Family Yearbook: Category Layout Design

Creating our family yearbook is one of my biggest (and time consuming) projects of the year but one that I love doing and our kids love having on hand at the house.  I use Shutterfly to create my family yearbooks (and to store all of my pictures).  Shutterfly might be a little more expensive than other places (I wouldn't know, I've always been loyal to them) - but throughout the year they offer regular specials including sometimes 50% off of photo books (!) and free shipping.  So, it's always been worth the money to order our high quality yearbooks from them.  (these opinions are entirely my own and not endorsed in any way).  

I started the family yearbook project in 2012 and since have gone back and finished a 2011 yearbook and finished our 2013 yearbook this spring.  I'm currently working on finishing a 2010 yearbook (the year our first child was born) and then I think moving forward we'll just stick to the current years.

For our 2013 yearbook, I tried a new organizational plan instead of sticking to the chronological months of the year like I had in previous yearbooks.  And I must admit, I love the new organization.  It has given me the opportunity to use many more miscellaneous pics without trying to use up a whole page on something relatively insignificant in the year just because I love a particular picture. 

By setting up the yearbook by category instead of by month/seasons, the book flows by grouping pictures together that are connected in some way.  The kids have really enjoyed this 2013 yearbook because all of their favorite things are mostly grouped together - so it's easy for them to find all the holiday pics at once, or all the vacation/trip pictures at once.

At the suggestion of a friend, I'm going to share below the categories/questions on how our 2013 yearbook was set up.  If you are in the process (or planning) of creating a family yearbook, I hope these categories/questions can help you brainstorm various ways to organize your family pictures in a meaningful way.

Each category/section transitions like the page above with the overall theme listed and some photos that correspond to the category - usually pictures that I like but don't warrant a full page spread on their own.  In the case of the first category (Our Family), it is a double page spread photo of our family all together (which has been the same for all of our yearbooks regardless of set up).

Categories:

1. Our Family -  this is a great section for using our favorite pictures of just the kids or us.  Lots of instagram pictures included in this section that are captured randomly throughout the year on random days.

Dad and Mum Page pictures and questions:

• What was your favorite trip of the year?
• What is your favorite holiday tradition?
• What was the hardest challenge of the year?
• Favorite husband&wife moment
• #ParentingFail
• Favorite meals
• Best Lesson Learned

Pets Page
Individual Kids Page:  include what they were like this year.  Favorite activities, movies, books, funny things they said/did, knicknames, and things they learned

What was it like to live in our home this year? - This section also used many instagram and phone pictures.  Just the everyday captures of what it was like in our days.  It was a chance to showcase the tiny little things we do to spend the days away in this year, with the kids this age.

Home improvements
Things we did at home (playtime, cooking/baking)
Misc. pics of us at home together

With whom did we spend our days? - The kids love these sections as they are filled with familiar faces and obviously so much love.  These pages are usually created as some of the last pages when creating the book because many of the pictures are overflow from the holidays or events pages.

Big Brother & Little Sister page
Just us (Immediate family)
Family
Friends

What milestones did we accomplish this year? - This was a fun addition to our book this year and was inspired by my 30th last year and Brandon taking on his first year of coaching.  After seeing the connection between those - lots of other things made it's way into this section including big Firsts for the kids and an obstacle race we participated in last year.

Milestone birthdays (30th)
Races/Runs
Big Firsts (first haircut, ride a bike)
New jobs/change in jobs

What gave us cause to celebrate this year? - The pictures here are obvious and these pages would be included in any yearbook regardless of layout.  The benefit of a category organization though groups all of the parties and celebrations together which makes for a very happy and fun section to look at :)

Birthday parties (our friends and the kids')
Showers (wedding, baby)
Family reunions
Weddings
Anniversary

What seasonal traditions did we enjoy?  - This is one of my favorite sections; it's all the little things we do throughout the seasons that have become like traditions for us.  They aren't huge events that we spend months planning, but rather the little things that keep us happy and specific to the seasons.  It's as though these little bits of fun sprinkled throughout the year are what keep us always looking forward to new fun events.

