McKinstry Christmas Pics

Yep! We did it again....another photo shoot. 

When my cousin Stacey heard we were going to the mall to take our Christmas photos, she responded,"You all are some picture taking people if I've ever seen any!" And, it's true! But for good reason this time...

I had an $18 Big Bundle coupon from The Picture People to receive a package of six sheets, PLUS an additional coupon to get a free CD with all the images captured during the session. I figured that with both the CD and the rights to the photos, it was a great opportunity to go ahead and have some shots taken that we could use for our Christmas cards this year. (You have to admit, you can't get a much better deal than that!)

While this picture session didn't put any strain on our wallets, our nerves were about shot by the time we finished. You think that between the maternity shoot and the newborn one that I would have learned my lesson, but I thought it would be easier this time since I had our outfits already picked out and ready in advance. That was the easy part though. Getting everyone clothed, in a good mood, and smiling were the toughies. 

We, of course, couldn't dress our little ones before getting there for the risks of wrinkled outfits and baby spit-up (or worse). So, after arriving, we quickly had to find a place to change everyone. Usually we do this in the back of our Honda Pilot or somewhere in the studio, but this particular day it was freezing outside and the studio did not have a bathroom. Thankfully, I found a dressing room at Macy's and drug the whole family into it while we rushed to change. To complicate the process even more, nursing the baby was also thrown in the mix at this point to make sure he was happy and ready for some photos. 

Finally, we made it though!...Then, came the wiggles...and the tears! Caleb, being the little ham that he is, had a hard time staying focused on the task at hand and was wiggling all over the place giggling at the photographer. On the other end of the spectrum, Hadley, our normally happy girl, must have a particular dislike of picture studios or something because she was once again in no mood to smile. Clinging to Daddy and trying to play with the props was much more up her alley. 

Exhausted after trying and trying and trying to get good shots, we resigned and decided to see what the photographer had, dreading that she had come up empty handed. (I mean how could she capture anything decent with all that craziness?!?!) Defeated, I went off to another empty studio to nurse Reid again while Dave wrangled the other two who were at meltdown stage at this point. 

But, to my surprise, this girl was better than I imagined. We actually ended up with some really good shots (and we all even look sane)!  

We were so busy making sure the other two were looking at the camera and smiling though that Reid looks a little hunkered over in some of these shots. But, what are you going to do? Thanks for taking on for the team, Reid - you little good boy!

Reid was actually a REALLY good baby throughout the whole process. I love this sweet boy!

And though he's a handful, I love this boy too! You can tell from some of these shots just how much fun he was having with the photographer. While it might have made picture taking a little harder, I'm definitely thankful he has such a cute sense of humor.

His playful personality is exactly what we needed to get Hadley in a good mood and smiling again too. Since she is in to copying him a lot these days, his goofy games were contagious.

Having a Christmas tree and candy canes to play with helped as well!

The photographer even took us back in for a few more individual shots of Hadley after the fact since she didn't get any good ones of her by herself previously. It took some doing but with the help of some more props, we ended up with a few cute ones of Miss Priss here too.

Glad we did it, but next year I'm thinking pajama pictures at home....

Operation Christmas Child

As I've mentioned in previous posts, we try each month to have some type of outing as a family. For the month of November, I wasn't sure at first exactly how that would work with having a small baby in addition to two other young children, but I began brainstorming low key activities that might work for us, hoping we could keep up this monthly bonding habit.

Finally, I got it!

Every year, our church participates in Operation Christmas Child, a ministry organized by Samaritan's Purse, to help spread the gospel by providing needy children around the world with shoe boxes packed full of goodies. We took part in this program at our church in Maryland and have continued to be involved with it each year that we've been in Virginia. As a family activity, I thought this would be a great opportunity not only to get out and do something together, but also to teach our children about giving to others. 

We began preparing Caleb for the trip by explaining that we'd be going to the store to purchase toys for children who needed them. He caught on quickly and throughout the day kept talking about buying toys for kids who didn't have any toys, eager to get to work accomplish this task. While Hadley and Reid are too little to really understand what all this was about, it was wonderful to see how much enthusiasm Caleb had about gathering toys for needy children. 

Since the items purchased have to be small in order to fit into a shoe box, the Dollar Tree is always a great place to look. Once we arrived, Caleb could hardly wait to get to the toy aisle to start. 

The first items Caleb found were a variety of balls. One after another they went into the cart until Mommy had to say, "That's enough!" Disregarding my attempt to set a limit, I think quite a few more went into our buggy as we lingered in the toy aisle. Rather than dull their enthusiasm, I just let the kids do their thing and came behind them to empty a few of the excess items I thought we could do without.

At first, Hadley was contained in the double stroller with Reid so we could keep everyone together, but eventually I talked her Daddy into letting her get down and help put things in the cart too. She was a little bit of a mess and kept running away, but she had to get in on the action, right?

Yay! Hadley got to put something in the cart!

Here comes a girl with a jump rope mission.

Reid did his part by sleeping so we could focus on keeping up with the other two and make sure we gathered everything we needed.

Every kid needs crayons!

What good helpers!

This family undertaking actually ended up being a two day activity. The second part of getting these toys to the children they were intended for was packing the shoe boxes. In the past, we usually just wrapped and packed our boxes at home, but this year we decided it might be more fun for the kids if we went to the church and took part in the packing party they were holding.

The kids who receive these boxes often don't have basic toiletry items, so we made sure to purchase those items and load them into the boxes first. Even if some of the toys don't fit, we make sure the toothpaste, toothbrushes, and soap do. Caleb is putting soap in the baggies while Ms. Kelli holds them open. 

Toys are important too. Here Caleb is adding a jump rope to the box his Sunday school teacher, Ms. Jennifer, is holding.

Lots of helping hands made everything go quickly.

Here's Hadley adding a box of crayons to the mix. (For the most part though, she was busy running around the fellowship hall wearing her daddy out!)

Gotta make sure to throw in some candy!

 When we were at the dollar store, Caleb was very interested in getting a Slinky for himself since we told each child they could pick one treat to keep. In the end though, both he and Hadley ended up choosing balloons instead, and he had to leave the toy behind. Thinking quickly, I ended up throwing the beloved Slinky in the cart when he wasn't looking, planning to use it as a stocking stuffer for him later. However, I forgot to take it out of the bags and it ended up at the church with the rest of the goodies to be given away. Right when we were done packing though, I noticed Caleb had one of the toy Slinkys we'd purchased in hand and realized what had happened. Since I had really bought it for him anyway (not to mention he'd been such a good helper and the boxes were pretty full), I let him keep it. You can tell by his face in this picture that he was one happy boy.

Reid didn't get to stuff shoe boxes with the big kids, but he did get to snuggle with our pastor's wife. 

Our goal was 75 shoe boxes and by the end of the party 96 boxes were packed, prayed over, and ready to go!

This is a good ministry and the opportunity to serve in this way was a great activity for our family. It's definitely something we plan to keep taking part in for years to come.