Photo Books

I finally finished my digital scrapbook of Ellie and Tommy's first year.  I ordered it in print this morning, and here is a link to see it online: Thomas & Eliana's First Year

My goal was to complete an album of their first year and then to continue blogging and print a book from my blog at the end of each year to have as a family history.
I also did a small photobook of Thomas & Eliana's First Birthday.  I had a coupon for a free book, so I thought I would put Shutterfly to the test.  It was a little more complex than Walmart to navigate, but the scrapbooky qualities are much, much better.  I was able to resize photos, add and resize text boxes, change layouts, and add "stickers".  We will see how the printed books turn out. If any of you have experience with other online scrapbooks and would like to share info, I'm listening. 

Pretty Horses

The big news of the week has no pictures to go with it. :(
Tommy is walking!  Not always, and these aren't even his very first steps, those happened a month ago.  His first step was on May 29th, but after amazing us with his two step sequence he seemed to give up the effort and has been pushing around everything that isn't nailed down as a walker. Toy bins, laundry baskets, chairs, whatever he can find.  Even sometimes his walker. :)

Now he is toddling off for several steps before falling, and he's doing it frequently and without prompting.  On Saturday he crossed the living room to go from Tom to me and made it the whole six feet or so without a hitch. 

Ellie is also starting to show an interest in moving around on her feet, but she demands full assistance to do it.  She still HATES to fall down and we are trying to teach her to do it gracefully, so she doesn't crack her head.  The phrase, "just bend your butt and sit, Ellie!" is a common one.

                                                                                                                             

This afternoon (oops, it's after midnight, so yesterday afternoon) we took a little field trip and went to the Carousel in Mansfield.  Beautiful Merry-Go-Round.  The music was pretty loud and at first I thought it might scare the kiddos, but nope, they enjoyed it and bopped along with it.

I wasn't able to get any good shots of babies riding the horses, because they didn't ride them. :)  We did do one round, but we just sat in the sleigh seat.  I tried to get Ellie posed on one of the horses afterwards, but me with the camera left Tom holding both children, so it just wasn't happening.

We did however buy Ellie a beautiful fairy princess hair thingamabob though.  She was even a good sport about keeping it on the whole time we were there.  She must have been really distracted by the music.

Once we got home it lasted about 30 seconds... 

No matching headgear for Tommy, but just look how excited he is to be wearing his sister's Christmas bib!

 

Really he is excited about eating corn on the cob.  They both thought it was great fun... 

and did a pretty darned good job polishing it off, too!

These pictures are from a few days ago.  Ellie and Tommy are beginning to use spoons to eat.  I load one up with yogurt or some other sticky substance and then pass the torch...

The first time we tried this I think I counted nearly a dozen spoons on the floor after dinner.  Tommy is very into disposable...

My theory is that once they get good with getting the spoons into their mouths (before losing the food) we will move on to letting them load the spoons.  Tune in next week...

And by the way... HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY, SANDY!!!

One Year Portraits

We went to Olan Mills on Thursday to get Tommy and Ellie's one-year portraits made.  Unfortunately, I forgot to get an agreement from my children that they approved of this project.

Tommy, who is usually all smiles for a camera, just wasn't that into it.
When Tom saw this, he called him the poster boy for depression.

  

     

Ellie is usually the one we are trying to coax smiles from, but she started out full of them...

   

We took a break for lunch and came back to try again. We got a few smiles from Tommy

(note that he is happy that he is allowed to hold a package of Wet Ones)... 

  

 

but now we were well into nap time and Ellie wasn't in the mood.

   

We never did get a good one of the two of them together...

Ma & Paw...

 Tommy got the Wet Ones away from Ellie...

 

   

So when we got home I pulled a blanket over the tv cabinet to set up my own "studio", and tried again.  After several rounds of them pulling off hats, crawling to me, and being reset in position, I captured these...

Too tired that night to put my blanket away, I decided to try again the next morning...

 

 

and then they were really, really done...

and Mama let them win... 

Happy Birthday!

On Monday morning, Tommy woke up at 4:00 in the morning. 

I brought him out to the living room, where he saw his happy birthday sign on the wall...

and he tried on his birthday party hat and gave me a big grin.

Later in the day, Grandma Lux arrived to join the celebration...

along with Grandpa Selvage,

Grandma Selvage,

Great Aunt Polly,

Aunt Lindy,

cousin Emma, Aunt Sandy, 

and of course, Mama and Papa

 

You may notice a theme here, that all of the ladies are wearing headbands. 

I think Ellie has earned that with all of the head squeezers she has worn this year!

We played a game of Wheel of Fortune in honor of their favorite show.

Then they opened presents.  Here Aunt Sandy is reading them the book

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom that she picked out for them...

Then onto the cake! Unprompted, they pounded their hands in unison with anticipation.

At first they approach tentatively,

but after a few tastes of the lettering...

it was no holds barred, and they dug in with both hands!

Ellie stops for a little nap for a minute.  Or maybe she's just holding in the nausea,

since she just polished off more than half of a 6" cake.

She's fine though, and no tears when the remains were removed...

Tommy is wiped out by the effort though, and after a quick wipe down

and clothing change, takes a nap in papa's arms.