With 4 squirrely boys, it’s tough to take a photo of them and they are all looking and smiling at the camera. I’ve tried all kinds of things over the years and last year, I hit the jackpot of ideas.

Stick them all into a tree. (See here.)

This year, I decided to take a different approach.

Let’s make something together in the kitchen and take photos while we are at it…

I thought about cookies, but that’s a bit messy.

So I settled on cocoa.

And it was a “smile nicely for the camera and you can have all the cocoa you want” kind of thing.

Kinda. Sorta. But really…that’s how it all played out.

And everybody wins!

I get this amazing photo of the boys – all smiling so nicely.

And they get cocoa…not all the cocoa that they wanted, but enough for great smiles.

*insert best mom ever laugh here*

Here’s one of the cocoa’s that we made…and a sneak peek at our family Christmas photo…minus Steve and me. 😉

Make the hot chocolate.

Drop in a piece of peppermint bark.

Easy….peasy.

And I HIGHLY recommend this kind of photo session…if you have squirrely, I don’t want to smile at the camera kids.

Because it works.

See….

These precious-adorable-handsome-growing-up-too-fast-little-men-of-mine, they melt my heart!!

Other Peppermint Bark Recipes from $5 Dinners

• Peppermint Bark Brownies 
• Oreo Peppermint Bark
• Peppermint Bark Chex Party Mix

Enjoy!