Yearly traditions (Screen Free week, Alumni events, Shark Week, local festivals)
12 Months of Kindness
Winter events (sled riding, hotel sleepover)
First day of Trout/hunting
Annual parties
County fairs

Where did we go to visit? - lots of pictures available because they are the events that I have my camera on hand.  These are the things I'm obviously documenting because they took some planning to accomplish.  It's nice to have them all in one section together and this is section that gets a lot of comments from the kids like, "When can we go there again?!!"

Kid playdate trips to new places (circus, indoor playground, outdoor concert, petting zoo)
Family Day trips (Lincoln Caverns)
Family vacations

What do the holidays feel like? - If there is a most joyful section of the yearbook, it is this one.  Which is part of the reason I made it last (it's easy to locate!)  The holidays are filled with so many smiles and loving traditions.  This is by far the kids' favorite category and we have spent time looking at the previous year's holiday adventures as we approach the same holiday in the current year - as a reminder to what we'll be doing and what it means for our family.

Single page photo collage for most holidays (Halloween, 4th of July, Easter)
Multiple pages for 'big' holidays (Christmas) including traditions, Kids & their Santa wish list, celebrations/parties

My favorite part of this style of yearbook has been that I believe it represents a more true to life picture of what it is like to be a part of our family for the year.  The overall feel of what it is like to be in this family this year; our kids this particular age, the family and friends we spent time with, and just the regular life that we experience right now.

Do you create family yearbooks?  How do you organize the pictures?

a year of meal planning

If you would have told me about a year and a half ago that I could successfully meal plan for an entire 12 months, I would have never believed you.  There was a time that meal planning was slotted in my 'really ambitious' goal for myself.  But last January, I was determined to put one oven mitt in front of the other each week, and I made it bit by bit through the whole year planning our family's meals - and haven't stopped since!

I have no big secret or science to how I did it, it was really all about making it a habit.  I am so relieved that I am in this place now that meal planning is just something that I do.  It has changed and grown over the course of the year and is still evolving into what works the best for us.

This post is written in hopes to inspire or assist other Mums who look at meal planning as the daunting and scary mountain that I used to view it as.

How I got started:
1. weekly meal plans:  since I never used to meal plan at all, it was all about starting out slow.  I started by picking a day each week (Tuesday because that's when the grocery ads come) and planning out next weeks' meals based off of meat sales.  I planned one week at a clip and wrote it down (in pink or red pen) on each weekday for the following week.

2. Pinterest:  One of the big obstacles for me for meal planning has always been getting bored.  Sometimes, I just feel like if I have to eat another grilled chicken breast, I'm going to lose my mind.  Hah!  Enter from stage Left, Pinterest who provides 4528 recipes for chicken.  Seriously.  When my meal planning/eating boredom strikes, I start pin-searching new recipes and suddenly I'm energized with newness again.

3. Learning what my family likes:  It has been a year of learning about my families eating habits through meal planning.  I know the kids love spaghetti best of all, but that also has translated into watching them joyously eat other spaghetti like food (meatball sandwiches, pierogies & sauce, chicken parm). We have found by accident that the kids both like eating salad with dinner too (woohoo for veggies!) and our families #1 favorite side is steamed broccoli with corn on the cob a close second.  We are definitely meat-eaters over here and if I make a meat-less meal, there is mass confusion and a need for a protein fix asap (we go through eggs over here like no one's business).

deer meat sandwich!

How I stuck with it:
1. bi-weekly meal plans:  after getting comfortable with weekly planning, I bumped it up to planning two weeks at a time.  It freed up every other Tuesday, but also we started seeing more grocery bill savings since we were really only make a big trip every other week to the grocery store.

2. the slow-cooker:  we have a slow-cooker cooked meal probably 2-3 times a week.  I love slow cooking, its so easy and done when it's time to eat.  See Pinterest for approximately 8979 recipes on different things to cook in the slow cooker ranging from full meals to soup to desserts.  It's seriously the best invention ever.

3. adding breakfast & sweets to the planning:  I also started to incorporate a planned 'real breakfast' two times and a weekly dessert after getting more comfortable with dinners.  it allowed me to feel accomplished that the kids and I were eating anything other than toast/oatmeal for breakfast and the sweets were like a little love-pick-me-up through the week.  Plus, it's easy to get the kids in on helping to bake and provided a fun afternoon activity for us weekly to bake cookies for our family.

