saying "Look mommy! I'm smiling!" If only you had done that 7 hours ago, love bug! Bless his heart. You win, Parker.... I give up on photos of you for a while. When you're older and you wonder why I only have pictures of Avery just know I love you equally and I tried!

After Miss A's nap she wanted to go outside so I took her to walk the neighborhood trails. I thought she looked SO cute in her new outfit (I LOVE Smockadot packages in the mail) so I brought the camera along. At least this one still enjoys having her picture taken!

I'm excited to get our pictures back in a few weeks. They always surprise me and make it worth the "experience." Even if Parker is having a meltdown in all of them I'm sure eventually I'll look back at those pictures fondly and laugh at the day I spanked my son because he wouldn't stand next to Avery so we could get a shot of our shoes.... it seemed really important at the time.

PERSPECTIVE