The making of a Strehle Christmas card.

My sister always gives me a bad time about pictures of my kiddos.

"You've trained them since birth to give you those pouty perfect looks!"

Um sooo not true...Let me tell you my deep dark photography secret for good pictures with kids..

BRIBE THEM!!

It really is the only way..

Want a sucker? Done.

Want McDonalds? Done.

Want a pony? Done.

Just smile for the stinking camera kid.

Christmas card time has always been a little tense for us..and in true Strehle style never really well..normal. Really I can't think of a year that has not ended in tears...

"Kids after church we are going to take the Christmas card picture."

Insert collective moan from all 4 Strehle kids, plus one dirty look from Strehle husband.

"I have a GREAT idea for a shot at the train station, next to the big clock just like the one in the movie The curious case of Benjamin Button."

Insert blank stares from all 4 Strehle children, who often don't "understand" their mothers creative genius. Strehle Husband sighs really loud and secretly wishes he married a women that wears Winnie the Pooh denim jumpers and listens to Air Supply.

But noooo I'm not the woman that listens to Air Supply..no I'm the adventurous woman that ends up fearlessly leading her entire family into a locked stairwell (this is after I crashed the P.U.D company party)..I mean the door leading INTO the emergency stairwell was not locked..only the doors going out...shoot.

Let me pause here for a moment and tell you that after a few recent events in my life I'm fairly convinced God himself placed me on this earth for one main purpose..
Your comic relief..yes..go ahead laugh at my expense..I mean it's what I'm here for anyways.

But what the HECK!! Why would an emergency exit be LOCKED!!! I mean what if there is an, oh I don't know.. EMERGENCY!

Insert panicked 4 children here, along with just about postal husband, cuz he just LOVES situations like this..

After going up and down a few times and realizing that yes ALL the door are locked we all stop and just kinda look at each other, then we hear something..
which turns out to be a very nice cleaning lady on the ground floor. So back down the stairs we go again...

"Oh there is an exit right over there." She points at it, as if its been there the entire time and we just did not see it..whatever cleaning lady know-it-all.

Right now your reading this thinking..well I'm sure it was all worth it because Amber ended up getting the perfect shot in front of the clock right? Wrong...



On the drive home Twin A said,

"Well Mom, at least we had an adventure."

Yes my dear sweet boy, you were surely born into a family full of adventure and I'm really sorry about that.