My top 3 benefits from meal planning:
1. less stress:  there is an amazing sense of calm that comes with simply knowing what your family will be eating come dinnertime.  So much happens during the day and by dinnertime I am generally too tired and brain-fried to attempt to assemble a meal with what I think may be available in the fridge & freezer.  Just having the meal written down in my planner to glance at the night before or the day of has made all the difference in my stress level come 5:30/6p each night.

2. money saved:  Since meal planning, we have found that we have saved money for a variety of reasons.  First, if something is already planned, I am less likely to tell B to just bring something home because I'm too tired to cook or clean up afterwards.  I mean, it's already setting out or slow-cooking, so we're good.  Also, we're not impulse buying at the grocery store because we only need the things on the list - and we're going to the grocery store fewer times during the month.  Granted, we still buy random stuff (hello Pringles), but it is at an extremely less often rate than pre-meal planning.

3. confidence:  through planning and preparing meals for my family, I have increased my self-confidence in what I am capable of in the kitchen.  I have found that I am trying out new flavors for foods that I may not have been brave enough to try before, and also not afraid of suddenly realizing I'm out of a particular ingredient (there are tons of info on substitutes for everything.  My fave:  applesauce in place of eggs).  There are meals now in my repertoire that I think, 'hmm, I wonder if this dinner will be something the kids will think of as one of Mum's meals when they move away.' I am a different home chef than I was a year ago and that makes me feel powerful.

Grey helping with mardi gras themed chocolate covered pretzels

Where I am today:
1. Monthly meal plans:  this year, I've been trying out planning out the whole month of meal planning at one time.  This is in an attempt to only do one big grocery trip (supplemented by the milk/eggs/bread sort trips occasionally) and really learn to start digging and using the stocked items we have in the pantry.

2. Planning 5 days a week:  This seems to work best for us, I plan 5 dinners a week for the 5 weekdays.  Most often, one day will be covered by left overs and then that will bump a planned meal to the weekend, or we'll eat dinner at one of our parent's houses, or have frozen pizza or something unplanned.  Of course, we occasionally eat out too, so all 7 nights are covered with little stress even when I only plan for 5 nights a week.

3.  Lunch:  since the kids and I are home everyday, lunch isn't ever planned outright but rather usually consists of leftovers from last night or bento-style lunches for them (salad or a sandwich for me).  Even though its the most obvious chart on the planet - somehow this little thing has really helped me when whipping up lunch for the kids:

So, that's how I overcame something that seemed so scary but also so necessary for my sanity as a Mum.  It is with relief and pride that I now can include myself as a meal-planning Mum:)

And for some meal-planning inspiration - here have been some of our favorites over the past year -

Our top 10 favorite new-to-us recipes
(that we've discovered and made multiple times over the past year):
Korean Beef (with ground beef)
Cheesy Vegetable Chowder  - like broccoli and cheese with more veggies
Slow Cooker Kielbasa and Cabbage
Meatball Sub Casserole
Quick Baked Potatoes - this has essential become my fallback potato recipe; so good, so easy.
Slow Cooker Brown Sugar & Garlic Chicken
American Goulash
Crockpot Meatballs
Grilled Country Style Pork Ribs
Slow Cooker Three Envelope Pot Roast


And how about top 5 desserts too:
Iced Oatmeal Cookies - the entire family went bonkers for these.  Brandon ate four at a time.
No bake energy bites
Thumbprint Jelly Cookies
Monster cookies -our go-to cookie recipe
Homemade Granola Bars - we add m&ms and chocolate chips to ours


And because breakfast can get so boring,
how about these top 3 favorite 'real' breakfasts:
Blueberry Banana Bread
Hootenany
Breakfast Enchiladas

10 simple things you should do before your first baby...because you still can and should

One of my very best friends on the whole wide Earth is getting ready to have her first baby (due in February!) Our other BFF and I drove down to see her a few weeks ago for a weekend full of girl time and baby shower and lounging.  It was bliss.  Well, at least for the two of us that were already Mums.  Because we didn't have our kids with us for two whole days (!)  Because even though we missed our kids' cherubic faces and sticky hands; we were also massively grateful for a little time to be a grown up woman without any boogies to wipe.

