Photo Book

I miss the feel of printed photos ever since film turned fossil. I know many can relate to having the great intention of organizing, printing, or making beautiful scrapbooks; but once the pics are dumped, let's face it, they often remain on the external hard drive for months....if not (plug your ears) years.
Well recently, my handy (but not so dandy) hard drive took a dump. I think I'm still in denial that AAAAALLLLL the pictures I'd taken this past year are *gulp* GONE. My son's second birthday? GONE. My daughter's birth? GONE. Christmas with cousins? GONE.
So here I am with an effort to make things right again. I sought a simple system that is manageable; without having to set aside the hours/days/months it takes me to put together a scrapbook. I LOVE the creative freedom I get when scrapping, but let's face it- people can enjoy perusing through a basic photo book versus an incomplete scrapbook (images on a computer, a box of cute paper, darling embellishments and a 1/4 way filled album of an event that took place 3 years ago) no matter how much I crave a creative outlet.
So I turned to Shutterfly. Their site makes images a cinch to upload and dump into an easily editable book. If i had more time, they have the option to make a custom book. Their quality is top notch and they usually have some great deal like free shipping or some %age off. An added plus is that he images get forever stored on their site, in the event (God forbid) I get dumped again.
Here is a simple book I made for Saavan's Preschool Class. They took their first field trip to Erie Apple Orchard in Monroe, Michigan this past September. I decided to turn my pictures into a book for the kids to keep in their classroom at Miss Mary's School. Kids love books. Mostly, kids love books with pictures of people they know and places they visited. I decided to insert simple sentences on the pages along with names of the kids to encourage early exposure to basic sight words, color words and narration of their trip.
The best part? The time it took me to dump, sort, edit, and create this book...about an hour. I'm geeked and totally sold on making more.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Build your own high-quality photo books at Shutterfly.com.

A Blog!?! If you say so...

Why not!?  Anyone with kids would probably agree that memory instantly gets turned to mush the minute you become a mom.  I feel as though, unless I write something down, the thought will blow away in the wind.  Throughout the day, I think of so many things...thoughts about the kids of course, but also about my trials and tribulatons as a parent, religion vs. spirituality, goals, dreams, darn good recipes, my parents, friendships past and present, and so much more. I finally thought that blogging may be a good avenue to hang on to these passing thoughts and memories.  Here, I will keep them in my attic, so I can freely revisit my memories from time to time.  If you are following, enjoy and please share your thoughts. 
Namaste.