2 Year Pictures

Lily's 2 year pictures were a little more difficult to capture than her one year  because she is always on the move where last year, she was barely standing!  This year, she was on the move and her blankie although not intended to be a "prop" was a perfect addition to truly remember our Lily at two years old.  Her blankie is her prized possession.

Long before her 1st birthday, I decided since she's a summer baby, her annual pictures will be wearing a white sundress, so the tradition continued.

 

 

I'm in no way a Photographer {I leave the capital P to the Professionals}, but I do love my camera and am willing to learn to use it on my children and not willing to pay $300 for photo sessions.

Although I knew when I was doing them, the sun was too bright and I'd face some blown out pics as well as some shadows, I'm less interested in the technical part of the photographs right now and more interested in capturing who Lily is at 2 years old.  Even though I know what's "wrong" with my photos, I'm extremely happy with the subject and what I captured.  

It's her.

Shutterfly Photo Book Giveaway

Last Spring, as Andrew's elementary education was coming to a close, I found myself reminiscing and comparing his kindergarten year and his 6th grade year. 

As the school year wrapped up, summer began and we still didn't have the class yearbooks purchased through school.  I actually spoke with the gentleman putting them together over the summer and was informed that the yearbook committee dropped the ball. 

There were minimal pictures. Zero photos of 6th grade end of year activities and graduation.

In addition, since they were delivered after the kids started junior high, there was no signing of yearbooks to be had of their elementary classmates. 

Disappointing, for certain.

Lucky for my son, he has a sentimental mama who is putting together his own photo yearbook from his final year in elementary school to accurately capture the year. I mean, come on, who doesn't want a picture of the best Halloween costume captured for life as part of his final parade!

Here we are nearly a month in to 7th grade. New school. New responsibilities. New memories.

Rest assured, I have decided that I will make his own personal photo yearbook in addition to the school offered yearbooks to ensure he has his own lasting memories. His wife will thank me some day. :)

I think Shutterfly photo yearbooks are a great idea for a class gift! You can order them in bulk at a discount just for your child's classroom. Such a special gift for example, for a kinder class or 6th grade class to commemorate starting and ending elementary school.  I still have 3 more years before Lily starts kindergarten, but I have this idea filed away in my memory for when she does for her whole class!

I have been using Shutterfly for my photobooks now for at least 4 years. The ability to customize exactly how I want them to be is what drew me in. The quality and customer service has kept me loyal.

You can find and follow Shutterfly:

· Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shutterfly

· Twitter: http://twitter.com/Shutterfly

 · Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/shutterfly/

            · Instagram: Shutterfly

· Google +: http://plus.google.com/u/0/109424185572289814510/posts

· Blog: http://blog.shutterfly.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I lovelovelove Shutterfly photobooks and  I am super excited to be able to offer one of you a hardcover 8x8, 20-page photobook including shipping!!


**To enter:  {leave a separate comment for each} ~ Can do

Mandatory:
~Follow me via gfc, email or rss and leave me a comment telling me what kind of book you'd   make {an annual, a birthday, Halloween, a child's year etc.}
~Like Shutterfly on Facebook and tell them "My Not So Little Guy & My Little PunkyPie" sent you

Additional:
~Like me on facebook
~Tweet about this giveaway and include @littlepunkypie and @Shutterfly in your tweet. {tweeting can be done daily ~separate comment each day}

The deets:
Contest ends: Thursday, September 27, 2012 at 11:59pm. EST. {open to U.S. and Canada}
Winner will be chosen via random.org and notified via email and updated on this post.

Share the Shutterfly love!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Shutterfly. All opinions are 100% my own

And the winner is........

Priscilla!!!

Congratulations!!

 

 

Summer Photo Contest!

Y'all know I've been MIA a lot from here this summer, so I'm fixing it. :)

I have been taking a lot of pictures like I said, so I was super excited to find this gem!

I've been working on some photo books through Shutterfly~ Lily's first and second years!

Shutterfly is having a super photo contest this summer too! Each week there's a theme in which to submit your photo. I think the subjects they chose are perfect for summer!

What's in it for you, you ask??

The possibility of a trip for four to The Bahamas and a professional photo shoot as well as instant prizes when you submit a photo!

Get a gift from Shutterfly just for entering!

{You can enter at any point during the 5-week sweepstakes period.}

Get your photos submitted, friends! Easy peasy!

I submitted my 1st one~Americana and my instant prize was 2 free 8x10s!! Yippee! I love free prints!

The rest of the deets:  

Hit up Shutterfly's Facebook Page about the contest to submit and for further info:  http://bit.ly/sweepS

PHOTO THEMES

• Week 1(7/9): Americana

• Week 2 (7/16): Great Outdoors

• Week 3 (7/23): Water Fun

• Week 4 (7/30): Sports & Activities

• Week 5 (8/6): Parties & Celebrations

PRIZES

• Instant win prizes just for submitting a photo!

