Sunday Fun version 12.30.12 - First year ornaments

I really struggled with this one, I really wanted a first year ornament but I wanted it to be special, not just some ornament you could pick up anywhere and worked for any baby.  Several weeks ago Pottery Barn Kids had a kit for making handprint or footprint ornaments, but by the time I got around to it they were sold out.  I looked for kits in  craft stores and couldn't find anything - now I know what you are thinking, you can make your own!  I just knew I wouldn't get around to it!

So then I thought about doing a metal stamp ornament with their names and the year, but sheesh, metal stamping is sooo expensive!

Then over the weekend  I had to run some errands and ended up in Marshals and there it was!  Exactly TWO babyprint ornament kits on clearance for $2.50!  SCORE! I was stoked!

So Sunday evening we got them out and ready and made our ornaments!

Adella was pretty funny - it took 3 tries to get anything decent.  She just wanted to play with the 'dough' of course and kept digging her hands into it.  Finally I got a mostly flat print and left it at that. The dough in this kit was super sticky and almost marshmallow like, but it worked pretty good and most importantly no mixing!

Charlie was more interested in the cutter so he let me do whatever I wanted and we got a perfect print.  For some reason his dough was not as sticky either and even easier to work with.

I'm so excited to have these ornaments to treasure, we were not prepared and don't even have hand and foot prints from the hospital - I know totally lame and sad - I was too exhausted to worry about it at the time, it's a good thing we at least have pictures!

Button Family 2012 yearbook

I worked like a crazy women the last couple days to finish this thing!  I had some extra codes in shutterfly that were expiring and along with their sale I just needed to get it done!  This year I did project life and LOVED it!   It was such an easy way to document our family and what we are up to.   I did it all digital, which worked best for me because it meant no piles of papers to keep track of and no worrying about ordering prints, or getting too many I didn't use.  Plus I could crop them just the way I wanted them.  Ordering the book on shutterfly was still pricey, but I could not have done a physical scrapbook for the cost of doing it digital and then printing.   Seriously, there is no way!  After being burnt out with scrapbooking a few years ago, this system really worked for me.  If you are struggling with scrapbooking and record keep you should seriously check out project life!

The other thing that helped me create this was staying on top of my blog, most of the time I copied my blog journaling right into my scrapbook, I sometimes had to do a few edits or revise some things but it helped me remember exactly what was going on and when.  Plus it just made it faster to already have it written!  For the most part I kept up to date with my weekly spreads, but if I couldn't get to them, I knew I had all the info on the blog so I didn't panic too much!  

This book is pretty big and has pretty much everything that was on my blog anyway, so if you don't want to look at it, no worries.    But if you are interested at all in project life, check out a few pages!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

11 Months!

Charlie and Adella turned 11 months on Friday December 28th.  Since we still had the tree up and I had wanted to do pictures of them by the tree, we decided that's what their 11 month pictures would be.   My Christmas tree camera skills aren't great, but I tried!  Doesn't help when you have very wiggly models who are ecstatic that they get to play with lights!

At 11 months Adella has her two bottom teeth in (well at least visible, I think they still have a little ways to go).  It looks like two top teeth are just about ready to come in too.   Adella isn't quite walking yet but has taken a few steps here and there.  She is very good at walking along walls and walking with push toys.  She still does her funny knee 'crawl/walk' and make her 'O' face all the time.  She is super giggly and a total Daddy's girl.  Banana's appear to be right up there with her favorite foods, though she still will eat just about anything!  Adella still struggles to sleep through the night most nights but is getting better at napping and is taking her naps in her crib now!

At 11 months Charlie has mastered walking.  He is FAST!   He rarely crawls anymore, in fact he had a hard time figuring out how to get down into our living room (it's sunken) because he just wouldn't get on his knees to crawl down.  Last week we took down their 'fence" and he screamed and screamed for a few days until he finally accepted the fact that he needed to crawl down.   His favorite food also appears to be bananas but overall he is becoming a much better eater.  He is a PERFECT sleeper and takes great naps.  He can even fall asleep through Adella screaming in the crib next to him when she refuses to nap!   He is super ticklish and we are always finding new places to tickle him.   Charlie also has lots of words to say and says them LOUDLY!

More Christmas!

A few days after Christmas Charlie and Adella got a package from my Uncle Chuck and Aunt Valarie  in Alaska.  These stuffed animals are so cute and cuddly!

Christmas!

Christmas was so fun!  I dressed Charlie and Adella up (yes again) and we opened presents with my parents on Skype- oh how I love technology!   They really didn't get it, but did enjoy their new presents!

And then we had breakfast!  Oh how I love Christmas morning breakfast!   Growing up we always went to Grandma and Grandpa Heck's for Christmas breakfast and Grandma would make just about everything - and if she didn't and you asked for it, she would make it!   It was always amazing - and she did it mostly by herself!  Since we couldn't be with them this year, we decided to do it ourselves.  Luckily all of Adam's siblings that live here in AZ could join us too.   We had bacon, sausage, ham, eggs Benedict  scrambled eggs, potatoes, orange rolls, fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice, milk and hot chocolate!  Yummy!!!

After breakfast we were able to use Google+ to video chat with Adam's parents in the Dominican Republic where they are currently serving a mission as well as Mike and Emily in North Carolina and Daniel in Wisconsin.   It was amazing we could all be 'together' at the same time though we were far apart.  The grand kids exchanged names this year and opened gifts- it was so fun to watch my oldest nieces and nephews get so excited about their gifts.  It's going to be so magical in a few years when Charlie and Adella are a little older!

Merry Christmas!