Baumhover Babble: Frustrating... but worth the lesson

Do you know how hard it is to get two kids dressed in their Christmas best (which also involved making a hair bow at the last minute), load them into the car, drive to the mall, sit them on Santa's lap without tears, have them both look at the camera, smile for the camera, walk through the mall with a 3 year old running loose (chasing her 3 year old friend), eat lunch, and get home for naps... all in a two hour window? Well, it's pretty much impossible, but I did it today (minus getting the smiles) and I was so proud of myself... that is until I got home and realized a few hours later that I had NO idea where the two photos I paid way too much for of Santa with my non-smiling children (darn right pouting in Aubrey's case) were. Of course, because they stick you with a crazy price for a picture, they let you take your own photos if you have a camera... and luckily I did. But I'm still peeved that I lost the pictures somewhere in the mall. Not to mention it creeps me out a bit to think of who may have the pictures of my children.

So, I just sat down to load the photos of dear ole Santa onto the computer and remembered I hadn't loaded the bazillion photos I took of the two kids the other night, again, all dressed up in hopes of "the" photo for our Christmas card. Well, turns out those are missing too. Then I remembered my camera telling me I needed to format my card when I was taking a few photos before the whirlwind trip to the mall. I didn't realize at the time that I hadn't emptied the card yet... so format I did. AGH.

What did I do to annoy the photo elves. I just need ONE good photo, I don't need one more photoshoot. I've already had to wash the Christmas outfits twice. Come on already! Thanks Alice for the beautiful dress. We're certainly getting our use out of it :).

However, I have a huge smile as I picture my successful trip out of the house today, and as I picture my sweet little babies all dressed up. It is the moment that matters and I'm trying to remember that these days. I sometimes get so caught up in taking the best photos, that I don't actually enjoy what is happening. Is it all for the camera? I'm guilty of that for sure. A good lesson this holiday season. Enjoy your loved ones, have FUN in the moment, and capture it in your heart. If you get the photo too, it's gravy.

Santa looks about as miserable as the kids. Poor Aubrey was almost shaking. She was so excited to see Santa, but I'm not sure she actually knew what that meant!