I Just Wanted A Good Family Picture...

Was it too much to ask?

I can't pass up a good deal... or at least what seemed like a good deal at the time.  Livingsocial got me with a $25 deal for 5 photo sheets.  Next time, I need to exercise better restraint.  However, I'll be extra nice and caveat that with "Perhaps I should have planned it better."  I had forgotten that the coupon was expiring.  That out of the way, it was a borderline horrible experience.  Stressful and poorly managed.  We set our appointment on a Friday night at 7PM, the day that the coupon would expire on.  That was the poorly planned part on my side.  Ryan and I rushed out of work to get home in time to get the kids dressed and get to the mall in time for our time slot.  We even got there early like they asked us too.  It still took over an hour before they got to us... by this time, it was after 8PM.  Alex is fussy and when she's fussy, she gets scared.  What was she scared off?  The backdrop cloths that they pulled down.  And when she's tired and fussy, she's not going to smile.  What she wanted was her sister.  Oh... and I made the horrible mistake of forgetting her Pooh.  At least we got one good picture of her with Hannah and a couple decent family photos.  After our shoot, I told them I'll be back another day to look at the pictures, we had to go.  The deal with 5 photo sheets of one picture and we also get a low-res CD.  In the end, I forked over $75 more to get a high res CD.  That's how they get you.  It took way too much effort to only get one picture printed, I wanted the other pictures too.  Was it worth it?  That's still debatable.  I've vowed to never do this again... at least not at Picture People.  It was crowded, you're surrounded by crying babies, frazzled employees, and annoyed parents.  You wait to take pictures regardless of appointments, you wait to look at pictures, and you wait to get your pictures.  Perhaps I did it the better way by coming back another day to look at them... at least that breaks up the annoyance of continuous waiting. 

On a side note.  THANK YOU Kristen Self for taking Hannah's newborn pictures. You are amazing.