We offered up all sorts of stories for our best friend to try to help ease her fears and charge up her excitement about that new little bundle that none of us can wait to meet.  We told stories that were funny, gross, sad, scary, and emotional.  We laughed about how poop will soon become a regular dinner topic in their house and marveled at how clean everything was (and smelled!).  But it's hard to talk about babies and being a Mum to someone who is not quite a Mum to be a born child without barely walking the line between sounding really awful but also attempting honesty.

So, instead of trying to explain how it will be once that sweet child arrives, here is a list of 10 simple things you should do before your first baby.  Because you still can and you should.  These are things, that in the thick of motherhood, they are the simple everyday luxuries I occasionally miss from my pre-Mum days.  Let me clarify:  Miss them? -yes. Would I ever trade my life now for that former life? -not in a million freaking years.  'Tis the oxymoronic way of motherhood.

1. Go on a spontaneous trip.
It does not have to be extravagant; go to the mall or for a walk or out to see a movie.  The point being; just announce the trip and then walk.out.the.door.  It will not be that easy soon - getting out the door to go somewhere will very soon be matched in your mind with something as daunting as climbing Everest. A large 'to-grab' checklist, the equipment, the schedule, the food rations, the coaxing and justifying.  I wish I was kidding.

2.  Enjoy a very long dinner.
Sit at the table, speak to another grown up, eat your own food off of your own plate, and don't get up until the dinner is completely over.  One of my good momma friends said once that she can't remember the last time she ate a whole meal before it got cold.  It will soon be up-and-down for your meal as you refill drinks, mop up spills, and change diapers.  At our house, we call our children 'the seagulls' since we can't eat without sharing unless we hide out in the pantry...which we aren't ashamed to admit - we've done.

3. Watch an R-rated movie whenever you want.
Whatever kind of R floats your boat - the violence, cursing, or 'relations' kind.  Or a mix of all three?  Watch it now, because soon you will become rose-cheeked at the sight of a commercial that walks the line on the wrong side of PG-13 in front of your child.  TV shows that you used to enjoy will feel exponentially more violent - news broadcasts included.  And to stay up late to catch the flicks after baby falls asleep? - HAH!  sleep will very quickly replace any interest in staying current in pop culture over catching some shut eye.

4. Spend an extraordinary amount of time on personal hygiene.
Take a long hot shower or bath; go get a mani and pedi; blow dry your hair; wear dangling earrings; get a massage.  Focus on feeling and looking beautiful.  It's not that you won't after the baby comes, it's just that we, Mums, suffer from horrible cases of what is referred to as 'Mom-guilt.'  It's like, you know you'd feel better if you had a shower more than once every three days - but when the decision comes down to either showering, washing those dishes that have been in the sink for two days, or sleeping while the baby's napping...it's rarely showering that wins (and almost never the dishes).

5. Brush up on your nursery rhymes.
It will startle and delight you at how much just the sound of your voice soothes your new baby.  Little made-up songs have always been my favorite and a joy to sing to my babies as we giggle and play together.  But of course, there are times when you are too tired or too frustrated to pull together anything that sounds like a tune.  Recall some of the nursery rhymes from childhood (do kids learn these anymore?) Have them ready for long car rides or late nights or while roaming the grocery store aisles.  I have found that my favorites are those that are long and repetitious like:  This Old Man, The Ants Go Marching, Five in the Bed, and Old McDonald (although this one is exhausting to sing).

6. Do one non-baby related task that you've been meaning to get done
In the weeks prior to the arrival of the babe, it's been all baby-baby-baby, yea?  Now's a good time to get some non-baby things done, because once the baby arrives, it really will be all baby-baby-baby.  So file and shred that paperwork that's been piling up, make some freezer meals, or vacuum behind the couches.  Your future tired self will thank you.

