Picture Perfect

I have been trying for weeks to get our Christmas card picture taken. First Ian had the flu, then Colin had the flu. Then for a one short day I thought our time with the flu was over, but then Colin started all over again. So I just kept putting it off. While I was busy putting it off our favorite time of year managed to sneak up on us, Brett's finals. For those of you who have experienced this wonderful time of year know it is a lot like hunting season for us wives. Where the prize catch is the elusive husband who only comes home to sleep, and it back out of the house before the crack of dawn. I would have just taken the picture myself, since we decided to just do one of the boys, but those of you who know Brett and his love of photography know that it was just not an option. Brett managed to get his studying done a little early yesterday and came home to take the picture for me. I tried everything I could to make sure this would go as quickly and as smoothly as possible, but it just wasn't in the cards. We only managed to get like 2 shots before both kids were crying for unexplained reasons.

We managed to calm Colin down almost instantly, but Ian threw himself to his knees and cried and cried.

I finally had to get out my digital camera and let him hold it on his lap to get him to smile. At last both boys were smiling, but they looked really awkward, so I tried to get them to open their mouths a little and smile. This is what I got.

Well that obviously doesn't work, so I told them to close their mouths a little, and this is what I got.

Finally I just left the room and let Brett work his dad magic. The minute I get to the top of the stairs I hear all this laughter, and then the counting began. Brett decided to play a game with them were they would count to ten and when they reached ten he would kick his shoes in the air. For some reason this made the boys break into never ending giggles. The brilliant part of this plan is Brett would take a picture when they would get to 3, and since saying three is a lot like saying cheese the boys were smiling in each and every picture. (I tell you sometimes it takes a child to make this kind of thing work.) Brett did manage to get some really great pictures out of them. The only problem with some of the later ones turned out to be Ian's afro!

Next year I am taking our Christmas card pictures in July!!