Simplicity | Step Six: Memory Keeping

The original post can be found here.

This post does contain affiliate links.

I would really recommend that you read the original post at some point. Why? Because over the course of a few years, people can change, ideas can change, and the world around us changes so quickly that it automatically causes us to adjust our ideas of what is really important.

I have learned that it is okay to change some things in life.

I used to be an avid scrapbooker.

Yet over time, life changes, technological advances, and priorities have opened my eyes to so many other forms of memory keeping. The key is finding the system that is right for you.

1. Traditional Scrapbooking- If this is your passion and what brings you a sense of accomplishment, then keep going! Having a group of women that you can meet up with can not only help you get a lot done in a short time, but the friendships made and developed in your scrap group help to create memories in themselves.

I love getting together with my group of scrapbook ladies! They are so funny and sweet- willing to give you some inspiration or a flower embellishment to finish off a page. I haven't been able to go in some time, but I have a bin of things just waiting for me to organize and put into some semblance of a memory book for my children.

2. Digital Scrapbooking- We live in a very digital world. Not only can we upload our photos to our computers, but now we can also make scrapbook pages right on our computer. I personally have done this several times and found it quite beneficial especially after becoming a mother.

• There is no need to take out a ton of supplies in order to make one layout. Everything you need is on the computer from digital papers to digital embellishments.
• Sharp and small objects are not out for little hands to get a hold of.
• If you do not care for how something looks, just hit delete. You will not have lost any money on supplies that have been cut too short, don't have the right color, or are ruined because you had to move them.
• There is no clean up. Just walk away from your computer and you are done!
• With as many free digital products as there are out there, the only cost would be the purchase of your computer program and the cost of printing your layouts- which is still considerably cheaper than purchasing all of the individual items used in traditional scrapbooking.

3. Custom Photo Books- Very similar to digital scrapbooking, creating a custom photo book happens right on your computer. Shutterfly (not an affiliate) is by far my favorite online photo book creator to use. Every thing you need or want to make a photo book has already been been provided. Coordinating backgrounds that can be mix and matched, digital stickers, and photo placement templates make it easy to drag and drop your photos in.

4. Project Life- I love Project Life by Becky Higgins. Her method is designed to quickly get your photos out of the shoe boxes (or Ziploc bags in my case) and into meaningful albums. These albums can be used in a multitude of ways from being a 365 project depicting the everyday moments each day in your year to being a week in a glance album. I have done both methods. My new method will be using her products to create memory keepsake albums for my children's special moments- Kindergarten graduation, special arts and crafts, photos of milestones, a place to keep track of what we call "Addie-isms" and "Ian-isms."

5. Smash Books- Although I have never personally made a Smashbook I have researched on Pinterest what a smashbook is. I like it! It is an artsy, eclectic way to preserve your emeories of the little moments in our lives. As its name suggests, as you accumlate tickets, brochures, recipts and others pieces of life, you put adhesive on the back and "smash" it right into your book.

This digital slideshow created with Smilebox

6. Smilebox- I am definitely a music person. I love adding soundtracks to our life. Smilebox is a free digital program which can be downloaded right from the Internet and allows you to put your photos together quickly and add a soundtrack (theirs or your own). The best part is you can share your Smilebox via social media! Now, you are not the only one enjoying your photos, but you can share it with others who would never get to see a "hold-touch-feel" scrapbook.

7. Blogs- Blogs are a great way to keep your memories. Writing out what your family is doing, what your children are learning, and how you are feeling all along the path of motherhood is a great way to remember what life was like. I often go back to the early days of this blog and just read. I am so thankful for all of the writing I did because there is so much I have already forgotten. Without the written word, so much of our family's memories would be forgotten. Pictures alone cannot tell the stories.

8. Social Media- I cannot count how many albums I have on my personal Facebook page. Can you? How many times have my children said something funny or sweet and I have quickly typed it up and hit post? I know where all of their saying are. Not on a scrap of paper that can easily be lost. They are all in one place. And I love having the interaction of others during moments that are special.

There are so many avenues of memory keeping today. Find what fits your personality and works for you and run with it.

Do not let yourself get so stuck in what you used to do that you create an added burden for yourself.

But most importantly remember- don't let memory keeping keep you from making memories.

Working on the Albums

For Addie's birthday, I had all of her albums out on the buffet table for our guests to look through and enjoy. As I was putting them back, I got that sinking feeling that Addie had so many albums of her and I hadn't worked on Ian's album since the last scrapbook day I had been to when he was a couple of months old. The last page in his book is of our family and friends at the hospital welcoming him into the world.

Just when I began to feel overwhelmed, I saw this video by Becky Higgins (creator of Project Life) and I became excited about the possiblities! I became  excited because not only was I behind, but even the professional scrapbookers are in the same boat as I am! She is working her way through three children. Her baby, who is now three, doesn't even have a scrapbook put together yet.

