Two Year Photos at Olan Mills "Experience"

I don't know why I torture myself like this. My son is just not one to cooperate with ANYTHING. He's more stubborn than I am, which I didn't know was possible. But if this kid doesn't want to do something, he isn't doing it. The more you try, the more he tells you no.
So of course, let's bring this un-agreeable almost two year old to get pictures taken. My husband didn't understand why I needed a second person to come with me. He wanted to do yard work, so I called my Mom and begged her to come with us. Thank goodness she agreed. Off we went, me, my Mom, The Moose and Little Miss.

The Little Devil-looks sweet, but don't be fooled.

Now if you know me, you know I had a coupon. Olan Mills does this great deal for parents. You can get a free package for your kids up to the age of 3, for their birthday. Of course, I found out about this last year and missed out on freebies for Little Miss for the first two years, but we got her in last year. The issue last year was that both my kids are November babies, I got two coupons, one for each, emailed to me. Well, they wanted to have me come in TWO DIFFERENT DAYS because they didn't honor more than one coupon per day. SCREW THAT. I told them take them both now, or you get nothing. You just wasted your time taking the pix. Well, needless to say, they put both through. Told them I shouldn't be penalized because both my kids are born in November. That's just STUPID. And it's photos. I'm not asking for World Peace from you guys, just the free package for my daughter and the free package for my son. They caved.
However, this year, just The Moose got the coupon since Little Miss is turning 4 for her birthday. (I did get her into one good photo. Problem is, they never take good ones of her, the only person who takes amazing photos of my daughter is my cousin, Danielle. Dan just knows how to do it. She's an outstanding photographer. But these were free shots and I can't abuse my cousin!)
Back to my story-we arrived at Olan Mills in Kmart only to find out they are backed up and the 11:30am appointment is still waiting for their turn at NOON, which was my appointment time. Not great, as my son is not one for patience, or easy to handle in the store. The woman that was still in there was taking forever, with clothing changes and apparently thought that her time was more important than our time. It wasn't a great start to the whole experience, but if I had said something, I would have not shown a good side to these people in front of my children. I bit my tongue and we just made the best of it with the other family waiting around.
We didn't get in there until about 12:45pm, by this point, my son wasn't in the best state of mind for photos. He wasn't listening, he was throwing fits and of course, by that point, my patience was shot to sh-t. I threw Little Miss in there to get a few shots. The Moose was totally flabbergasted that I had the nerve to put his sister in there and decided to take some shots. Of course, mixed into the photos were tantrums and throwing things.........and my Mom, was ready to kill him.  My son is difficult. I won't tell you lies. He's hardcore, over-the-top stubborn, says no, acts fresh and doesn't always listen. It tests my patience every day. I just worked with what I had, hoped for the best and put him in the shopping basket to be walked around the store while I checked out if we got any usable photos.
Surprisingly, we got some good ones for our freebie package. I even got two extra sheets for myself, which were NOT free. Once the freebies end, we'll be back to taking the pix myself, ordering through Shutterfly.com! It's easier for me, less stress for me and I don't have to deal with all the upselling from Olan Mills!