7. Make some calls.
 Catch up with friends and family over the phone and talk as long or as little as you like.  There may be a brief period of time after the baby is born that you'll go into survival mode and ration your waking time to tasks that absolutely need accomplished (things like eating and using the bathroom).  It's horribly sad that things like talking on the phone just to chat somehow tend to fall into the category of 'not generally an efficient use of limited time.'  No harm, no foul though - we've all been there.

8. Spend an entire weekend just relaxing.
With the Prepare-For-Baby To Do List probably still quite long, it may feel like taking a weekend to do nothing does not seem like a great idea.  But know this, Relaxing SHOULD BE on your to do list.  This is soul-battery charging, so write it down on the list if you must!  Sleep in, lounge about, watch movies, and don't clean, assemble, or worry about anything besides what snacks you'll be eating every few hours.  Just take it easy and run on your own schedule.

9. Write a letter to yourself.
Write about how excited you are to meet your little one.  Write about how you feel (nervous? excited? anxious? elated?) to be standing at the precipice of a new adventure.  Write about the things you hope you'll do together and learn from each other.  Write about all the things you think you'll love about your new life and all the things you love about your current one.  Write with your voice and tone; the voice of a Mum-to-be full of excitement and nerves about the unknown.  In a few months, this voice will be refreshing and nostalgic to you; to see yourself through the eyes of a former childless version of you.  You will never be this exact same person again, it will be nice to have her thoughts and words.

10.  Look in the mirror and say aloud, "There is no one better for this job."
Because it's true.  No one will love your baby like you will.  Motherhood will be both infinitely better and worse than you ever imagined.  Let those words sink in; deep into your bones, that You are this best person for this; amazingly and incredibly so.  Only you.



Maybe this list is frightening and comes off sounding like your life as a new mom will be downright awful.  Let me assure you, it will not be.  It will however be very, very different than your life right now.  And mostly, the different bits will be so beautiful and full of love that you'll find yourself truly wondering how you never realized before that something had been missing all along; or someone, rather.

After your sweet baby arrives, you'll still be able to do all of these things listed here, but usually not without a great deal of planning and a minimal amount of guilt.  Because, the truth is, you will be hard-pressed to think of anything more valuable than seeing a toothless grin on that little slobbery ball of love or snuggling up to listen closely to those soft, sweet-smelling breaths.

I'm not the first to tell you, and certainly not the last to proclaim it - but there is nothing that can be said about being a Mum that can give you the real picture of what it will be like except to say:

It will be hard, but you'll never ever regret it.

Traditional and Virtual Hybrid Baby Shower

Remember my two best girl friends?  Kate and Allison.  We've been friends since college and just last year we took a long weekend trip together to Nashville to celebrate our 30th birthdays.  They're the best.

Kate and I live in Pennsylvania with our two kids a piece.  We shuffle them back and forth to each other's houses for playdates and supervise occasional facetime conversations where the camera on each hand either shows a close-up on a child's nostril or no child at all (our kids like to have races around the houses against each other to see who can get back to the iPad first).

Racing!

Allison (fondly known as Karpy) lived for awhile in Baltimore which meant we visited her and she visited us at least a few times a year.  And then she and her hubs moved further south to NC and now THEY ARE EXPECTING THEIR FIRST BABY ?!?!?!!!!!  Did you get the excitement from my full caps and punctuation?!  I AM WILDLY EXCITED!!!!!!!

gender reveal via facetime

So when Kate and I discovered that our best friend in the whole world was bringing a new best friend for our kids into this world - do you think we let 450 miles stand in our way of celebrating with her?  (translates to a 6.5 hour drive).  Heck no!

We wanted to organize a baby shower for Allison, the Grandma-to-be (also lives in NC), the aunt-to-be (didn't let international borders stand in her way - she currently lives & works in Panama!) and all of Allison's neighbors and local friends.

But we knew too, that not everyone that cared about Al and this sweet boy of hers would be able to make the haul down south to join us, so we got to planning a Traditional and Virtual Hybrid Baby Shower.  

Since Al and Matt are expecting a boy, we took a cue from Allison's Dad's sailboat to settle on a sailing theme for the shower.

We created two invitations, both using Paperless Post.  The traditional invitation included all the standard details for a shower including registries, place/time, and a section to RSVP.  The virtual invitation stated the details date/registries and in the place of an RSVP, we supplied a link to a sign-up for the virtual shower.

