6/101 #47 - Scrapbook Bunny's Birthdays

Did you know that digital scrapbooking involves more than creating a photobook? All the chochkies one pastes into a scrapbook page like buttons, cute letters and sayings, ribbons, etc. are available in digital form for digital scrapbook pages that you can then order and put into a scrapbook. For example, you can create a page that looks like the one shown here.

Well I didn't know all of that until AFTER I finished, ordered, paid for, and received the first of these books. Since it's my list, I'm going to accept digitally designed photobooks for this particular item. When you are so in love with the images of your child, the digital photobooks take quite a wihle to complete as well, especially when you're three years behind.

The first and easiest book to put together was from "Bunny's" third birthday, since it just passed and I'm still enjoying the memories and vicariously reliving my own childhood fantasies of princesses and fancy parties.

The theme was Sleeping Beauty, and the birthday girl dressed like Aurora. We had scavenger hunts for Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather's gifts of Beauty, Song, and love's first kiss. It was mostly girls-only, but we had 2 cute princes who dressed in style too. Moms even got into playing with the jewelry making. Even big girls like to dress up! Here's a pic of Bunny on her big day:

My sweet little baby girl has grown into a beautiful little girl. Sigh

Here is a little sample of her third birthday photobook:

(Click on the image to see a larger version)

The next book I did was actually her first birthday. The same site I used to create the photobooks (Shutterfly.com) already had an album of her first birthday pictures.

The first birthday. Bunny's first bites of cake. Her first celebration honoring her where she actually knew what was going on around her. A duck theme with a scavenger hunt the kids really enjoyed.

My favorite memory of her first birthday is actually not from her party. It is from her eating the very first birthday cake I ever made her - the first cake she ever had. A homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting dyed pink and decorated with a yellow flower on top. JP took a picture of her close up, capturing her beautiful blue eyes up close. My gorgeous daughter with her father's eyes. My heart still melts and I still catch my breath when I see this picture. And this isn't cropped for "style." This is exactly how JP took the photo. I love it.

The other favorite image of her first birthday in my mind's eye is of Bunny in her birthday dress, tights, and black patent shoes. So many people tell me how much she looks like I did at her age. While I see it in a way, I haven't ever seen a child as beautiful as Bunny and can't believe she came from me. I realize this is the biased love of a mother. But it's a wonderful feeling, this complete adoration for one's child!

Here is a sample of her first birthday photo book:

(Click on the image to see a larger version.)

The last of the three books was the hardest, and made well after the other two had arrived and been flipped through several times. I took all day making it and you wouldn't believe it by looking at it.

When I started searching our computer for second birthday pictures, I discovered, to my dismay, that we had about 6 photos from her actual birthday. I asked myself how that was even possible. And then I remembered that we had made an effort to get a lot of video, the "incident," and it all started to make sense.

The theme of the party was Happy Feet, since that was her favorite movie and character at the time. It also afforded some relief from the pink explosion for JP! We had games such as pin-the-beak on Happy Feet and playing with balloons, since that seemed like enough fun on its own for two year olds. And then there was the cake.

Bunny thought the cake was amazing - it was a cupcake cake from a local grocery store and I had placed little black penguins on it, looking like they were dancing like in the movie. We lit two candles for Bunny to blow out, and pushed the cake over to her. Before I could stop her, she reached out and touched the flame on the candle and burned her little fingers! It was so traumatizing for mommy and pretty much most of the guests that we forgot to take many pictures after that.

Luckily modern technology makes up for moments like this. I used the video footage to steal still images from the party and created enough pictures to make her 2nd birthday photobook. Unfortunately, the quality of the images is not so great. But it's better than nothing, and hopefully she'll appreciate my efforts to create images however I could. I love this image of her on her birthday - and you can see what I'm referring to in terms of the image quality.

Here is a sample of her second birthday photobook.


(Click the image to see a larger version.)

All in all, I'm glad I put these on the list. I learned a few lessons: make sure to identify someone to take photos during the party so you have plenty. Also, it's super easy to put these books together - so do them sooner than later, save them online, and wait for a 40% off and free shopping coupon and you can save almost half the cost!

I was also able to see just how fast Bunny is growing up. And that sort of breaks my heart. And reminds me how much I need to cherish my time with her while she still thinks I hung the moon.