Ho, Ho, Ho...

Although we managed to get our "formal" pictures done for Christmas, we didn't get a chance to get Cub's pic with Santa. I finally realized this on CHRISTMAS EVE when I got home from work early. So, after I got home from work and stuffed my face a little bit, I got the li'l Cub dressed and headed over to the mall. Now, for the SECOND day in a row, I thought this would be a good idea. You know, going to the mall?! Oh boy... luckily, getting there and parked was uneventful and we HIGHTAILED it to Santa.

As soon as I got closer to the end of the line, I saw it. A sign, blocking the entrance. "SANTA IS TAKING A BREAK AT 3:00P". Oh CRAP! I started thinking in my head: "hm, 3pm, it's now 2:30p.. they close at 6pm... what to do, what to do... Cub needs a nap... hm..." Then, as I decided and was just about to walk away, this young girl (way too young to be a mom although she had two boys with her) in front of me said, "I just got in line anyway". Oh! *smacking my forehead* Sure, why not? I mean, this sign isn't the LAW, right? The mall cop isn't going to drive by on his Segway and drag me away in handcuffs are they? So I scooched the sign over a bit and got in line preparing to wait.

Pretty soon, I looked behind me and the line kept getting longer and longer! In only 15 minutes that line DOUBLED! I was relieved I got in line instead of walking away, because I probably would not have came back and missed the opportunity of a lifetime!!! So, to make this long story short - we finally got a pic of the sweet, outgoing Cubby sitting on Santa's lap:

Yep. Believe it. Our friendly little Cubby was NOT having it. Poor Santa, I sure hope his feelings weren't hurt too bad! *sigh* A very different photo this year than last year that's for sure:

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!!! :))

Happy Holidays!

So I finally made the appointment. Yep, the one where I'm supposed to get Cub's one-year photos? Oh, so I'm two months behind and decided, "Let's cram in a family photo and holiday photos too"! WTF was I thinking? We went to the Picture People. This is only our second time. The first time we went there, the girl who did Cub's photos was AWESOME and the pics I thought came out super adorable! When I called hoping to get the same girl, I was informed she no longer worked there! So they gave me an "experienced" photographer this time. Let me just say - I have no idea where her experience came from but it wasn't from posing or taking pictures.

We started off with our "family" photos and was so focused on Cub, she didn't even make note that my necklace clasp was turned around or take note of my head position/body position and whether or not me or my husband were smiling. She kept trying to get him to smile which did not work.

I finally told her it really didn't matter if his hand was in front of his face, if she waited for him to put it down she'd never get a pic! FINALLY she started snapping photos. I was NOT THRILLED with ANY of our family photos. Even Cub's pics were so-so. She had no imagination, offered props but never brought them out and only used two backgrounds the whole time. Some dark colored one and a white background.

THANK GOD I brought my own props for us and Cub or I would have been a sobbing, furious mess. Cub's pics came out OK - he's too cute to NOT want to buy any, but they weren't spectacular. I was very disappointed but at least we got these cute ones, right?

The original was a full color photo - I decided I would test out my amazing Photoshop skills on this one. What do you think?

... and here's his innocent, "I swear I was good!" look. :)