Holiday Portrait Disasters

One morning this week, I packed up the kids and headed to Target for a quick photo shoot  that would hopefully end  with a cute photo to send to family in our Christmas cards.

I made an early appointment  so that the kids would be happy and hopefully not too cranky by the time we got there.  I rushed around, dressed both kids (with the help of my husband) got out the door, dropped a child off at preschool and headed to Target, all by 9am!

As I grabbed a cart and stuck Andrew in and helped Ella off with her coat,  a women came rushing in with her two children, threw them in a cart and took off at a near dead sprint to the back of the store.  I just KNEW she was late for her photo appointment and I would be stuck trying to keep an 18mo old and 3yr old in dress clothes occupied while we waited to go in.

Sure enough, when we got to the studio, there was the women – LATE – with her two kids going into the studio.  GREAT!  After pulling fruit snacks off the shelves and feeding them to my children and walking around the holiday section for 20 minutes while Andrew screamed to get out of the cart, it was our turn.

Of course, they didn’t have our info on file and the photographer spent the next 10 minutes walking back and forth to the front trying to figure it out.   In the meantime, Ella decided she was hungry and wanted Vanilla Milk and Scones from Starbucks and Andrew found every single item that looked like a ball and was throwing it around the studio while I became more out of breath and began sweating from chasing him around.  Note: 18mo old boys DO NOT sit still!

FINALLY it was time to start.  The photographer nicely took a seat on the floor and looked at the kids blankly.   So, I jumped in and tried to get them both to smile at the same time.  I tried singing, playing peek-a-boo, throwing balls, giving fruit snacks and tickling.  I was freaking exhausted!  I glanced over the lady’s shoulder at the screen, saw a photo that both of the kids were smiling in and declared it a wrap!

We then proceeded out front to the (not so happy) lady to look at our photos and place our order.  I told her up front that I was only buying the package and didn’t want any enhancements – plain, color photo with kids smiling.  By now, Andrew was a bear and Ella was getting pretty grumpy as well.  The lady started to enhance this and color that and show me cards, etc, etc.  “NO”, I said firmly, “I just want to see the photos and pick ONE to order IN a package.”   She seemed to move at a snail’s pace and wasn’t one bit concerned with my now screaming toddler.

Oh – it was a mess!  This is the total reason we only do this once a year! And you know what, my photos with my Canon Power shot come out MUCH better than messing around with two ladies that obviously do not enjoy their job.  Where do these people come from anyway?

In the end, I am glad we got a professional photo to send out to family. For $9.95, you can’t beat the deal.  We ended up with a really cute shot (thanks to my peek-a-boo skills) that will put a smile on the grandparent’s faces all year long.  Next year… this mom’s taking the photo with my new DLSR (hint, hint) and sending to Kodak to print!

Do you get your child’s photo professionally taken each year for Christmas?   Is it worth the hassle of taking them to a studio?  Or do you just snap a few shots at home and make copies for family?

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Day 1: Project Home Organization

It’s Day 1 of my home organization project. I’m finally ready to get on with organizing all the things in my life that are driving me crazy.  It seems that most days, being a mom and daycare provider, takes all the time I have to just get through the day.  Tasks such as organizing a closet, a desk, a drawer or even my paperwork, gets pushed aside.  I’m sure most of you can relate to that being a mom and taking care of the kids always comes before the “extras”.  Organizing is not something that I want to put on the back burner, it just happens.

I’m not the most organized person in the world, but I want to be and I felt like now was a great time to get started.   I’ve always looked forward to the 1st day of school, even when I was not in school or had kids in school.   There’s just something about it that gives me a sense of new beginning and renewal.  And so, I have decided that now that I am a mom of a preschooler and have a tiny bit of free time each week, I’m going to tackle organizing my family, my home and my life. In my quest for finding the best tips on accomplishing this,  I’ve visited several blogs that I would consider “pros” in this area and will be using some of their tips on becoming a more efficient, productive and organized mom and I’ll share this information with you as I go along!

Today I started with my 1st project: Organize my daughter’s craft supplies.

