Saturday, October 25, 2008

BLAKE WALKS!!!

Blake refused to be outdone by Graham, and took his first steps today! They're both big walkers now! Blake also says "Hi Kitty!" as clear as a bell!! Really cute!

Kelly and I did Dream Dinners this morning and made a month's worth of meals in 2 1/2 hours! I love this place! Some argue that it's a little pricey, but I swear it saves us from ordering takeout. We ran out of freezer meals a couple of weeks ago, and we've (shamefully) eaten more frozen pizza and McDonald's than I care to admit in the last two weeks!

We had the pictures done this afternoon at Portrait Innovation, and it was...disappointing. They were running about 45 minutes late, and the kids were cranky and tired by the time we got started. The girl helping us was obnoxious, and I think she scared the kids. The atmosphere there is terribly chaotic and rushed, which was scary enough for kids as young as ours. We took them in their Halloween costumes and changed them into their birthday outfits, and we felt so rushed and frantic that it wasn't a good experience. Sophie clung to me and eventually dissolved into tears. We walked out of there spending over $100 for mediocre pictures (we had to spend that much to get the CD of all of the shots they took), and I'm having buyer's remorse. Hopefully I can take some of the pictures from the CD and edit them so we like them better. If I could justify the price, I think it would be better to go to a professional studio or hire someone to come to the house to do the photos while the kids are so little. That way we could catch them when they're comfortable and in their own surroundings. Maybe this was the push I needed to convince myself to splurge on a decent camera?? Sigh...I should have saved the $100 to add to my "our camera bites" fund. Lesson learned!

I pick the portraits up tomorrow, so I'll post some of the pics on here when I get them loaded.

3 comments:

Christy said...

We had similar situation a couple years ago with our family pics there... they overbook and try to hurry to fit everybody in.

Jen said...

They were so awesome when they first opened and they seem to keep getting worse and worse about it...we are going again on Thursday to give them one last shot and if they screw this up, we will never go there again...sigh! I feel your pain!

Anonymous said...

I am so glad you had a wonderful Dream Dinners experience. It is the ultimate buy in bulk and save way to have a home cooked dinner and does cost less than buying the same ingredients at a grocery store. It is also very eco friendly, so much less packaging when you buy in bulk. We actually have children on our tasting panels; it is amazing to see what kids will really eat. We put kids in a box when we only feed them "white foods". Don’t miss our new Dream Rewards program, where you will receive gifts and other specials. You can get even more ideas on my blog Take care. http://stephanieallen.wordpress.com/