christmas card phtoto 2009

getting a picture of two kids was a lot more difficult than just one. i knew that it would be, but in accepting defeat i finally got the one that made the card. here are the best from the 150 that weren't included in our card this year...

i tried taking individual pictures of them each first thinking that it would be nice to have a face shot of each of them and then one of them together. madelyn still does her crazy "smile" when asked to smile for a picture so i was telling her not to smile but to say "merry christmas" instead so that she would look more natural. and then i was clicking my tongue to get mason to smile because he thinks that sound is really funny. i was also dealing with the fact that madelyn did not want to hold mason or be close to the tree. the only was we got her near the tree was to let her sit under a christmas blanket. then i spread the blanket out and thankfully she would lay on her belly next to mason. but then the problem was that she would scoot closer and closer to the camera until her face was so huge in the foreground while mason was fading into the background. i kept having to ask her to scoot back. and then poor matt was trying to help me get the kids to smile but then they were looking at him and not the camera which wasn't working either. he finally gave up when madelyn was jumping all over the place playing peek-a-boo leaving me with a blur for a daughter in the pictures. after about a half hour of trying to get them to pose, giving madelyn instructions on how to not smile, and clicking my tongue for mason i felt like a raving lunatic so i, literally, hung my head in defeat. when i looked up, both kids were looking at me and relieved that i was okay. and there you have the one picture that made it on our card this year... maybe i should have given up sooner. love.