Guests were then able to log into SignUpGenius to choose a 15-minute time slots during the evening (after the traditional shower) to connect with Allison via their preferred choice of technology (facetime, skype, or google hangout).  In the instructions, we asked that guests try to get their gift to Allison in time for the virtual shower so that she would be able to open the gift with them there.

Weeks before the shower, I also sent out mailed packages to confirmed virtual guests that included some cards for them to complete (that we also had at the traditional shower).  The cards asked why Allison would be a great mother and the best parenting advice that they've ever heard/received.  They were instructed to use the stamped envelope to return the letter to Allison before the virtual shower (with a big "ALLISON DO NOT OPEN THIS!" on the back of the envelope).

Finally, in early December, Kate and I kissed our babies and husbands farewell and made the trek down south to celebrate our very best friend and that sweet baby boy bump.  The trip wasn't bad considering I talked (literally) the.entire.ride.down (I need more adult interaction, HAH) and we had clear skies after waiting to leave Saturday morning instead of Friday night.

We made it all the way to Apex unscathed and spent Saturday night beaming over Karpy's adorable belly, stumbling upon a town parade, and noshing on delish dinner together.  No matter how long is spent apart, it's always like no time at all when we get back together.

On Sunday, we all got up bright and early and got to preparing for Baby Shower day.  Traditional shower would be from 11am until 2pm with an hour of rest before the start of Virtual shower time slots scattered between 3pm until 6pm.  We were all set and ready to go before anyone arrived.  We had light brunch fare of waffles and croissant sandwiches with some desserts and a beautiful cake brought by the Grandmother-to-Be.

 

Grandma, Aunt Joce, and a surprise out-of-town guest all arrived first (Allison's godmother came all the way from PA as a surprise!).   We got some photo ops in front of our Ahoy! It's a Boy! banner and used our 'guestbook' life saver as an adorable belly frame:)

The traditional shower was beautiful and simple.  It was so amazing for Kate and I to get to meet all of Allison's neighbors and friends here in their town.  We felt so grateful to meet and laugh with the people that will be surrounding our best friend with support and love for those first weeks (the rotten 8!)  It was a afternoon filled with smiles, love, and excitement.

baby shower mad libs

toilet paper - belly measuring game

rice & pin game

Grandmother-to-be

AKT<3 nbsp="" td="">

After a successful traditional shower and some quick bites to eat - we headed upstairs to continue the virtual shower.  We set Allison up in a comfy chair with the Ipad.  We had the list of which guest would be attending at what time, so we pulled the gifts from the large pile of mailed boxes and had them ready for the specific times.  It was so sweet to see Allison's face light up each time she had a call coming through facetime or skype.

Our girl spent the afternoon showing off her bump, giggling, and opening gifts with all the people who love and care about her but couldn't make the trip for her shower.  It was such a fun way to spend the evening after the shower still sort of relaxing but with the added bonus of seeing familiar and happy faces.

We decided at the end of the day that both showers were a success!  Allison and Matt have quite a bit of assembling and organizing to get done before that boy makes his appearance late next month:)

Kate and I were so grateful to get to spend the weekend celebrating our best friend and were both moved to tears (read: to sobs) when we received our thank you from Karpy in the mail.

Katie's baby shower in 2009, My baby shower in 2010, Allison's baby shower in 2013

So many years as best friends, so many memories, challenges, scary stuff, and awesome stuff.  But always shared together.  We are the luckiest.

Marco the Elf is back!

Guess who's back?  Marco's back.

Our version of the Elf on the Shelf phenom has arrived back at our house on November 30th, just in time to perform his first stunt on December 1st.   This will be our second year spending the weeks prior to the holiday with a sneaky little elf in our home.  We do things a little differently than the original book, you can read our whole start with Marco the Elf here from last year, but as a quick run-down here are the main things that differ from our Team Studer version from the original:

• we have The Elf on the Shelf: Plushee Pal so that the kids can hold him and love him all day.  In the original story, the kids are instructed not to touch him, but with two very young kids - they hang out with Marco all day and then put him to sleep in a box on our tv stand before bed. 