I also loved the fact that although I had made beautiful, elaborate pages for Addie's albums, I didn't have to do the same for Ian's albums. I can make them as simple or complicated as I want them to be. The most important thing is that I document his memories and then put them together for him.

If you are finding yourself in the same boat as me, or want some ideas on how to make a scrapbook for your children, or want to make sense of all of the photos and memorabelia you have from your children, take a look at this video. And then be inspired!

Ian's Scrapbook

As I have mentioned in this post, Ian's scrapbook has been very front and center in my mind.  I did not make and actual scrapbook for Addie with the detailed journaling and such, but I did order the pages I did for her and put them into some kind of semblence of a "baby scrapbook."  In fact, since getting Ian's scrapbook in order and prepared, I have found other stories from Addie's first year that I want to remember and put down in her album.

I thought I would share with you the few pages that I have completed for the book already.  Those of you who know me personally and have looked through my other scrapbooks will see that the style here is much different from my norm.  They are very simple pages- not alot in the way of embellishments, decor, and creativity.  The journaling has all been printed out fromt the blog.  Each page is mostly words, with a photo, a small bit of patterned paper, and a do-dad of some type.  Two of the completed pages don't even have a photo.  But when Ian looks back on this album, the most important things he will need to know will all be right here (he will see plenty of me without needing photos of Mommy on those pages).

This is the incomplete title page.  In the white space I will be putting a picture of Ian from his first day.  In Photoshop, I plan on turning it into a black and white or sepia toned photo.

Before I move on, I do have to go back and fix the spelling in the title here.  The 2 n's for "announcing" belong at the beginning not the middle of the word.  This is a print out of this post with a little ebellishment.

This is one of the two pages that does not have a photo.  There was simply no room and to me the story (which is a print out of this post) was more important to me than any photo of that weekend was.

This is a little note  to our then "Squishy" from me (found here).  The photo is from my cell phone so the quality was not that great.  I didn't have a lot of belly photos taken this time around so this one had to do for the page.

 As you can see, you have followed along more closely than you realized with the stories in Ian's scrapbook.  (See the original post here)

This page was the first actual page dedicated to a doctor's appointment.  The "journaling" here was a print out of an email exchange between me and Titi Elsie (Lala) about that visit.  I also included some of the important details of that visit at the bottom.  Because I had copied and pasted the email to my word processing software, there was some confusion on the part of the computer and my aunt's name showed up at the bottom of the details.  Not important in my eyes.

This was my 4th doctor's appointment and because he had to work late and my appointment was rescheduled for an earlier time, Brian was not here.  Therefore, no picture.  As sweet and kind and understanding with pregnant women as the staff at my doctor's office is, I wasn't going to ask anyone to take my picture. 

The title actually says "It's a BOY!" (before you think I'm completely clueless and can't spell to save my life).  These are only two of the photos in the book.  We originally received 8 photos.  Two went to Grandma as a souvenir, two are hanging in Addie's room (she is so protective of these picture), and the other four are in the book.  The two here are Ian's profile.  The other two in the book are the proof that Squishy is really Ian (if you catch my meaning).  They are in the book in a 5x7 page protector as a floating page.  I also have another floating page which is the printout of this post giving the story about the ultrasound.

Inside the scrapbook, I have a little page of notes to myself of other stories I want to make sure I include in this album. 

• 1 week doctor's appointment
• each month's doctor's appointment (long journaler with a small photo of Ian @ appt.)
• special moments (be aware/ jot notes)
• include full page photos of Ian at different stages
• thoughts on nursing (kind of a look back at what I wrote about originally and how it is actually coming along)
• thoughts on feeding and making baby food (seriously, how awesome would it have been to know what my mom was thinking during my feedings and how she went about introducing new foods to me)
• baby's schedule at different points of the year (it changes constantly that first year)
• your relationship w/ Addie w/ a full page photo
• your relationship w/ Daddy w/ a full page photo
• your relationship w/ Mommy w/ a full page photo
• your favorite....  (also at different points throughout the year)
• baby dedication
• your room

I have also found some photos that I want to do a side by side layout for.  For instance, I found a photo of Addie and me at her very first doctor's appointment when she was one week old.  I still remember the feelings I had that day.  My Aunt Alice was with me at the appointment, and because I resemble my dad's sisters, the nurses and doctor thought she was my mother.  At the time, they did not know that my mother had just passed away (three weeks before that visit).  My aunt graciously said that she was my aunt, and we left it at that.  When the doctor left the room after the exam, I burst into tears.  My aunt came and hugged me and said, "I know, Suzette.  She should have been here with you today."  (Titi Alice, you are awesome! You have always known just what to say.) 

Needless to say, Ian's first doctor's appointment won't have those same feelings of loss and sadness.  I will know more or less what to expect from the appointment.  And I won't feel like I don't have enough hands for the baby, diaper bag, baby carrier, Addie..... ummmm, maybe I won't have enough hands when I think about it that way!

