Say cheeeese

Scene:                 JC Penny Portrait Studio

Characters:        1 very well behaved toddler and 2 very surprised parents

So we had or family pictures done yesterday and Noah was so well behaved, Mike and I were wondering if a body snatcher took our son and replaced him with an angel.  He loved smiling for the camera and was intrigued by the lights.  Everytime the flash went off, he would laugh so much he was gasping for air. Who knew my son could sit still long enough to snap the picture, let alone have it be so cute I wanted to eat him up.  The photographer (who happened to be our friend)  thought I was a liar and did not believe me that Noah was going to be a challenge.  I went in there not expecting much and figure we would only get 1 decent picture if we were lucky, but I was shocked to see that EVERY picture was a good one of him.

My only demands:  That she captured a good picture of Noah.  I didn't care if there were props in there or she had to tie him down and dangle a cookie in front of him...just something cute to hang on the wall.....Mission Completed.

Next challenge:                
To get an updated family picture that didn't look like the other 2 we had....meaing all the same poses, just different outfits.  I wanted something fun and something that was us.....not forcibly posed.  Lucky for me I discovered the other day that Noah likes to sit on my back and ride me like a horse, and I thought this would be perfect for the picture.  He climbed aboard the daddy horse and thought it was the funniest thing ever.  Ahhh the things we do to get  our kids to smile!  Mommy couldn't be the horse because my shirt was alittle too low cut to be bending over.  Our nice respectable family picture would have turned into some weird and demented topic for Montel to talk about on his next show.  Why is Mommy flashing her ta-ta's?  So in the end, we ended with 2 nice family pics to choose from, and seeing as indecisive as I am, we got both.  

Now my new dilemma is figuring out where to put them. I had originally anticipated to replace the old ones with new ones and use the existing frames we have, HOWEVER JC Penny only sells 10x13 and all our frames are 11x14.  So do I put them next to the 11x14 and risk it looking funny?  Or do I just leave the old ones up and buy new frames for the new pictures?  Seeing as I have limited wall space you can see my frustration here.  Plus, while I love my family, I don't want the walls cover with huge 10x13's of every pic....ugh!  Why cant this just be simple.  I long for the day when we have our very own place (that we own) and plenty to wall space to put a gazillion pictures on.

And now I have to give JC Penny a plug.  We had a GREAT experience there.  Maybe it was because I wasn't expecting anything great and left with more then I had hoped for?  Or maybe it was that my son was on extra special good behavior?  Who knows, but it was wonderful.  

And the price was even better!  Here is what I got:

• 6 sheets of portraits including:

        3 10x13's
        2 5x7's
        4 3.5x5's (why couldn't they just make 4x6? Here is another frame dilemma)
        8 wallets

• Smiles by wire so we can view them online
• Membership club which is good for free sittings for 2 years
• 2 Free sittings for Mike and I (I had a coupon for Noah's)

For a grand total of.....ready....ready.......$16.92!  The fact that we know the girl that works there helped too.  But we dint go to get a discount.  I made the appointment and then when she called to confirm, we realized it was her.    I had a coupon for $4 a sheet and that is why we really chose that place.

I used to work at a photography studio which was great because when Noah was born, my boss gave me 1 years worth of free pictures of him and I highly took advantage of that.  Especially seeing as he is our first, I wanted to capture every moment I could and yes, I did dress him up in bunny ears for Easter.  A few months after having him, I quite the studio because it was too much working 2 jobs while taking care of a newborn, but my boss and I remained friends.  Then in November of last year I had went in for Christmas pictures, and while I knew the free picture offer had expired, I had no idea she was going to charge me full price for EVERYTHING!  I mean, I worked for her for almost 3 years, helped her out when he other photographer quit, and even spent time with her family on their boat during the summers....I thought we were friends and I wasn't just an employee.  So for 50 cards and 3 sheets of pictures she charged me $150!  I was shocked and have not been back since.  I wouldn't do that to a friend and I was hurt she did. I guess now that I didn't work for her, there was no reason to still talk.  its just very sad.

So if you are looking for pictures that are nice AND affordable, go see Barbara at JC Penny's!

(Hopefully when I get my Smiles by Wire login email, I can upload some pictures from our photo shoot)