I collect..Pictures of my BOYS!!ha (plus my take on Studio Pictures)

Well...I got Pierson's THREE month pictures today, so I thought I should go ahead and post his 1 month.


I am joining up with Kelly's Korner blog...and talking about one of the things that I collect. Pictures of my boys. Studio style and Natural style.

I am one of those moms that, yes, takes their child to get their pictures taken. Torture I know. Sometimes it turns out good....sometimes I want to crawl in a cave and die=). I never regret it though. Once I get those pictures in my hand, I am so happy that I took the time to stress us all out and make silly bribes with Evan concerning candy corn. The boy loves him some candy corn. To me, its worth it.
I LOVE the natural shots of my boys...you know the kind that I had done recently or even the kind that I take. BUT I am a scrapbooker and I have a "portrait" album for each of the boys. Therefore, I really do want to get them taken every 3 months...or now for Evan just once/ twice a year. Now, before you judge me and say that I spend too much on pictures, just let me explain. I have a plan. I have found ways to get the cutest pictures possible for the least amount of money. I typically use Sears...although I have also used Picture People and Portrait Innovations. The best deals so far for what I like (which are larger portraits WITH enhancements for the wall or my portrait scrapbook ) are Sears.

I am apart of the Super Saver Club so I get a free 8by10 and by one get one sheets Mon-Thur...but THAT is NOT where the deals are. First you have to see what coupons you can combine. (the ones on their website)....then you try to strategically order 1 or 2 poses. Maybe 3. Maybe get your free 8 by 10 with one pose and then buy the other pose for 9.99 (buy one sheet get one sheet) a sheet. Ok. So where I get my deal is when I pick up my order. I know (because I have done it so much) that they will try to offer me more poses when I go pick up for ONLY 5 dollars a picture. OK. Seriously. Why would I spend all my money at first when I KNOW they will give me my #1,2, or 3 pose for only 5 dollars WITH enhancements. I have gotten some REALLY pretty pictures this way. In fact, the one on my wall would have cost me 50 bucks at first...but yes, you guessed it...5 bucks when I picked it up. I believe its an 11 by 14! I LOVE IT! You do know that they will do Something will the 3 poses you chose...but you never know what enhancement they will choose with which picture. Kind of a mystery.

So, yes, I do spend money on pictures...but not much.=) I usually get out of there by spending about 10 bucks concerning how many poses I choose. (then I might spend 5-10 more when I pick them up) Much better than another mom I met at a birthday party a couple of weeks ago. She told me she spent 500 dollars every 3 months for her son. One word. WOW. My Husband would absolutely KILL me! After I picked my chin off of the floor...I just smiled and said, "yes, pictures can be expensive these days!".=) I also have another friend that spent 700 dollars for pictures with her son and real chickens around Easter time. One more friend that spent 200 dollars on 2 pictures!! (I am NOT talking about portrait size either!) Yes, Pictures Can be VERY expensive...but they also can be INexpensive, too.

(***I must say that these pictures look nothing like the quality that I get them. I have to copy and paste these from their website.)