Frustrations!

After our busy day yesterday we decided to miss church so that we could take the boys Christmas card pictures. I know that we shouldn't have missed church for this but I only have Hubs two days a week and if I'm looking at it that way there are only 4 more days until Christmas.

Friday night after the boys went to bed I set up my little 'studio'. I was hoping to take pictures first this Saturday morning. After testing it out on Friday night I found out that there was no way we were going to be able to take the boys pictures at our house. Our house is just too small (even with all the furniture moved around). To get the bokeh that I wanted I needed more space...a lot more space.

Here are my trial shots. I used Hubs dog as my subject.

First thing wrong - I didn't have enough lights to cover enough space. When we were running our errands on Saturday we picked up net lighting. It was the last box there and the box was torn. Hubs mentioned he was a little worried about it, but I was thrilled we found net lights because I didn't want to weave the lights up and down like I had already done and it would cover a wider space. Second thing, I needed the dog to be further away from the lights, but like I mentioned earlier.. not enough space.

This one is a little bit better - I just like that there aren't any light reflections on his body.

So since we weren't able to take pictures on Saturday morning like originally planned we decided that Sunday would be the next best day.

Sunday morning after the boys woke up and we gathered all of the supplies we headed over to my moms house. When we got there we moved some of the furniture around and while the boys ran around the house with Hubs I taped the lights to the wall. Before taping Hubs was smart enough to plug our new lights in to make sure they all worked. I'm sure you can guess... not even a third of the package lit. Of course I was furious.

We did bring our (not enough) lights with us in case we needed more than the net lights. So I figured I would try that out. Maybe with the space that I needed it would be ok. I spaced the lights away further apart than I did Friday night. After I was just about done taping Hubs said he would check the attic and shed to see if my mom had any. The awesome man came back with a huge strand of lights. Yea for hubs.

So after taking down what I already put up and putting up the new strand I was finally ready to go. I added a little white blanket and some plastic ornaments just to be hanging out in the background. I wasn't planning on them being see, but I wanted them there just incase...

Once I got all the props where I wanted them I called the boys in so I could begin our 'session'. The first thing they did was run over to the 'balls' and throw them around the room. It was actually really cute. I would have loved to get some good pictures of it, but of course I didn't.

I will let you know now.. NONE of my pictures came out. It was torturous! The boys did not stand or sit still for more than 4 seconds. By the time I was able to focus they ran away. I like to lay on my belly when I take pictures of them (so that I am closer to their level) I can't really do that anymore. Being almost 5 months pregnant makes it hard.

Here are the failed attempts of our photo shoot. I thought it would be 'fun' to share my fails.. ugh!

M in his new Christmas outfit. I think it is so cute. Except that his pants would fall off of his little bum within 3 steps. At one point they were around his ankles and he thought that was so funny. (Another frustration... the boys are too big for 18 month pants but 24 month and 2T fall off their cute little butts).

Here's G crawling on the little pillow chair I set out for them to sit on. This one would have been cute if he stopped moving so I could focus on his face rather than his cute little wrist.

I actually love this one of G. (Of course the top would need to be cropped down). Except for the fact that you can see the light wires. If they would have stood or sat where I wanted them to, and let me get to where I needed to be, you wouldn't be able to see those wires.

That is what the background is suppose to look like. That's the little silver pillow seat that I put out for them.

They were DONE! They were asking for a nap before we even left the house. Which should have been my duh moment that this was a bad idea for today...but NO Mama wanted to get her pictures done. Again they aren't where I needed them to be which caused the bright background instead of the balls of lights and the reflection of lights on their clothes.

I brought along this little dancing and singing snowman set to keep them entertained. I was hoping they would just be in awe of it (they are when we are home). But instead they didn't care...except for this 3 seconds.

By this time I was just taking pictures of them where ever they were. I would really like this one if there weren't light reflections on G.

It didn't take much longer to decide to pack it up and try again another day. I left the lights taped to the wall and I left all of the photo props. We gathered up everything else and headed out for the rest of our full day.

Before we left (while Hubs was bringing stuff to the car) I set up the snowmen and pretended they were my subjects. Just to remind myself I could get the picture that I wanted....

This one is my favorite.

After my attempts this morning I decided I need more lights on the wall (the width). The boys have gotten so big I need a big space... or a different camera lens... and since I just bought one a few months ago I think the lens is not an option right now... so I will string up a few more lights the next time we go over there to try and hope that helps.

After my frustrating morning we ran to the store to pick up some groceries. The boys were extremely unhappy but it had to be done. We were right there...there was no way we were going to drive by... the next time we would be there would be next Sunday and I really didn't want to make a special trip there with the boys by myself this week. I have too many other trips I have to make.

After the store we went out to eat. We had SO much fun together... :) Highlight of my day!

The boys fell asleep in the car on the way home. This is a whole other (cute, yet frustrating) story ...

After they woke up we decided to put lights on the tree.

G searching for lights.

Daddy stringing the lights.

G watching his Daddy.

M helping untangle the lights.

M
G
M put the angel on the tree. Yes we did put the angel up before any ornaments. We actually didn't put the ornaments on yet. We were all so tired.

And yes, we took the angel down so that G could do it too. Hubs and I both said, how can we pick who gets to do it. So we didn't. They both did it and they both loved it. I love how M is standing and watching.

Our cute little tree.

To end our day we read our Day 4 Advent book. We skipped a lot of parts, just read the main bits, but the boys loved it. I knew they wouldn't sit through the entire book, but I knew they would love it. They love trains. The whole time they were saying train sounds and pointing at the train. Then when we got to the page with Santa they both squealed, 'SANTA'. After reading it they stayed on Daddy's lap to look at all the pictures again.

After a long, frustrating, tiring, yet still loving day I am ready for bed! Night all :)