Memory Keeping with Online & Traditional Photo Books

How many of you are making photo books online? I started with a little book of our summer adventures in 2008 and just thought it came out so well I've been creating them ever since. The hardcover could withstand the kids looking at it over and over again and I could order another two copies so that when – someday never – they leave home they can each have a set:

At the time, I researched the competing companies – Kodak, Snapfish and a couple others – and went with Shutterfly. As a graphic designer I'm pretty picky about how the finished book will look. I didn't want tacky, busy, clip-art backgrounds distracting from the images of my two little angels. :-) I also didn't want a too-slick, portfolio-looking black and white style. Shutterfly's process allowed me to customize just enough – fonts, background textures, etc.

I begin by sorting through kajillions of photos stored on my computer and uploading the best several hundred. Then, using a storyboard, I drag pictures by occasion onto pages  – 3 to 10 a page. Then the program will generate a layout for you. You can still change the layout to something of your own choosing, as well as crop each photo, delete, add, rearrange pages, add captions, etc. Pale blues, greens and neutrals, all in textures fill my backgrounds and I use the 8x8 hardcover format.

Last week the kids started school, and getting a book created of our 2011 adventures was high on my project list. Two years ago a friend suggested I try to fit one whole year into each book, so it doesn't get out of hand and in the long run will be more organized, make more sense and not require a moving truck for our adult children to transport. :-) For 2010 I managed it, but prior to that had 2-3 books covering each year. Oh, fellow moms, isn't it SOOOO hard to not include EVERY adorable photo of our darlings?!

To capture the sweet memories of my kids "First Year" I had already created a traditional scrapbook-like photo album for each. I found these two cute quilted-fabric-covered books at a Hobby Lobby I believe:

With these books comes that more hand-made creation. I hand-wrote on every page and felt like I fulfilled my mommy duty. :-) Even though I'm obviously an artsy-craftsy gal, I'm not excited about big scrapbooks for some reason. Too labor intensive perhaps. BUT, for my Baby's First Year, I did it!

Hopefully I'll get my 2011 photo book designed just perfectly very soon! I'd love to hear about your experiences with memory-keeping photo books! Which company do you like best?

Kids Junior Olympics Party Games - part 2

Today I'll share more about our Junior Olympics Party we held last week in our backyard.

We had 21 kids – most of them between ages 5 and 11.

We had to start our games with an Olympic torch relay, of course! :-)

We ran around the cul-de-sac, set our torch in it's cauldron and started right off with Track and Field. Kids were paired up for a 3-legged race:

Shot put found 8 kids at a time rolling bocce balls, striving for closest to the golf ball target.

Our littlest ones got to try from up close:

Hurdles was all about the numbers – the colored bars of this lawn game are 1, 2, 3 top down:

Discus was a frisbee toss into concentric circles on the grass. For some of the games, we adjusted for the age differences by having the younger children stand a little closer than the older kids. Similarly we used a ring target for a child's lawn 'dart' game, counting points for the win.

We also had a badminton individual competition – how many vertical hits each child can get in a row.

In gymnastics we competed in a test of balance – standing on one leg for as long as possible:

Into the pool we went to cool off on this blistering hot August afternoon. We started with individuals competing against the clock two at a time, down and back the length of the pool. This should have been  an age-adjusted race, 5-7 competing and the 8-10s competing. We also did kick board races and relays with teams of 4 kids of assorted age and ability.

After each group of events we held a medals ceremony beside the pool, in front of a large U.S. flag.

It was so sweet to see all the kids up on the 'podium' receiving their medals with pride.

I went with simple felt circles and assorted red, white and blue ribbons:

 Of course, with the actual 2012 Olympics going on, I had plenty of tv time to work on a stash of medals. A little fabric glue and you can see the back side with just a little overlap:

I learned so much from this party, we'll have to do it again next summer and it'll be really smooth! Ha! The game ideas are really limitless, so have fun being creative with your events! We don't really get snow here, so I'm not sure we can do a Winter games, but that would be equally fun! See my first post for more about our Junior Olympics Party!

Kids' Junior Olympics Party Ideas

My kids and I just hosted 21 kids here for a backyard Junior Olympics Party. 

They had so much fun! We've been enjoying all the events on tv and it's totally inspired my kids to get out and compete! This is the first Olympics they can understand, so each night as we watch the array of sports it's a real education.

Water bottles with the athletes' names keeps things simple and organized. 

Girls in red, boys in blue along with "Junior Olympics 2012" and the iconic Olympic rings:

Our Olympic Torch was a sparkly silver party hat turned upside down. Orange paper and pink tissue paper create our "flames." An old jar candle holder becomes our Olympic cauldron centerpiece:

The party 'favors' and cheering accessories were ribbon wands:

Both Michael's and Lowes had 5/16 inch wood dowels. This was a good diameter in which to screw little eye hooks in one end. I believe they were 3 feet long and we sawed them in half.

I used leftover jewelry supplies  – two silver connecting rings on which to safety pin three assorted ribbons in our red, white and blue. I'm not even sure the rings are that necessary if you want to keep things simple. 

Ribbons flowed about two feet and were arranged in a bucket until our first medal ceremony:

The kids' ages ranged from about two to 11, not counting one precious newborn. :-) Our party was scheduled to go 4 hours – from 1 to 5pm. Half way through our competitions we retreated to the Olympic Village commissary for snacks:

The olympic rings' colors and design formed our food theme. We offered plain and blueberry bagels covered in cream cheese and colored cake decorating gel. Nutella colored our black 'ring.' The kids had their fill of bagels and bowls of similarly-colored fruit, thankfully brought by the moms.

One lovely friend used her pastry skills to treat us all with these scrumptious creme-filled cupcakes!

Go Team U.S.A!! 'Til next time when we look at the medals and games!