What was I thinking?

The kids haven't had professional pictures taken since they were 8 and 9 months old. It has been somthing I've been wanting to do for awhile but never got around to. Last week while at Walmart, I walked by the Portrait Studio and then and there decided to make an appointment for the kids. I made the appointment for this morning to get it done before we left town for Thanksgiving. Why didn't I question my thinking of doing this alone without help? Have I forgotten what Brandon is like, how busy he is, how quickly he has a fit over everything?? Why didn't I make the appointment late in the afternoon so Craig could be with me for support??? Unfortunately all these thoughts escaped me until I was there going through the nightmare. The first couple rounds Brandon did really well but then it all went downhill. He refused to sit still and didn't want anything to do with more picture taking. We decided to get Briana up there with him hoping that would calm him down, but it was worse with them both yelling at each other, "don't touch me", "get away from me", "stop that", and so on. We did some pictures of just Briana and she did great. We then tried to get Brandon up there again with Briana to try and get at least one picture of them together - it never happened. When I finally just gave up on that hope, Brandon's face was all flushed with his forehead broken out in red spots from crying and screaming. We headed over to the computer to check out what pictures she did get and thinking that things couldn't get worse, it did. They ran around the studio, opened all the drawers and closets pulling out all the props and screaming at each other. I couldn't concentrate at all what the girl was offering me for the pictures so I hurried and ordered some so I could get out of this nightmare. While paying for whatever it was I ordered, Briana started yelling at me for a doughnut, something I promised the kids we could get in the bakery if there were good. I grabbed my receipt, grabbed Brandon's arm, and headed out of Walmart while Briana was behind me still screaming for a doughnut. I had a whole grocery list with me thinking that after pictures, I could do some shopping. I was too upset to even consider staying to get that done. Once we were in the car, I completely went off on the kids and they both started to cry. Then I started to cry. So here we are in the Walmart parking lot, 2 kids and an adult crying in the car and I turn around to see this man sitting in his car right across from us watching this whole scene like a movie. On the way home, I stopped at 7-11 for a much needed Big Gulp and ended up with a bag of Cheetos and a HUGE sugar cookie as well. Sad how sweets can cheer up our foul mood but it worked for me. I finally looked at my receipt and had ordered 6 5x7 photos of each kid - 12 5x7's total. Nothing else.

So to all Brandon and Briana's grandparents, you'll be getting a 5x7 of each grandchild in the next month just in time for Christmas!!