Grey and Marco playing the Wii together

• The biggest thing that we do differently than the original is that Marco is introduced to our kids as an elf that they are to look after and help guide towards being kind and making good choices until Santa comes to pick him up.  Our family operates on the idea that we are kind and try our best all year around, so the idea of presenting an elf to the kids that would tell Santa about when they were naughty went against all of the things we talk about all year.  The letter that arrives with Marco from Santa highlights this idea.  We don't talk at all about Marco 'telling on' the kids to Santa or that they should be good because Santa is watching.  We just continue to talk as we do all year (that we try to be good all the time) and Marco gives us an opportunity to remind others (Marco) about making good choices.

I wanted to re-use some of our activities from last year with Marco that the kids still talk about.  Marco had a whole page outlined in our 2012 yearbook and the kids love looking back on Marco and all the funny things he did.  Some of their favorites included the fort, green milk, and hanging up from their underwear!

Marco's first stunt this year was to build a fort and the kids loved it again like last year.  We thanked Marco for the fun surprise but also reminded him that, "if you make a mess, even for fun, you have to be ready to help clean up when we're done playing with it."  

Marco has also helped to give encouragement to Gemmi while she is practicing potty training.  He left a little note for her and some hilarious butterscotch chips in the potty.  The kids were cracking up.

It has been so much fun to see how different it is with the kids this year now that they are a little older.  Grey tried to figure out how Marco was able to sneak out the dollhouse from Gemmi's room without waking her up in the middle of the night.  And this morning after Marco was found playing Hot Potato with some stuffed animal friends, Grey announced that Marco was sharing with his friends and 'Great Job, Marco!'

Today we had the perfect opportunity to remind ourselves why we choose to do our version of the Elf versus the standard version.  Greyson decided to draw big swirls all over our leather couch today with A PEN.  [gasp].  After having Grey try to scrub it off (using Honest cleaner and a rag), until he sighed and said, "eh, I can't.  There's too much." I was fuming.  He didn't seem remorseful in the least!  And in the heat of the moment it was so easy to look at that 'Santa-it's-going-to-come' bait dangling in front of my face.  Mmm, it would have tasted sweet to snap at that.  But instead, I caught a glimpse of Marco and decided it was the perfect teachable moment to talk about making bad choices and what to do.  Instead I told Grey that it was a very bad choice to draw on the couches.  Very, very bad choice.  These were our couches for our whole family and we need to take care of our things so we can all use them.  I said, "when you make a bad choice, you need to come tell Mum and Dad and ask for our help to fix it.  We can't always fix your mess, but we can help if you ask us."

Then we acted it out - I went to the kitchen and Grey came in whimpering, "Mum, I made a bad choice and I need some help."  We went back into the living room again - Me feeling much less like a red hot scalding tea kettle - and we scrubbed together to clean the couch off.

Thanks, Marco for helping us, parents too.

It only takes a quick pin-search to see mountains of suggestions for Elf on the Shelf hilarity, but if you're interested in taking a look at our upcoming Marco schedule for the rest of the month, here is what it looks like for a 21month old and 3.5 year old.

Happy elf'ing out there to all of you!

5 pin-worthy things from my wedding, even though Pinterest didn't exist at the time

Five years ago today, I was antsies in my pantsies excited about tomorrow...which five years ago, tomorrow, would have been my wedding day.  (word of the wise:  if you're going to write 'antsies in my pantsies' don't accidentally leave out the first 's'like I nearly did...inapprop although probably accurate.  tmi).

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

anyway, I'm one of those pin-lovers of today that feel a tinge of envy for all the brides that get to borrow and make-their-own all those beautiful ideas from pinterest.  Gah.

So in honor of my 5 year anniversary of my wedding eve, I am here to share with you five pin-worthy ideas from my big day, because even without Pinterest and a bajillion awesome ideas floating around via the internet, I still pulled a few goodies out of my sleeves (just kidding, I didn't wear sleeves that day, but ya know what a mean).

Before the dawn of Pinterest, my dear friends (and PinBrides who may have found their way here) - These were my Pin-worthy details from our October 2008 wedding.