My daughter, Ella,  LOVES to color, paint, cut, sticker, draw, and do puzzles and spends most of her free time doing so.  It’s the first thing she does in the morning and the last thing she does at night.  We didn’t have a designated area for all of her supplies and she normally works at our island on her projects.  Ideally, this was not the best set up.  Her stuff would be scattered and cluttered and she would always loose things since we only had them in a basket on the counter.  I knew I needed something to keep it all in, but didn’t know what.   Here’s what I came up with:

1.  Preschool Desk from Pottery Barn Kids.

(I was going to link you up to this, but they must have sold out since I ordered it last week.)

This is an adorable little child-sized desk and the kids all love it.  I actually think my 15 month old need his very own.  He spends alot of time sitting here as well.  As cute as it is, it’s not very practical for keeping Ella’s supplies in order.  The two drawers are narrow and not very long – just enough room for  some pens and pencils and maybe some other little items.  So, I came up with another storage solution.

2. 4-shelf Organizer Cube

I picked this up at Michael’s but also saw one at Target.  This was a snap to put together and holds all of Ella’s construction paper, drawing paper, notebooks, coloring books and marker and crayon holders.  I even placed some of her scissors and stickers in closed containers on top of the cube. For now, it sits on the island in the kitchen so that the little kids don’t make confetti out of the contents.  My plan is to sit Ella’s desk beside my desk (that will be delivered this weekend) and place the cube on my desk for her to use.  I also have another modular storage system on order that we’ll put together later.

But  this is a good start.  It doesn’t look like much, but I feel a ton better AND more productive since I got this all organized today.  I’m also going to be working on a great tip from Simple Mom for all of Ella’s completed artwork. She has some great ideas to storing and displaying all those special pieces that I’d like to save but not have it just cluttered into a drawer or taped all over the house like it currently is.

I’ll keep you updated every step of the way on my Project: Home Organization.  In the meantime, send me your tips and tricks that you use to keep your child’s projects and hobbies in order.  I’d love to see pictures as well.  I’ll post them right here!

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Not My Child Monday!

It’s a special “Not me My Child” MONDAY over at MckMama’s My Charming Kids. What a fun idea to celebrate those not so fun moments from the week!

I did not have to spend the first 10 mins of swim lessons this week convincing my daughter to join in the lesson and that mama was not getting in too. I also did not allow my daughter to go to Target after swimming lessons  with only her cover up on just to grab some toilet paper. (kinda ironic, huh?!)And SHE DID NOT proceed to flash everyone that walked by her with her graceful moves.  No, not my child.

My son did not get into every nook and cranny and drawer and cabinet and purse and closet (you get the idea) at every chance he got the entire week.  Nope, not my child,  not Andrew.  He is a perfectly behaved child.

My daughter did not drag the dog around by her leash while hanging her in the air as she ran through the yard.  No, not my child, not Ella.  She is a perfect pack leader and would never treat her dog like the stuffed dog she was also running with.

My child did not unroll a whole roll of toilet paper, while his mom was using the toilet and couldn’t get up to stop him, and then proceed to string it all the way through the house.  He would NEVER then eat the paper as he sat far enough away from mama so that she couldn’t grab it.  Nope, not my child.

And – my children would never, ever throw fits over tv shows or chocolate, so loudly that I would have to close the windows so that they neighbors wouldn’t  think I was beating them.  Nope, most certainly NOT MY CHILD!

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Green Tip

One of the best investments I’ve made is to buy those eco-friendly reusable shopping bags.  I use them for everything…not just shopping.  Just yesterday, we loaded up the kids and headed to Grandma’s and I packed up my super sized Target reusable bag and fit just about everything we needed for the day.  I can usually get  two weeks of groceries in about 4 or 5 of them.  That sure makes for a lot less lugging from the car to the house.  Plus, they are VERY durable.  I’ve had some bags so heavy that I can hardly lift them and I’ve never had one tear or break.   My kids even use them to play grocery shopping and I don’t have to worry about the hazards of plastic bags.  If you haven’t tried them out yet…pick up a couple the next time you’re at County Market, Target or heck…anywhere!  Most cost less than $2 and will last forever!!    

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