I also decided that in the future (begining January 2012 and continuing on- yes, I like to plan way ahead), I will be putting an album together for Addie that will be a monthly scrapbook (simialr in style and content to this one) and fill it in with other Addie stories and journaling (many of which I will just print right off the blog).  I probably won't be going back into the past year to "catch up"- I am so done with feeling the need to catch up, because that will probably never happen.  I may occassionally go back and scrapbook a few photos here and there for the fun of it, but they probably will not be in any type of chronological order- I don't tend to scrapbook that way anyway.

I have seriously been so excited to work on these albums for my children.  I am constantly looking through my eight completed pages with the anticipation of adding more. Tonight is my next doctor's appointment, so I will have another page in the works very soon.  Oh, the thrill of it all! 

Making It More Real

I have always been an avid scrapbooker. When I was single, I had so much free time (after spending hours after school preparing for the next day, week, month, and year) that I filled it by scrapbooking our family memories. Then I started dating Brian, and my time was shortened, but I managed to find time to scrapbook the memories that we were making together. Then we got married, and you can imagine how many wedding photos I had the joy of finding ways to create memories with. But now with the freedom of being in my own home, making my own schedule, and finding ways to cut back the extra hours at work, I happily scrapbooked to my hearts content during the first three years.

And then Addie came, and I was so wrapped up with being a stay at home wife and mother (I still had this odd mentality that I only had two weeks to do everything in my house that I wanted to do- 2 weeks being what Christmas break was) that the mountain of pictures from the hospital, her first week, and month just grew bigger and bigger. During her nap, I began plugging away and made some headway- I now have only two ziploc bags of unscrapped photos (not just of Addie but of my family from way back when), woohoo for me!

Then came Project Life and I completely freed myself from feeling like I was behind in my scrapbooking in any way. I am so caught up, it tickles me to look through the book and see all of our memories for this year up to date!

(Sigh of relief!)

Wait! Hold that thought! We have so many scrapbook pages of Addie from the moment she was born to now! How do I give Baby equal treatment? I am a firm believer in the idea of equal treatment of children. Issac and Jacob are wonderful examples of what happens to families when parents show preferential treatment to one child over another.

I am not the kind of person who sees the first born as being the only child worthy of special things and each subsequent child getting all of the leftovers and hand-me-downs (although those things are still important as the cost per child goes up). I believe that the first, second, third, fourth, etc. child are all special gifts and should be treated as such. I also wanted this baby to have something special. So I decided that I was going to make Baby #2 a special scrapbook of memories. (Addie only has tons scrapbook pages but not an actual scrapbook dedicated to just her.)

A few Saturdays ago during Addie's naptime, I began cleaning out my stockpile of scrapbooking materials. I had a 3 ringed 8.5x11 album that was not being used and an idea hit me. Premake/prepare as many pages as possible, put the book in order, and pull together pieces of cardstock and patterned paper that can be used on a layout. I did.

The categories are as follows:

• Title page- with places for a preferably black and white picture of the baby, for me to write down the official time of birth, and Brian came up with the idea of using the open spot on the white paper for a foot print (love it!)
• How We Announced- the picture of the proud big sis and a print out of this blog post.
• God is Good- the story I told in this blog post.
• Mommy's Thoughts on the First Trimester- from Monday's blog post.
• Nursing- a printout and photo from this blog post.
• Planning for the Baby: The List
• Our 3rd Dr's Appointment
• Our 4th Dr's Appointment
• The Ultrasound- it is at this point that we will find out what we are having.
• Mommy's Thoughts on the 2nd Trimester
• Your First Visit to Ft. Lauderdale- I will still be pregnant at this point, but I know of a certain GrandTiti, Uncle Jack, and Cousin Belinda who are excited about Addie and Baby's visit.... oh, yeah, and their parents, too.
• Our 5th Dr's Appointment
• Our 6th Dr's Appointment
• Out 7th Dr's Appointment
• Baby Shower Guest List- in Hispanic cultures, it is customary for each baby to receive a shower and my aunts are already in the process of planning it.
• Baby Shower- a 2 page layout with a couple of babseball card holders in between for extra pictures of the event.
• Our 8th Dr's Appointment- I am currently counting this as the last appointment before D-Day since I am having a C-section. However, I realize that there may be a few appointments thrown in for good measure. If so, I'll add those appointments into the album as well.
• The List: What we Packed For the Hospital- I wish I had taken an inventory of what we took to the hospital for Addie. The album is being packed in the bag... you'll see why in the next bullet point.
• At the Hospital- a 2 page layout of our stay at the hospital and three baseball card protectors for lots of extra pictures. I am also including an empty page protector for hospital mementos- the button our hospital gives with the baby's footprint on it, the wristbamds (which won't come off until we are home), the little information card that is put into the little glass crib (all of this is stuff I collected for Addie, but never had an actual place to put it.)
• Full Page Photo of the Baby- Scrapbookpictures.com offers prints in a variety of sizes. One size is the 8.5x11. I plan of finding a photo I love and putting it in this slot- with no embellishments.
• Mommy and Daddy's Thoughts- During one of the rare, quiet moments at the hosptial, I want Brian and I to just write a little something to the baby about how we are feeling right then at that moment (notice, I said "quiet memoents". That will affect what we write, I'm sure!).
• First Week Layout- A layout of snapshots that happened throughout the first week.
• And then I have 2 page layouts set up for each of the months in the baby's first year. I also have baseball card protectors in each layout to hold extra photos from that month. Because the first year also includes a monthly doctor's visit, I will include an insert (maybe a 5x7 or a 8.5x4) which includes the stats from the visit, record of shots, and a photo so I can see the changes from month to month.
• I have also included 2 extra layouts in the album for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• First Birthday- At the end of the album I have a 2 page layout set up for the baby's first birthday and baseball card protectors for extra photos. We do first birthdays big around here.
• The final page in the album is going to be a letter from me to the baby. I added a letter from me to Addie at the end of her birthday album and I think it is a great way to end this album.

Each page mentioned above (except the "God is Good" page), will include at least one photo if not more.

After putting the album "skeleton" together and filling the page protectors with the papers that I will be using, it made the idea of having this baby more real to me than it has ever been. Yes, my belly is incredibly big for only being past my 1st trimester (Addie didn't show until I was at least 4 or 5 months), but putting this album together and seeing all of the milestones to come and knowing that this book will come together month by month, just made me want to have the baby now (way too early, I know).

So much to come. So many exciting things in store. So many sleepless nights (only towards the beginning.... when you bring them home from the hospital and realize there is no little button to push for help, and every little sound they make keeps you up at first). So many nights on the couch because after a C-section, climbing into our bed is impossible for the first week or two. So many moments of just sitting on the couch watching every flutter of the eyelids, every smile, every yawn and being in wonder of this new little person that I have the honor to be the mother to. So many reassuring hugs and kisses for Addie so she in no way feels that she has been dethroned or replaced. So many prayers being made on behalf of the two gifts that Brian and I have been blessed with. So much to come.

Memories | Project Life Update

I have been loving the Project Life Kit!  I do not feel like I am falling behind in my scrapping, all of the most important moments/memories are being documented, and everything is neatly kept in one place.  Now those people who look through my scrapbooks and criticize because things aren't in chronological order (not that it should matter to them) can be happy that everything is in order.

Below are just two weeks worth of my album.  I am having some trouble working with the photo uploader right now (anyone else having trouble with that?), so instead of showing you the last 5 weeks, here are just two weeks to give you an idea of what the final product looks like.

The little cards are where I write the journaling for the day, which goes along with the picture for the day.  On the little card has an arrow and a day sticker to help connect the card with the picture it goes to.  

Sometimes, the little cards don't hold enough or there are other stories happening on the same day as something else.  For those, I have been printing out 5x7 photos and either putting my thoughts right on the photo or using one of the long journalers from Ali Edwards and then slipping it into a page protector and cutting it down to size (as in the picture below).

The layout below is one of my favorites for many reasons.  First, do you see the Good and Plenty piece of packaging?  The Saturday of this week, we went on a movie date.  When we dropped Addie off at my in-laws home, Mom handed me a candy box for us to enjoy during the movie.  That box of candy meant a lot to me since it showed her love for us and her help in making our time nice.  I knew I had to include some of the packaging in the album.

I also love this layout because I was able to include some of Addie's school work. I don't know about you, but I love saving some Addie's best work.  But where do we keep it?  Now I have a place. I limit myself to two pages a week and it doesn't have to be every week. I put them back to back in my 8.5x11 page protector and call it good. 

I also love this week because of the top two pictures in the picture below.  The first one was a satellite picture I was able to copy from the internet.  We had had a horrible storm on that Tuesday which we were not affected by directly but some of our family was.  Because I went online for the satellite image a couple of days later the photo does not show the system right on us, but that bright orange area is the system that hit us. 

I also love this page because it holds the photo of the pregnancy tests (yes, I took 3!) and tells a little of the story behind them (why I took 3). The first 2 tests that I took, I didn't see a second line (the pregnancy indicator) so I tossed the test.  When I took the test for Addie, the lines showed up immediately so I was expecting the sme thing this time around.  I took one more test without my contacts in (first thing in the morning), so I couldn't see the lines at all.  Brian came over, looked at the test, and said, "There are two lines.  Does that mean we're pregnant?"  I looked, and sure enough there were two lines!  I went through the bathroom trash can to retrieve my other two tests (gross, I know), and sure enough, they both had two lines! I hadn't been patient enough to wait the 3 minutes to see what the final result was (not my finest moment).

Once I figure out what the problem is with the photo uploader, I'll post my other pages for you to see.  I really am enjoying this album and how it captures the everyday moments that make us the family that we are.