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

1. My Something Blue.  Brandon and I are high school sweethearts.  Our high school colors were blue & white and we were the Blue Jays.  Brandon was (and still is!) an amazing athlete, especially though as a basketball player.  As part of his wedding gift from me - I persuaded both his high school and college coaches to give me his 'home' basketball jerseys and then I got them framed.  (He loved them!).  Since I also snagged his away high school jersey (which was blue), I cut a little square out of the bottom and pinned it to the inside of my dress as my Something Blue.  A little reminder of how young and lucky we were to have met in high school.

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

2. Fall Flowers & Foliage.  Thanks to the guidance and support of my awesome florists, we were able to have beautiful and unique flower bouquets and accessories at our wedding.  I was hopeful that we could stick to a fall theme with our October wedding, and the bouquets that were assembled including 'Pods', were perfect.  My bridal bouquet included big white roses and sprinkles of white throughout, ya know, to 'bride it up.'

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

The bridesmaids carried similar Pod bouquets without the bride-y white flowers and our flower girls wore matching flower wreaths atop their precious heads.

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

For the guests that got a little extra special treatment (Mums, Grandmas, Church Readers, Godmothers), we had similar mini corsages (or pin-ons) for them as well.  (Our male special guests got boutonnieres - see below about those).

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

3. Camo vests & turkey feather boutonnieres.  My outdoors-loving husband was ecstatic to learn that he was able to find Mossy Oak camo vests for his tux options.  All the groomsmen, ring bearers, Dads, and my Granpap wore black tuxes, white shirts, and their Mossy Oak vests.  Who says camo can't be fancy?  It certainly does look good-looking, if I do say so myself ;)

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

Our boutonnieres including a spray of fall flowers (matching our bouquets and corsages) beautifully arranged with an actual turkey feather.  With many hunters in our extended family, we had enough turkey feathers to go around for every boutonniere that day.

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

4. Table tops.  As we were going for the 'it's fall and also we're paying for this wedding on a budget' theme, we used that for inspiration for our centerpieces.  We got married in a fire hall, ya'll (also that's pretty customary around here where we grew up) but we needed the space (ahem, with 430 guests) and we're pretty country.  So our table tops were decorated with tall simple vases (dollarstore.com) filled with sticks (collected from my parents' woods) and sprinkled with some fake fall leaves.  I also snagged a ton of mason jars from the Trader's Guide and we had tea lights lit inside of them for dinner.  It was extravagant but it was simple and beautiful to us.

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner

Because I like reading things in moments of waiting (like at a wedding reception dinner table), I also created triangle table tops for each table.  One side included a guest thank you from us with a Special thanks to those that helped prepare for the reception (family members that baked cookies, helped set up, and our Guest book attendant who took Polariods of guests (hi Yemily!))  Another side included a run down of our music from the night - our song:  Stay with You; John Legend, The Wedding Party song:  Cowboy, Take Me Away; The Dixie Chicks, Father/Daughter Song:  My Girl: The Temptations, and Mother/Son Song: There You'll Be; Faith Hill.  The last side included common wedding traditions and why the exist - like why we wear our wedding band on the third finger on our left hand, and why the groom sits on the right and the bride on the left.

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner

5. Candy toss.  We had lots of kids attend our wedding because I was a teacher and always a big kid-fanatic.  And really, at this point with that many guests on the invite list - we figured you might as well go big or go home.  We loved having kids there and know its not possible or a good idea for all wedding receptions to include children.  I wanted the kids to feel included, but also wanted them to steer clear of the bouquet/garter toss since that's a potentially very awkward/inappropriate situation.  So we cranked up the song Candy; Bow Wow Wow's version and asked all the kids to join me on the dance floor.  Then I threw candy from a basket like a wild woman while kids ran and collected all over.  We did this directly before the bouquet and garter toss.

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner

So there's my contribution to wedding pinmania, Internet.

Hard to believe that it has already been five years and sometimes not hard to believe at all.  Love is funny like that.  More on the sentimental happiness tomorrow:)  

But for now, let me make this proclamation:  Even without pinterest - our wedding was chalk full of joy, laughter, dancing, and love.

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner