25 Days of Thanksgiving: Days 16-17

Yesterday I posted the link to a cute everyday kind of card. And I started to think that my blog looks like a big ol' monument to Shutterfly. I felt kind of weird about it for a few minutes and then thought "But I LOVE Shutterfly!" Maybe I'll settle down a little after Christmas. After Princess Pea Pod has opened the (not one, but TWO) Fairytale Friendship stories I wrote and have ordered in photo books, and after we've read both of the stories a jillion times because she is going to be fascinated by the fairytale stories about herself and her friend Lily. After all the adorable Christmas cards have been sent... maybe then I'll settle down a little. Maybe. And so, for day 16, I am thankful for...

Can you guess?

Is the suspense driving you bonkers?!?

Shutterfly!

(Were you surprised? Really?)

Day 17 takes a more serious tone. This morning we got a call and learned that our very favorite, very best babysitter in the WORLD would not be coming to play with Princess Pea Pod today. They had a death in the family. And so I did what I could do: I baked. I am still baking. I bake when I'm happy, I bake when I'm sad, I bake for a crowd, or I bake pumpkin muffins just for myself. Because we adore K and her family, I'm sharing pumpkin muffins with them. (Yeah, she's THAT special!) I am tempted to say I am thankful for baking, or for pumpkin muffins, or that insane coconut cake that will scream my name till we cut it tomorrow night. More than all those things, I am thankful for K and her family.

We've known them since K and her sister T were little girls. She started babysitting for us about 2 years ago, before she was old enough to watch Princess Pea Pod all by herself. She comes over once a week to give me a 2 hour break when I can work in peace, and she gets experience. She is now able to babysit all by herself. I'm a little teary eyed! I can't believe little K is old enough to babysit all by herself! Now I'm going to dry my eyes and check on my last batch of pumpkin muffins.

Cute Everyday Kind of Card

           

White Border 5x7 folded card

Unique party invitations and greeting cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Shutterfly Always Brightens My Spirits!

I have already posted about how much I love Shutterfly. But I've focused on their photo cards in the past and would be remiss if I didn't tell you how awesome their photo books are. I have friends who are scrapbooking queens, and I admire their work. But I've always been more of a photo album kind of girl. Having said that, sometimes you need more than a photo album for a certain event. For example, our family has created photo books for two fun family vacations. These were opportunities to highlight the best photos and really emphasize the story of our travels. (Trust me, traveling with all 10 of us leaves plenty of opportunity for stories!) My favorite, though, is one that I made for our daughter for Christmas last year. It was a much nicer version of one that I had created with a few photos from her birth, some contact paper, and a cheap board book when she was an infant. I titled it "My Family Loves Me" and included pictures of our family members and some of her first friends. She treasures it, and I really enjoyed putting it together especially for her.

So I was thrilled when House Party and Shutterfly selected me as a hostess for their national Shutterfly Making Spirits Brighter house party! What better way to share Shutterfly with my friends?!? They sent a fabulous party pack, including some super cute Shutterfly totes, festive balloons, coupons for freebies (I love freebies!) and several other items to set me up for success. All I had to do was bake tons of muffins and set out lots of fun, warm, cozy drinks for all the friends I had invited.

Now, I thought I had chosen the perfect date for my party. I went with opening day of rifle season, so that my dear hubby wouldn't have to figure out an escape route. He would be in the deer woods with his dad, leaving his mom and me "deer widows" to party and photo book all day! Oops! I didn't consider that my friends' husbands (and, who am I kidding, several of my friends) would also be in the deer woods that day. (And that is the story of how I came to vow to never again schedule anything but the annual "deer widow" shopping trip on opening day of rifle season.) Having said that, I am blessed with super supportive family members who showed up and had lots of fun talking about photos, photo cards, photo books... and photos.

So I have a little "Merry Christmas" for you! For my dear readers, I have two separate freebies, offered to you! One is for a free 8x8 20 page hard cover photo book. The second is for 10 5x7 folded greeting or flat stationery holiday cards. Simply post here what your favorite Christmas tradition is, and I will select two winners. Only one entry, and you have until 11:59pm Friday to post. You'll LOVE Shutterfly's photo books and cards! (A side note: Our Shutterfly Christmas cards have arrived and I'm MISERABLY waiting until time to mail them!!!)

Post away, my freebie-loving, picture-snapping, mom-a-razzi friends! GO!