October 30 A very late birthday present

Sunday:  Well! After working for probably 100 hours (no exaggeration), I was finally able to FINISH the photo book I've been working on for Kelly's birthday (which was TWO months ago). It was quite a project, and I loved every minute working on it.

I have thousands and thousands of pictures of Dylan, Kelly and the kiddos--how would I organize them and narrow them down to ONE book? I began working on this in early September (I was already late!) and just decided I would go back all the way to 2010 (even a few months prior to that) to when Dylan and Kelly were dating, got engaged, and got married. From there, I did Brendan's birth, baptism and just brief glimpses into his first 5 years without siblings. And then Aidan was born and in quick succession, Erin and Cal! 

So then the book became more challenging because .... I have SO MANY PICTURES! I went through a company called Snapfish and I opted to do the 8 x 11 book, hard cover with lay-flat pages, matte finish. It was more expensive, but I really like the look of the finished product. I finally got the book ordered a week ago Friday and received it in the mail yesterday! I was very pleased with the speed of process and the quality of the book. I was so excited to give it to Kelly. I couldn't wait until Tuesday (when I normally see her), so I just wrapped the book up and took it over this afternoon!

I'm just going to post a few sample pages (there are 82 pages!)

Here is the cover:

It has a very "scrapbook" look and feel to it, and I like it! When I say that I have THOUSANDS of pictures, I am telling you the truth! I tried to limit Kelly's book to MOSTLY events that happened at their house, their church, or in their presence at my house or playground, etc. I didn't totally succeed because I have so many cute pictures of the kiddos here at my house from their Tuesday visits--so I feel it turned out about 80/20, which is okay.

I love the song, "The Blessing" and pray these lyrics lots and lots for all of my family. God is good and gracious. How wonderful that He cares about our families.