Wednesday, November 28, 2007

My Sinuses Feel Like They Are Going To Explode

OK! *brushing hands* New rules around here. I am no longer allowed to peruse all of YOUR blogs until I write something on my own. See, I have all these things I've been wanting to tell you- I even think of them in my sleep- but then I sit down, start reading all of you, and BAM! Brain= empty.* Then I feel like whatever I write is a copycat post from one of you. Yucky.

So! Thanksgiving was good. We went to David's brother's house instead of his parents' farm, and it was nice to switch things up a bit. He has a BIG family (8 kids, 17 grand kids; about 32 people in all), so it is an undertaking for anyone to host. My kids are on the younger end of the cousins, so there is a never ending supply of older children eager to play with the younger ones (Hey! Just call us the Duggers!) (Only, with about a bazillion more adults).

Then, we opted out of our trip to SD on Friday. Everyone here has been sick for weeks, and we decided at the last minute to stay home. We missed my mom's side family Christmas, and it's the only time of year we see some of those people, but we definitely made the right decision. If you've never ditched an obligatory family function, I highly recommend it. We felt so relieved that we didn't have to go anywhere- and the rest of the long weekend stretched out invitingly.

I haven't started my Christmas shopping yet. I know, I'm one of those. BUT! I do have a HOTT Christmas gift idea, good for parents, grandparents, and any other hard-to-buy-for person(s). It's the Shutterfly photo books. We did this last year for our parents and grandparents and it was a huge success. They all loved Loved LOVED their books. I titled our book "The Year We Became a Family of 5" (awww. sniff, sniff) and had a few pictures of every month of the year. It started with "Mommy and Daddy finding out our family was growing", chronicled my humongo, pregasaurus belly, included a "Welcome to our family, Marin!" page, and ended with some Thanksgiving and (pre)Christmas pics. I know, so totally cheesy that they ate it up like crack-cocaine! (Also, if you create an account with them, you get boatloads of coupons for free shipping, buy one get one free books, etc.) (And the finished product turns out really nice- just like a hardcover picture book.)


*Note, these rules are subject to change at any time for any reason.

3 comments:

GreenStyleMom said...

I love those Shutterfly photo books. I have one that I did for 2004 - the year Kate was born. It is one of her favorite "books" to read. I need to get going on the 2005 version since I feel bad that the only pics of Jack in 2004 are "in mommy's belly!"

2Forgetful said...

I hear you on the post first then read everyone else's.

The photo books are a great idea. Shutterfly has the best selection of backgrounds and stuff, too. If I could just get some time on the computer without blogging, emailing, or eBaying. :-)

Chelle said...

I did the Shutterfly photo books last year and you are correct, grandparents Loooove that stuff.