Project Life: Week 1

Before I continue, I know I have mentioned Project Life quite a few times.  I just want you to know that I am in no way being compensated for that.  It is just something that I am doing that I am totally convinced about and love. 

Here are the photos that make up the first week of our Project Life album.  I am loving this laid back take on scrapbooking.  I feel like I have truly captured the most important moments of our week and the stories that are held in those moments. 

The overlays are from Ali Edwards. Although they are meant for 5x7 photos, I resized them in Photoshop to fit my 4x6 photos. (Again, no compensation.)

Below each photo is what I have written on the journaling card that corresponds to that day.

Saturday: At the Lightning game, before game time.  Great game, good time, wonderful people, jammin' to the music, and the Lightning won in overtime 2-1.  The perfect way to start the New Year.

No journaling for this photo.  It is a 5x7 that has it's own page protector (order 2 packs of 5x7 page protectors online).  I love having photos and other stuff that just stands alone in my album(s).

Sunday: Restful day. Relaxing day. Sleepy day.  Came home after midnight last nght so we decided to stay home today.It was a good day as a family. And the Bucs won, too :)

Monday: Oh, Monday. Back on the schedule.  Back to reality. But it was a good.  A part of our routine is meeting Grandma to go grocery shopping and then to McD's for lunch. It is a good routine.  I like it.

Tuesday: I think muffins have to be one of Addie's favorite foods.  She wanted one so badly that she lay infront of the oven just waiting for them to be done.  I guess she thought they would bake faster.

Wednesday: We took a little road trip to visit with Faye today.  In the courtyard of the Wiregrass Mall, Mr. Tommy was performing.  We sat and watched for a bit and then headed out looking for other adventures, including pizza & Publix.

Later that same evening, Brian got a call that the Fantasy football trophy that he had had to give up last year was going to be returned to him (see here for the original loss).  Another story needed to be told, so I made a quick and easy layout with this 5x7 photo + words + a small bit of patterned paper.. Here is the journaling:

This is a story that begins 4 years ago when Brian first began the Gridiron Fantasy Football League. Because of his incredible knowledge of football, the players, probabilities, and teams, Brian won the league trophy two years in a row. However, last year, Brian had to relinquish the trophy to Dan. Despite a losing season, Brian made trades and drafted the team he would need in order to get the trophy back. And he did. On Wednesday night, Dan stopped by to turn the trophy back over to Brian. My man is very happy now that the trophy is back in its “rightful home”.

Thursday: Nap time. It is a good thing.  Addie is able to get her rest, and I am able to either do things around the house or other things that I enjoy. Nap time keeps us both from being cranky.

Friday:  Because of how far out of town we live, and because the price of gas keeps rising, I try to run as many errands as possible in one morning. Thank God for my mom-in-law who watched Addie for me so I did not have to rush.

One of my stops on Friday was to pick up the pictures that Addie had taken on December 1, 2010! Oh, I know! How bad is that! This was the best picture we got that day, and because the photographer really worked hard trying to get at least one good shot, I bought this pose.  This was one of the 8X10s that came in the package.  Because I knew I wasn't going to put it up anywhere, I placed it on the back of the page I made for the trophy exchange (8.5x11), added a little tab of white cardstock, put an initial "a" sticker, and the dates under the sticker swirl.  Now I have a place for the photo and a memory of my errand running day.

Somethings I am already learning from this project are:

1. to look through my photos daily and weed out the ones I am not happy with or do not tell the story I want to relay.
2. upload my photos as soon as possible, Photoshop them, and send them to my photo processing store.  I wanted to see what a completed layout looked like, so I developed my photos almost every other day.  I certainly don't plan on making that a habit, so as long as my photos are waiting for me, I can print them out at my leisure.
3. price checking helps.  I have gone to and called several of the photo servicing stores in our area for prices.  I have decided that, for me, Walgreens has the best price for 4x6 photos at 19 cents a print... or I can wait until they have one of their many photo sales where prints can be any where from 10 cents to 12 cents a print depending on how many I buy.  Sam's Club by far has the best price on 5x7 photos at 38 cents a piece.  Because I will need at least 365 4x6 photos for this album (not including special photos for 5x7 blow ups), I am really looking for dollar stretching deals.
4. sticky notes are my friends.  Because I won't be printing out my photos immediately, placing sticky notes in the respective places where my photos are going to go helps speed up the process when putting my photos where they go when they are finally developed.

Happy Monday!

December Daily: Days 11- 25

So, as promised, here is the final half of my December Daily album.

Day 11

The "e" in the word eleven fell off.  That happens when the album is handled often.  It's okay.

Journaling: As a final adventure for GrandTiti and Uncle Jack, we took them down t the Wiregrass Mall where we met up w/ Faye & Jim.  It was so nice being together as a collective group.  Good times.

