Mission: Christmas Photoshoot...

These pictures are awful...unedited and weren't even shot super correctly. I was in a hasty hurry to try and get something decent of my kids for our Christmas cards and I did manage through the magic of photoshop...but I wanted to show you all what a challenge it was to get a decent pic of my Bets. Sheeeesh! Thank goodness for help from my mom, but we were exhausted by the end of this!

 

 Betsey's tights were too small and kept falling down. My mom made a game of pulling up her tights, lifting her in the air by the waist of her tights. We hoped this would make for a happy Betsey for pics, but nope!

 

 This one was the winner I think...in the pre-editing version.

 Pointing and wanting and demanding...

 This is how she looks when she realizes you are going to give her what she wants.

 

 At least the bells are still festive looking!

Oh what fun it is to brush your sister's hair. No thank you!

Santa...

We didn't expect Santa and Betsey to get along this year, and sure enough...we got to the front of the line, and she wouldn't even stand by Santa and hold Ruby's hand. Nope. None of it. So Santa waved goodbye and walked a distance away and the three kids sat in his chair for a picture...and Santa snuck behind them. Cute. Betsey almost wouldn't even cooperate for that...see previous post about what I want for Christmas. She doesn't cooperate for the camera. So with some amazing skills, the photographer got her sitting and smiling and she was oblivious that Santa was even there. THEN, we were going for the "drop her on his lap and take a few of her screaming" pictures. Only...she didn't scream! I don't actually think that she realized when I set her back down that she was on a lap...she just never looked his way and all was well...smiles ON SANTA'S LAP! Even the photographer was shocked. Secret weapon? An angry bird stuffed animal being tossed in the air. Who knew? Wish me luck on Wednesday because I'm going to try and get some pics of all three together.

Ruby's Birthday Party...

So Ruby is turning 9 on November 30th. I can't believe my baby is 9. I'll post more about that on her birthday. We had an insanely busy and loud and exciting and dramatic birthday party for her. Shoot, she had only a handful of friends at the beg. of the school year, but I started a co-op with a few of my friends and I recruited families that have girls her age and she had SIX friends just from co-op. She had Kiley, Ella and Shaylyn, her friends from church and another girl, Aliyah and a friend from up north, Mikaeli. She would have loved for her cousins, Sarah, Hailey and Mattie to be there, dont' think that she didn't express this even though she knew it wasn't likely due to the long distances. Anyway, we had a little, disorganized and non-themey party with no decorations but when you throw in 16 little girls, you don't need much more.

We started with pizza. Then we painted nails. Thankfully, my new co-op friend, Melanie stayed to help me because Chris was gone and I was WAY OUTNUMBERED! After nail painting, we opened presents and had cupcakes, then tried to settle in to watch one of Ruby's favorite movies, Secretariat...but there was just too much to be thrilled about and the girls didn't settle down. They just talked over the movie and ripped into Ruby's new toys and had a great time.

While we were waiting for all the nails to get done, some girls were done and getting out of control...so we had them play duck, duck goose. Phew!

Ella getting her nails painted by Melanie.

Cupcakes...I made chocolate filled cupcakes for the first time. Tasty and fun.

Oh, Ruby wanted a slumber party feel even though we don't do overnighters. Her friends brought jammies and changed after nail painting.

Make a wish...

Ruby was super excited about each one of her presents. People really nailed what she wanted and it all had something to do with earrings, jewelry, horses or more horses or other accessories and more jewelry. IT was perfect. She was thrilled.

Oh, and clothing with glitter and the word "Rock" or "Girls" is always a big hit.

What 9 year old wouldn't love some frangranced nail polish!??

A cozy pillow pet.

I was worried about kids having a hard time sharing Ruby's attention, as she usually plays with people one-on-one. Ruby initially didn't want a birthday party because she said that she feels bad at people's parties when she doesn't really get to play with her friend because they are so distracted by other people. She said she didn't want any of her friends to feel that way, so she just wanted a few special play dates one-on-one. I agreed, but after she saw the gift getting that Alice enjoyed at her party, she decided she could hang with a party. Hahaha. She is a super sweet girl, and she made sure her friends all felt special.

All I want for Christmas...

...is a gorgeous picture of my three gorgeous babies together. I shouldn't be greedy, I do have one gorgeous shot of them together, but it is over a year old and I want an update with Betsey all big. I have tried. A lot. It is a ton of work to prep three little girls for a photoshoot, and every time I get them all ready either I'm too late and up against nap time, or I'm so put out by the prepping process that I just don't have anything left in me (okay, if I was really done with it, I'd do it no matter what, but someone will be in the shower and the other will be in the hair drying process when the baby gripes so much and so loud I give up).

I had the goal a few weeks ago, and we went to my mom's house to get her help and nail something. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we were all ready pretty early, and it hadn't been too hard to accomplish due to dear mom's help. But Betsey knew what I was after and she WOULD NOT give it to me. She wasn't distracted or happy about any of the things we were ready with to make her happy. It just didn't work, and we knew it was an epic fail when we gave up. BAH!

 This shot would be cute if I had others to group it with, but nope.

 Close, but Alice and Betsey need to be looking up and happy. I don't even care if they look at me, but happy and eyes open and chin up so I can see their faces would be essential.

 Okay, these two would pose for me all day, every day. They are so good to me.

Below is actually the first attempt...The pics of the three girls together are mine, the others below are from another photographer, Tina Flores, who offered to try and catch some happy shots of Betsey, which I thought was impossible. She did get some stuff...

I'd say I might like that last one well enough to print it. It's pretty cute. She's walking, she's happy and I think it is a nice shot in general. YAY. One of Bets.

I haven't given up. I have a plan for November 30th when my mom is coming down for Ruby's birthday, and I may try again on December 5th by myself if I can't get anything on the 30th. We are doing it in the studio, so I'll be able to keep them warm, let them dress up and play and I'll just hope something good goes down. Root for me on the 30th.

Bronkin' Bruno...Buckin' Bronco...

I think when I was little, maybe Buckin' Bronco was the original name for riding on dad's back like he is a rodeo horse, but all I know is we all called it "Bronkin' Bruno" my whole life. Chris doesn't get as crazy with our kids and my dad did with us, he's pretty convinced someone will break something...but they still have a good time.

I couldn't find a pic of me on my dad's back, though I know they exist. Here he is with Robb on his back, Jeff is on the couch. We liked to wear a cowboy hat, sometimes I put on some cowgirl boots. We took it pretty seriously.

Potty training...

Chris and I are a team, right? However, one of us is with the kids 24/7 and one of us is with them primarily when they are sleeping. What does this mean? This means that I, the one who is always with them gets to make certain choices about how things go down with the kids. It is true, Betsey does always seem to tell us when she is going to the bathroom. She will say, "pooh, pooh?" and that, we assume, means that she is either going number one or number two.

Chris suggested we put her on the potty every time she says that. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. No, I will not try and train my 20 month old baby to go in the potty. Diapers are a mom's best friend. No changes of clothes in the diaper bag, no running through the mall looking for the nearest bathroom with a child in my arms clutching her privates, no pee on the carpet or refusals to wear diapers...no. At least not until it is generally accepted that those things will lead to successful training. On average that isn't until age 3. I have plenty of time. Still, it was kind of cute to get her on the potty...oh wait, she didn't really ever even agree to sit on it. Still cute though!

I love that gut on my baby!