Breaking tradition (Finally!)

Every year since Tyler was born, we have gone to Sears for Christmas pictures. When we first started, we had friendly photographers who were good at their job. Over the years, things have gone downhill. The latest photographers take too long to get out of the blankety-blank way when the kids smile, they are loud and scary instead of cute and funny (like they think they are trying to be). The problem is that Sears does a very good job of lighting and such. That is, despite the people taking the pictures, the photos are professional.

This year, we decided to try our own hand at Christmas pictures. It went very well for our first time, I think. We learned a lot, and if we make THIS our tradition, I will be buying some better lighting equipment to help us out. The indoor pictures were just too dark, and no matter what we tried to do to fix them, nothing seemed to be able to get enough light going. The camera's flash only served to make things worse.

The outdoor pictures were great! I have gotten away from posting too many pictures of the kids online, but I'll throw some up here this time...

We decided to use two of the pictures for our Christmas cards this year, and we ordered the cards through Walmart.com. Our cost? $20... Yeap, a whole $20 for 50 cards... Sorry, but it is hard to beat that! I can't wait to see them on Monday when I pick them up from the photo center!

(Shan was the photographer - I carried stuff, fixed hair, provided "motivation" for the kids to smile, etc...)