Day 12

Journaling: Oh, Addie, you bring Daddy and me such joy.  You have a confidence in your personality that I am so proud of.  You don't care what others think.  You are yourself at all times.  Love you!

Day 13:

Journaling: Day Thirteen

• Addie continues to amaze us on a daily basis with the things that she says and knows. Here are a few recent examples.
• She stays dry at night and during her nap time. Woohoo, no more diapers or pull ups!
• She closes her eyes when watching T.V. And something comes up that she should not see.
• I didn't get to remote fast enough to mute the magic word at the beginning of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and she said, “Mommy, no magic!”
• I love when she says, “Oh, Mommy, I miss you all over!”
• After telling her for the last 2 and a half years that Daddy goes to work so Mommy can stay home with Addie, she now says it for me.
• She loves to help me no matter what I am doing, from whipping up pancakes to making coffee.

Day 14:

Journaling: Where is Addie?  Before Daddy goes away tomorrow, we made sure that we had a night of family fun. One of Addie's favorite games is Hide n' Seek.  Daddy is always great at finding fun hiding places.... like behind the pillows on our bed. It was just the cutest thing walking into the room, seeing Daddy standing next to the bed to make sure that a certain little person was always safe, and seeing two little bare feet sticking out from under the pillows.  Hearing her giggle was the cherry on top.  I love when our family is together.  I am going to miss Brian while he is away.

Bottom photo: A Game: Point out the proofs that Addie was here.

Day 15:

No journaling.  The top photo shows that we ran a lot of errands and the pocket holds the receipts from those errands.

Day 16:

Journaling: Since Daddy was away, I really had no "get up and go".  We spent a lot of time coloring with each other.  We talked about Baby Jesus as we colored this picture.  Later tonight, Grandma & Grandpops came over for a bit.

Day 17:

Journaling: Addie is fascinated by all of the Christmas lights that we see as we are driving around.  I am so happy that she is enjoying every aspect of this month: the Nativity scenes, lights, Christmas movies, and shows.  One hing I know she is anticipating is the opening of the gifts under the tree.  She has been getting excited over commercials that feature toys.  I can't wait for Christmas morning when she can open her gifts.

Day 18:

Journaling: Brian had worked out of town since Wednesday and we were expecting him home in the late morning today.  However, because he couldn't sleep at the hotel because of a soccer team on the same floor, he left the hotel and drove all night.  He got in at 4:30 a.m. Addie was attached to him all day.

Day 19:

Journaling (done right on the gift tag of the gift that my in-laws gave Addie.  I love how Mom signed it using how Addie calls them.):  Grandma and Grandpops L bought you your very own rocking chair from Cracker Barrel.  For now it sits next to the Christmas tree but it is going to permanently stay in the living room.  It's too beautiful to hide.

Day 20:

Journaling:  After the excitement of yesterday, today felt a bit draggy.  We went about our normal schedule, had our school time (I have taken most of December off in the school department- just too much going on from having company over to making sure all of our Christmas shopping is done.), and then went out to run some errands.  I decided to make the week's meals a less stressful process for myself.  I bought a frozen lasagna for dinner tonight and other premade, boxed, or canned foods for the rest of the week as well. Brian is very understanding (even though he is a "meat and potatoes" man.)

Day 21:

Journaling (Hard to see because it blends in to the background): It is becoming a tradition for us to go to the R's home around Christmas time to plat with their Little People set up.  It is a very good tradition.

Day 22:

Journaling (done on the actual photos and there are two photos in the envelope):  Grandpa night.  He always brings you a little something.  Today it was a little book of friendship prayers.

You and Grandpa have a "thing" you say to each other which he actually started.  He has always told the kids in our family, "You're gonna get a beaten'."  Then he tickles them.  Because of your personality, you say it right back, but yours comes out as "You gonna BEAT!"  Grandpa always gets a laugh out of it."

Day 23:

No journaling or words.

Day 24:

Journaling: Addie has been so good about not opening any of the gifts under the tree, so we decided to reward her with a gift under her tree to open on Christmas Eve morning.  It was the movie Bambi, and we watched it twice back to back.  It made me so happy to see how happy she was about her little gift.

1. Christmas Eve Service

2. Christmas pajamas

3. Christmas movies & home videos

4. Setting up for Christmas morning.

Day 25:

No words. Just pictures. I have 12 photos in the little book, but for the sake of time and photo storage space, I could only post one page.

I have not decided what to do with the More Celebrations page since we are not having a Christmas Celebration with our extended family this year (earth shattering since we have always had one since the history of our family! All right so maybe not that long, but as long as I can remember.)

I am also undecided about whether or not I will do this project again next year.  I have done it for three years now, but this year I felt a bit stressed getting the album together.  We'll see.  I have a whole year to decide on that.

Project Life: 2011

As you know, I love scrapbooking.  I have always been a paper/stationary kind of girl.  I love writing (bet you couldn't tell), and I love family photos.  So when I heard about scrapbooking many, many , many years ago, I knew it was the hobby for me!  Where else do you get to combine every one of the things I love so much!

