The Christmas card photo, or Let's Torture the Kids

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, the kids just don't cooperate. It was an off day, despite the jelly beans and joke telling. The weather was gorgeous, the trees were beautiful in the background, and the kids were in a funk. So the picture we're sending out was taken on a freezing cold day in our living room. 

I sent a plea for help to our photographer friend (who also has bad photo sessions) and she sent this little advice:

sometimes i start with letting them make some silly faces and photograph them and show them the "silly" photos in the viewfinder of the camera. that usually works to win them to the session. let them see the actual results. plus as the photographer i try to "bond" with the kids for a few minutes. have them do something like run around and throw leaves and i take photos of that. then i show them those FUN photos and they feel a little more inclined to doing the photos mom wants (that are never as much fun as the leaves throwing photos). mix in some fun run around photos with the "walk and hold my hand and look slightly obedient" photos...

hope this helps. there should be some over the counter "SMILE" medicine that we could harmless give our kids that would make them deliriously happy and obedient for half an hour....

I thought she had some great tips, and so I decided our next shoot would be in our living room, no shoes, and I let Adeline choose her own clothes. I just tried to work around that, and we had a third person come in with the sole job of making the kids laugh. I think it worked. I'll share those later, but in the mean time, you can see the few we won't be sending (7 of 262).

 

However, Mary did get some great shots of the two people in our family who can follow instructions.

 

Thanksgiving printables

Emily, of Jones Design Company, offered these beautiful tags to print last week on her blog. I already had the tree but nothing to go on it, and these little tags were so much prettier than the circle punch tags I was going to make! I think we even have the same little iron pot (or is it an urn?) to put our tree in, only hers is painted. I'm loving this simple decoration proclaiming thankfulness.

And joy of joys, starting tomorrow she plans a week of Christmas printables and tutorials.

recap of the week

I get the feeling that most people aren't busy reading blogs on Saturday. I wonder if that changes in the colder months. Even so, Saturday seems to be the only time I can get around to it. Today is cold, I am on my second cup of tea, and the kids are playing with Thomas' new birthday toys. It's rare to have a lazy morning, but this is one of those days and I love it. Editing pictures from the week, catching up on emails and blog reading. A fire is roaring. It makes up for our very full week!

It's been a week of visits and company, including a dinner with my brother, Kyle. I haven't seen him in several years, but we had such a great evening together. He was a natural with the kids, and as soon as he left they were asking when they would see him again.

I wanted to make rosemary skewered shishkabobs for dinner, even though it was 40 degrees outside- not exactly grilling weather. Trying to skewer the meat and veggies on all those leaves was tearing everything apart (and then it was falling off) so I stripped the leaves down except for the last two inches or so, and then it worked like a charm. Grilled rosemary has the best smell, and it looks so pretty as a main dish on the table. 

  

On Thursday, my brother Winston flew in to stay with us until Christmas. He is will be helping Warren build a hoop house for the chickens (and then later for the garden) and serving other families in our church. I've never had a brother stay with us for an extended time, only sisters. The only difference seems to be in how much a 19 year old boy eats. I'm sure there are other differences, he just hasn't been here long enough.

Book club was on Thursday night, and we discussed How Green Was My Valley and then watched the 1941 film version. I think I'm glad I read it (still reading it, actually...haven't made it to page 499 yet) but wouldn't recommend it, and the movie was a little on the slow side. It was interesting to see a picture of life in a mining community in Wales, but the book is filled with scandal and terrible relationships. There isn't really a hero, and from what I hear, no resolution to so many of the problems that arise in the book. Interesting, but probably not worth your time.  If it's your favorite book, so sorry for degrading it, but I'd love to hear why.

Last night was the big birthday bash for these two guys:

Thomas really understood what was going on for the first time this year, and he was so fun to watch. He kept saying about his presents, "Do I get to keep all this?" He seemed delighted with every single present, and the whole day he jumped around excitedly. (Except for the few times I had to take him aside and remind him that he couldn't cry if he wanted to, even if it was his party. He is still three.)

Birthday waffles with chocolate chips

Loving his new Thomas the Train underwear

No one looks great first thing in the morning, but I love this picture because it really captures their personalities

 

Just a family party, with 12 kids...next year, it will be 14!

No fancy cake for him this year, just cupcakes with a little Thomas the Train topper. I put my energy into the adult food this year- ribs (from our pig!), Warren made homemade fries, salad, and artisan bread. Chocolate peanut butter mousse cake was the grand finale...and we all waddled to bed.

Happy 33rd, with themed drinks (thanks to WH's sister)

A real razor -and some bandaids for good measure- was just one of his many thoughtful gifts.

 Birthdays are a blast (even if a little exhausting), and now we can look forward to Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and the real birth day of the newest member of our family!