Look at mommy!

How many times can a mom say that and not go crazy over the fact that no one looked at her!?

Christmas picture time. I made the mistake of picking out some cute, glittery Christmas cards at Sams Club several months ago. One of those dumb purchases that I have made in the past. I always seem to forget that it is so much easier to just take a good picture of the kids/family and then have cards made at Wal-mart or Snapfish or somewhere that does them. Sadly, because then it takes a little of the personal nature of them away, you can even have them personalized with a greeting so that they don't have to be individually signed! What could be better for a busy mom of 3?

So, months ago I had these cards, and started addressing them in early November. I wanted to be able to take pictures and then just stuff the envelopes full and stick them in the mail. One thing I didn't do in early November was sign all the cards! So yesterday was spent signing all the cards and making sure that glitter got in every room of the house. I think we are all really sparkley today and will probably continue to be for a week or so. I didn't get cards with just a little bit of glitter on them, like to make the snow flakes shine or the stars twinkle...no, these cards are covered in glittery goodness.

Yesterday I had the kids outside and tried to get them to all look at me and smile at the same time. It would have been easier to get 3 monkeys to look at me and smile. It was crazy. Aidan was bored after about 5 shots, so taking close to 50 wasn't really making him too happy. Alora was collecting sticks, cause every girl needs a handful of sticks. Aralyn was just fascinated. Not with the trees and the leaves or with her mother whistling, yelling, singing, dancing, sprinkling pine needles and leaves over her head to get her attention, but with the ground! What lovely ground! Dirt, leaves, sticks, and pine needles! Wow!

Finally after several poses and doing everything I could think of to get their attention, I came away with 4 or 5 decent shots to choose from. I went online during nap time and ordered some pictures and some cards (since I didn't buy enough of the glittery good ones) and had them one-houred to the local Wal-mart so that I could pick them up this morning.

While stuffing envelopes at Adam's office, Alora spilled a HUGE cup of water all over the table and my lap. I was able to salvage all but one of the cards since it was soaked all the way. After removing ice and water from them, I thought for sure half of them would be ruined! Thankfully, not and I had enough extra cards to replace the one that was. Some of the envelopes will look a bit worse for the wear...since they were wet, but I will just leave people to assume that the postal service is to blame!

I sure hope everyone loves their cards. Every one that I get with more than one child in a picture, I will appreciate even more! We mothers sure do a lot to make sure everyone can see these cute little ones of ours!