However, there are times when as a scrapbooker, you feel like you get stuck in a rut, that there is never going to be a time when you catch up on your scrapbooking, or that you have captured all of the memories that you want to remember.  It can become frustrating, and then you (I) begin resenting this hobby that you (I) enjoy so much.

Enter Project Life by Becky Higgins.

I have long been a fan of Becky Higgins' scrapbooking designs and sketches.  So when she came up with the idea of Project Life/365 two years ago, I thought it was genius, although I did not get involved right away.  She also became overwhelmed with the idea of scrapbooking every picture, every memory, every event and decided to come up with a way to make it easier for herself.

The concept behind Project Life is that you take one picture a day, a picture that best describes life in that day or moment for you and your family, jot down a little memory, slip both into the divided page protectors, and move on to other things. 

Now obviously, there are going to be days when one picture is not going to be enough to capture a memory or event.  On those days, I will just make a scrapbook layout to cover what I want it to cover, enlarge a special photo, or create my own page protector to hold something special like a card, playbill, park map, etc. and keep on moving. 

Because I knew that this was what I wanted for Christmas, I put in my request early.  Then, a couple of weeks ago, I saw this video by a woman who had used Project Life last year and how she adjusted it to fit her needs for memory keeping, and it really made me excited!  (You will need to scroll down to see the video after clicking on the link)

Will I continue scrapbooking in the traditional way?  Absolutely!  I love my paper, photos, and playing with both too much to ever let it go.  Will I forget to scrapbook the important days, moments, and events like I have in the past?  Not anymore! It will be nice to look through and see up close which stories need to be told and elaborated on instantly. Will it be easy to keep up with?  I think so. As I take pictures, I intend to upload them, photoshop what needs to be touched up, resize, and send on to our local photo processing store. Then, I'll wait for a sale (or free offer from Shutterfly) to actually order my photos. When will I begin my Project Life?  January 1, 2011! 

I look forward to being able to look back at the end of next year and see a complete compilation of our lives as they unfolded throughout the year.  I look forward to sharing this project with you, too!

A Quick Photo

Yes, she has a personality all her own.

Yes, she walks into a room with the idea that the party can now officially start.

Yes, she surprises us everyday.  I guess we didn't realize how quickly she learns.

Yes, she has a level of confidence that I dream to attain.

Yes, her personality is strong.

Yes, her heart is very sensitive to the Lord.

Yes, it makes her sad when she makes Jesus sad.

Yes, she asks to apologize to Jesus after an infraction, then yells up at the ceiling, "I SORRY JESUS!"

Yes, she is in love with the Baby Jesus, and even says she looks like the Baby Jesus after her bath when she is all wrapped up in her towel.

Yes, she is the sweetest little thing.  Her newest phrase is, "Oh, Mommy/Daddy, I miss you all over!" (I think she means "a lot" but her version is way cuter!)

Yes, there are moments where she pouts, but she is quick to apologize and do what she was asked.

Yes, she is a very "what you see is what you get" type of girl.... I think it's called sincerity.

Yes, she is our Addie girl and we wouldn't want her to be any other way.

Journaling: Oh, Addie, you bring Daddy and me such joy.  You have a confidence in your personality that I am so proud of.  You don't care what others think.  You are yourself at all times.

December Daily Album- Days 1-10

First off, I thought I would show you what I meant in this post by mounting two 2.5x 3.5 photos on a 4x6 print. 

In Photoshop Elements, I opened a 4x6 inch canvas.  I then dragged my two photos, that had been resized to 2.5 x 3.5 inches, onto the 4x6 background.  Now I can upload my 4 x 6 photo to my local photo processing center and have it printed out. Then I can cut out my photos and adhere them where I want them.

I have scanned the pages so you can get a better view of them.  I also want to show you the "before" photo of the page (before I decorated it) and then the after with the journaling.

Day One:

As you can see below, I completely changed where I was going with this page.  I removed the photos of Addie and replaced them with photos taken on December 1st.  I covered the back of the tree with green, lined paper and journaled right on top of it.  The photos came out a bit darker than they looked on the computer, but I'm okay with that.  This type of album is meant to just go through daily and not worry if things don't turn out just right.

Journaling: Today was "one of those days". The car battery died as I was heading out to have Addie's pictures taken, she was not cooperative at the studio, our property adjuster called with some down news.  But then Titi Elsie came for a visit and everything changed. We had a wonderful visit, drank coffee, ate eclairs, talked, played with Addie, and laughed a lot.  When Brian got home, the exhaustion of the day hit me.  Can't wait for tomorrow.

