Outtakes 2009

Today, I received the girls' Christmas dresses I ordered on Etsy.  They are adorable!  With some good afternoon light from my bedroom window, I thought I'd just throw the dresses on and attempt a card picture.  Knowing my children, I had low expectations for this shoot, done all by myself, too close to dinner time.  Though the bribe of my coveted Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream did hold Emery down for a few pictures, it didn't seem to do much for Eve:

Most of my pictures ended up looking like this:

or this:

Then there was this one with the long faces:

The one of her laughing at my desperation:

And, of course, the obligatory screaming baby photo:

Then the child who knows how to walk got up to chase the cat and terrorize the dogs, so the child who was held captive by pilsbury legs allowed me this sweet glance:

And that, apparently, is as good as it gets for Christmas cards this year.

How is it, my resourceful friends, that you get your little ones to take holiday pictures?  I'm afraid I'm in dire need of your secrets.