Old Navy Jacket (sold out, similar here) | Leggings (on sale) | Hunter Boots | Craig’s Sweater | Craig’s Boots (on sale) | Ella’s Jacket | Ella’s Denim (on sale) | Ella’s Mittens (on sale) | Ella’s Bow Boots (on sale) | Noah’s Jacket | Noah’s Denim (on sale) | Noah’s Hightops (on sale) | Reindeer Hats
I truly hope you’ve all been enjoying the holidays with your loved ones, it can be such a busy & emotional time of year and it is so important to take the time to appreciate what we have and who we can enjoy it with! My family is my world, I hope that from my blog you know that of me and I feel so blessed to be able to share some of my world with you all and that you care to read about it! I wanted to tell you all about the behind the scenes of this family shoot. As parents of two wonderful little ones, trying to get glamorous photos is not what we strive for. I’ve mentioned that candid photos are my favourite and it’s for a variety of reasons, the smiles are the best and our kids get to just “be” as they are. I am lucky my photographer enjoys taking photos of the kids and us in our element! I knew this year that I wanted our family photos to be at the tree farm where we were married, it is such a beautiful location with a ton of space. We had this shoot planned for a couple of months and of course on the day of the shoot the weather was horrible!!! It was incredibly cold and I am not about to bring the kids into a blizzard for photos so we had to reschedule. I have no babysitter or nanny, neither of the kids are in daycare so whatever needs to be done is done with my two littles in two 24/7 and youIf you’ve worked with photographers before you know they are usually very busy, luckily my friend Cait was able to squeeze in a couple of hours during the week and Craig joined us on his lunch break to make it work! Now, I have to share how this day went down with you all so you can really understand when I say things aren’t always glamorous in a photo shoot – I mean we are lucky that our photographer does her job well and got some precious shots for us that I will cherish forever but you’ve gotta know how it all went down prior to…
Scheduled shoot time: 11:00am
Noah wakes up at 5am crying and upset – he would like to nurse and just keep nursing foreeverrrrr, he wakes up Ella and for that she is not in good spirits.
8 ish after snacks all morning I cook breakfast Noah throws his bowl of yoghurt & berries across the room…and then he does the same with his glass of water (he likes to drink from a big boy cup).
8:30am: Noah won’t let me put him down without crying at the top of his lungs, Ella isn’t in the mood to share her toys. So I carry Noah and try to get a load of laundry in, I am behind about 3 loads deep.
9am: Noah has a diaper blowout and while I am changing him I fail to make it to the washroom with Ella in time & she has #1 an accident
9:30am: I think to myself, “okay a half an hour to do my hair, makeup and get the kids dressed into their outfits for photos – I can do this!”…I try to get Ella dressed while her little brother is climbing my back and pulling my hair in the process (hair being pulled- my least favourite thing ever). Ella refuses to wear the sweater dress I picked out for her and I try to change her mind for ten minutes she then refuses to wear anything claiming she is hot, now she wants to wear her jeans…I put her in the jeans. Now to get Noah dressed…again.
10am: Craig is home in a half an hour to get dressed and head to the photo shoot location with us, kids are changed and I do my makeup while Noah climbs my leg and Ella takes every last one of her book from her bookshelf…might I add that I haven’t had a second to clean up from breakfast…and I’d love to just go to the washroom, by myself – no chance. I haven’t been alone in a washroom for 3 years ha! Noah normally naps at 1pm lately but since he was up early he is exhausted and frustrated from teething.
10:35am: Craig gets home and casually walks in drinking an ice cap as I am running around like a mad woman who still hasn’t showered, brushed her teeth or hair…he doesn’t have a care in the world lol (will they ever “get it”?). I go to hand him Noah (who is crying – teething I’ve come to the conclusion) and he tells me he has to go to the washroom so badly…Oh EM Geeeeeee!!!! I run up with the kids and get myself dressed, brush my teeth, quickly brush my hair…might I add that this was our ONLY chance to get family photos, do I sound crazy yet lol?
10:45am: Kids are packed in the car and I go to start it and….the battery is DEAD. Don’t even ask me what I may have left on that drained the battery because I have absolutely NO IDEA. I start machine gun texting Craig about the car and that he has to come boost it and he is still on the toilet (can I get an OH EM GEEEE again!?!). We are now five minutes late, Cait is trying not to laugh hysterically as I call her having a meltdown…thank gosh for friends in the industry that have my sense of humour…I had to step out and close the car door so I could get a couple swear words out without the kids catching wind.
11:08am: Craig comes out and boosts the car, it’s running and we’re late.
11:14am: We arrive on location…Noah has passed out, my poor exhausted little dude. We decided to take him out of his seat and let him sleep in my arms, a cute family shot with the little guy sleeping right? No worries! Well, for the first time ever he wakes up when being taken out of the seat…here we go, family photos.
Well as you can see it was an excitement build up for our family shoot and honestly the kids were in amazing spirits when we started shooting with Cait…I had only had a second to brush my hair and throw half of it up – I even left the house in my comfy leggings without noticing. But oh well, this is real life…it’s beautifully chaotic as a parent and you have to just roll with it or it will swallow you up! I could have easily broken down and shed some tears (trust me) but just like a birth plan, nothing ever goes according to plan and we are working with two adorable people who are still figuring out their emotions and were tired. You will see in the last photo which I had to include how Craig is fixing my stray hairs by my face, he is always teasing me about those damn wild hairs and if any of you mamas know of a product to tame them DO TELL!!! I hope my post gives you a good laugh and you can relate.
This shoot was done in our comfy Old Navy & GAP attire and both brands have some amazing boxing day sales on today and I’ve linked to them below for you. My jacket is from Old Navy and it was only $30 with their sale, it’s so warm and I get so many compliments on it!! I couldn’t find it to link to but if you head in stores you may find it. I hope you and your families are enjoying the holidays and we’d love to hear of any funny stories you’d like to share about your family photos in the comment section below! xo
OLD NAVY, Up to 60% off site wide!!! HERE
GAP, 45% OFF your purchase using code “GAPDAY1”! HERE
Photography by Cait Patrick Photography
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you have the cutest family ever!
thanks!!
the trees make such a perfect background for your beautiful family roxanne thanks for sharing we love your post