Better late than never

Merry Christmas Happy New Year? (At least I am early for that one!)

I promised to hold the boys down with force if necessary, trick them into looking in the general direction of the camera and sitting next to each other without punching, pushing or elbowing each other.  It’s getting tougher to accomplish each year-bribes and “please do it for mom” don’t work anymore.  It’s so much easier to take pictures of other people’s kids.

Now only the mothers here will care but I have to share a mom frustration. I could tell you “please ignore the tear in Braxton’s shirt” but most moms have already seen it and everyone else would never notice it. It’s a mom curse I guess. Neither of my boys will EVER wear a collared shirt. The minute you suggest it they writhe on the floor as if in pain. I warned them weeks in advance that they would be expected to wear one on Christmas because Steve’s parents were coming and we would be taking pictures. It really is akin to being set afire to them. So imagine my surprise when Braxton BEGS to wear his brand new red collared shirt to school the Friday before Christmas break. This is the same boy who has ruined most of his shirts with paint and markers but he just keeps begging and promising that there are no crafts scheduled that day and in a moment of weakness I give in. He comes home PROUDLY that afternoon and shows me that there is no paint on his shirt, only a tiny hole! I could have strangled him. So now as an outsider looking at this picture I see two pretty handsome men but as a mom all I will ever notice is that stinking hole in Braxton’s shirt!  :(