Christmas Card Photo FAIL

In efforts to always keep it real, I thought I'd share our top Christmas Card Photo FAILS from our mini shoot last weekend.  My mom and dad were the ever-patient photogs.  Both have a love for photography, so I handed over my Canon Rebel to Mom and Dad used his own, and between 3 memory cards and over 300 snaps we were able to get some great choices for our annual Christmas card.  Howevs, there were MANY bombs.  Instead of just deleting those, I thought they deserved their own special spot on the blogiverse.

Photo Fail #1: 
Parents smiling at cameras, kids most definitely NOT.

Photo FAIL #2: 
Kids running away. Dad being patient. Mom with psycho smile at camera.

Photo Fail #3:  
Great backlighting.  Amazing effort from children to totally disregard commands to look at the camera.

Photo Fail #4: 
Both kids screaming like banshees. Devyn looks like a lunatic. I kind of love it!
It was SO HARD to find a pic of this child with her beautiful smile and looking at the camera. She is so very 16 months old. Focus = not an option! 

And so, so many more. Those were my faves. There were so many of Cade's gorgeous smile, but I settled for the card pic I chose because Devyn looks calm and sweet.... um, and my hair being the close second requirement to what pic makes the cut for the card. 

Anyways, for all you parents out there who struggled through your own family photo shoot, this post is dedicated to you!  Kudos.  I really truly love the photo cards I get in the mail, it's what makes every day of this holiday season so special. I love the pics of newlywed couples, sweet dog pics, pics of whole families, pics of just the kids. I. LOVE. PHOTO CARDS.  They all go into a special holiday album that I started last year and will be organized by year so we can see the families of our friends grow up. They are so special to me. I love my mom's photo album that she had growing up and looking back on the pics of our family's friends from the 80s and 90s.

Happy holiday! 9 more days of shopping, gotta run and get to it!
love ya,
Hil