Day Two:

Journaling: I am finding myself addicted to Addie's M&M's- you know, the ones we reward her with for going on the potty.  I really have to stop eating them! But other than sticking my hand in the candy jar, we have also spent quite a bit if time playing in the play room (I moved all of the toys out of her room into Faye's old room).  She has this game that she made up and named "Clunk!" Where she got the name, I don't know. She takes the "baby ball" (a small, squishy soccer ball), throws it, and yells "Clunk!" when it hits the ground.  It is a pretty cute game... until you get hit with the ball, which my little person can throw pretty hard.

I have also spent the morning finishing up my preparations for Titi Ruthie and Uncle Jack's visit.  Meals are planned, activities are planned and set, bedding has all been washed, and my last minute grocery list has been made.  I have spent this week doubling and tripling my recipes so that I have the main parts of our meals for next week complete, and I only have to do a little here and there.

When Brian came home from work, he and I had a bit of a Wii challenge in golf.  Addie cheered us both on, but in the end, I was the winner!  But I'm not rubbing it in :)  

Day Three:

 

Journaling: Mommy: What happened to your nose?

Addie: Boo-boo.

Mommy: How did that happen?

Addie: The nose fell on the floor!

Addie: Mommy, look! Dinosaur!

Mommy: Addie, that is my shadow! (not sure if I should feel old or offended)

Addie: Lala touch the Christmas tree. Lala no obey.

Mommy: Lala can touch the tree. It is okay.

Addie: Lala touch the tree. Addie, no touch!

Addie: What's this?

Mommy: The Nativity scene.

Addie: No, it's Baby Jesus!

Day Four:

Journaling: GrandTiti and Uncle Jack came to stay with us for a week.  We decided to kick off their stay with a trip to Zephyrhills' Christmas Festival.  Addie rode a pony for the first time and absolutely loved it, Brian and I got to "dance" with each other for a moment, Addie got to see snow for the first time (soap that was being blown down on us), and we saw as elephant and the owner who claimed to be the cheapest elephant man in the country since his rides were only $5 a person.  Afterward, we went to Denny's for a snack.

Day 5:

Just a little note about this page- Addie got into the spirit of taking pictures, too.  The top two photos on the right side of the page are courtesy of my little photographer. I wanted to include them just because.  The tickets on the lower left hand side were from an outing Brian and his dad went on.  I stuck them onto a 4x6 piece of card stock and slipped it right into the photo sleeve.

Journaling:  Devotions with Daddy, spending time with Uncle Jack and GrandTiti, taking a nap even though you were happy (she associates being happy with not needing to go to sleep), waiting for Daddy to come home from the Bucs game, and visiting with Grandpa.  Your day.

Day 6:

Today's journaling was a personal letter that I wrote to Addie based on God's provision for our family and the lessons He sometimes has to hit me upside the head with when I forget. Because it was so long, I didn't type it out.  If you want to read it, click on the photo itself and should open up a little bigger for easier reading. 

I printed the letter onto vellum and slipped it right into the pocket in front of the patterned paper.  I also made my photo as a 4x8, punch holes in it and put it right into the binder.

Day 7:

No journaling today.  Just little notes on the photos of what we did.  I think Addie has had it with my constant picture taking... what do you think?

Day 8:

I put the journaling for this day directly on the photo.  However, it was rather hard to see.  So I decreased the opacity of the photo to make it lighter so the words would pop a little more.  The digital embellishment I added also looks dimensional because of the lighter photo.  The 8 is a sticker.

Journaling: It was a good day. It was a busy day.  It was a day spent with family.  It was a day of being lunch guests and serving dinner.  In the afternoon we had lunch with Titi Elsie (Lala).  It was a wonderful time of talking, sharing, encouraging, playing, taking pictures, and looking for cardinals and pine cones.  Later in the evening, Dad (Grandpa) came over for dinner, and we again had a wonderful time of laughter and sharing and reminiscing.  I am so thankful for days like this where the stress of being a hostess disappears because you are with family.  They don't care if your  air is perfect, if your words come out the right way, if you say the right thing, or if you are stylish enough.  You are loved for being you.

Day 9:

Journaling: Titi Ruthie has wanted to get Addie a Happy Meal for a really long time, so on Thursday we went to McDonald's (otherwise known as "Fries" to my little person).  She got her Happy Meal and fries and a little watch as her toy.  Because of all of the coupons the Titi Ruthie had with her, our meal only cost a little over $13!  Then we hit the ground running as we went about running errands.  Later in the evening, Brian and I went on a much needed date night.  We knew that Addie was in good hands so we stayed out until 9:30 (woohoo!).  Of course, Addie was still awake when we got home(although she was in bed).  It was a good day... but aren't they all in their own way?

Day 10:

Journaling: After a week of running around and being out of the house by 10:00 a.m., it was a nice change of pace to stay to stay home today.  In the evening, we had Titi Elsie and Uncle Johnny over for dinner.  Addie broke out in hives, so now comes the job of finding her allergy.

I hope you enjoyed this peek into my December daily album.  I have enjoyed every step in the process of putting it together.