Thursday, May 15, 2014

Capturing the Memories: Photo Yearbooks and Photo 365

Every night, when I put Peyton to bed, I ask her what her favorite part of the day was. Sometimes the answer is sweet -- "you!" and other times it makes me laugh out loud -- "when I farted on you!" (What is it with kids finding body sounds hilarious?!)

We tried, ever so briefly, to write one line a day in our journal of our favorite parts of the day. But it didn't last long. Commitment issues.  

So then I switched to creating a Yearbook for each year using MyPublisher Photobooks. I got the idea from the YoungHouseLove blog and you can read all about the idea here.  I loved the idea of capturing a book full of photos for each year so I backtracked and created a yearbook for 2010, 2012 and 2013.  Peyton loves looking through the books, and she does it often.



My camera broke in 2011 and my computer also died that year so I was unfortunately not able to create enough pictures for a 2011 yearbook. I do plan to hijack my mom's photos at some point to see if I can use some of her memories to make a 2011 yearbook.

What is great about MyPublisher is that they retain every book you create so you can always re-order.  I also love the quality of the books--you can order a photo right on the cover and they have a lot of great extras, like lay flat pages, glossy pages, etc. I'm definitely a fan.



Today, I discovered this amazing app on iTunes that I am excited to share! It's called "Photo 365," and I think another version is "Collect-Everyday Photo Diary."  The goal is to upload one photo per day.  I think it will be a terrific way to capture the moments and those "favorite parts" that we have each day.  You can even order photo books using your uploaded images!

I downloaded it to my iPhone and iPad and they are syncing beautifully. I backtracked a few days with some memories that I could capture, but it starts today. Game on.



I've also created an Instagram account, but since I'm not a tremendous fan of social media (well, other than Pinterest!) I don't know how much I will use it. But I do so love those miniature IG pictures and magnets you can get from those images. I'm a sucker for anything miniature. Unless it's chocolate. Then you'd better supersize that puppy. 

How do you capture your memories? 

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Wild Baby Rabbits

My mom texted me this morning and asked me to bring Peyton by her house.

"You will like this too," she says.

So we hop in the car and stop at her house where she leads us to her backyard, and proceeds to pull what looks like fluff from the ground under the tree house. At first I wasn't sure what to expect--before getting close it honestly looked like a big webbed spider's nest. I thought surely my mom wouldn't be so cruel as to make me see a big fat hairy spider. Not the day before Mother's Day. That's just mean. I think my voice might have even trembled when I asked if it was a spider's nest before moving closer.

I watched with trepidation and confusion as she pulled the ground away from itself.

Baby rabbits.  I swear my heart went pitty-pat! I have never seen a rabbits burrow, though I have heard of them in Wonderland, yes I have.








There were seven babies in the nest, and as hard as it was to put them back in the nest, I knew we had to, to give them a fighting chance at survival. But they were so cute, cuddly and oh-so-soft, it was hard not to tuck them into my purse and haul them home. So hard. But even rabbit mothers should be with their babies on Mother's Day!