• Weekly prizes (contestants can enter one time/week)

• Weekly featured photos: up to 5 weekly entries will be selected from the gallery and featured on the Facebook fan page and awarded a $500 gift card on Shutterfly and a copy of the new Lonely Planet travel photography book.

• Grand prize: trip for 4 to Bahamas, 4 nights, family photo shoot

A Year in a Book?

 Andrew is in 6th grade this year, thus ending his elementary school education.  In his school, this is big milestone complete with a graduation and lots of specific 6th grade activities.
This mama is shocked that he's beginning junior high in just 5 short months. 

I mean seriously, didn't he just start kindergarten???  

1st day of kinder August 2005

But in the blink of an eye, he graduated from kindergarten...

May 2006

I had a little bit of a reality check recently when my husband said, "In 6 years, you'll be out of high school," when he was talking to Andrew. Wait. What?! Just 6 years ago he was  starting school. And well, I know how quickly that went.

That was a big year for us. Andrew started school and I graduated from ASU and started teaching right away.



I'm glad I have photos to look back on, but what I really wish he had that year was a yearbook from that kindergarten. His teacher was amazing, his school was my favorite, and I'm fairly certain even he would love to look back in one place...especially since we've moved across the country.

Of course, I have his class picture and pictures from his first and last days, photos of his class play, Thanksgiving feast and many other activities. I think for that first momentus year in school it would be awesome to have something for the kids like a photo yearbook.

As a former kinder teacher, this is also a fantastic idea for an end-of-the year gift from teachers! I've been using Shutterfly for my photobooks for the last several years and the quality is unmatched, so when I saw they've added yearbooks to their products, my first thought was, "Eeeeeeep! These are awesome!!" 

I'm on a 6th grade committee for a graduation dvd. As the photo contact for my son's class, I wish there had been a way to pull these yearbooks off by the end of the year. However, all of 6th grade graduation events were decided at the end of 5th grade. Bummer!  I will, however, pass along this incredible resource to the 6th grade committe head for future 6th graders and hope future classes are able to utilize these unique momentos.

If you're not familiar with Shutterfly, you can find them on twitter, facebook and pinterest too! And DO!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Shutterfly. All opinions are 100% my own.

A Pregnancy PhotoBook

I mentioned that I'm always running behind on stuff.  Like Christmas cards.  Ahem. They're going out tomorrow. :) (along with 2010 cards & Lily's birth announcements)  Well, they're adorable and I'm still sending them, so family and friends end up with a random "good mail" day instead of just bills and junk. 

In addition to being THAT far behind on things, I just completed a pregnancy book. Yes, for my pregnancy with my 17 month old. 

Click here to view this photo book larger

Someday I may catch up.

It's Giveaway Time

Ok, well, it's Tuesday morning not Monday. 

Let's just say that the rest of Monday got away from me, so here we are on Tuesday!

Recently I was contacted by My Memories about their digital scrapbooking software.  And, well, if you've spent anytime around here, you know how much I am obsessed in love with pictures and documenting my family's everyday life.  This didn't just start when I had kids, but got increasingly more frequent after I did. I am SO glad I don't just take photos of the "the events" because when I look back at the everyday life pictures, I'm so happy I captured those moments that can just get forgotten.

My Memories Suite is rated #1 by Amazon and TopTen Reviews and after looking at their website, I was honestly happy to do a review for this company!
As a former scrapbooker who just hasn't had enough time to continue, being able to do it digitally???? Yes, sign me up! 

I was excited to play with the scrapbook software and see what I could come up with.  I'm not one of those who reads all directions first and then plays. I skim and then play around going back to directions looking for whatever I'm working on if I'm 'stuck'.  This software was easy and FUN to play with! 

And you know those photo books that are everywhere? YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN!  I love them! LOVE LOVE LOVE them! I was over the moon that I could create my own! Using this software, you can also create cards, calendars and gifts in addition to the scrapbook features and the photobooks!

I played with a couple pages to get a feel for the software. Easy, peasy.  Seriously. Everything is customizable.  That, my friends, is a huge plus in my book.  But, if you need a page done quickly and without much thought the pre-made pages where you just insert pictures are super cute too!

This first page I did was a completely create from scratch page. 

It was my first try and was a lot of fun to play with the frames, the embellishments and all the extras! I purposely left it as I did it because until I saved it and re-opened it, I didn't see that I had all the room at the bottom of the page.  Which just tells me I need to pay better attention to the page sizing when creating my own pages. I love that everything is easily done and "undone" as I needed.

The second page I did was a pre-made page of an album. This literally took just a few minutes to create and I was just as happy as the "from scratch" page.

I'm super excited to be able to have this digital software to help document my family's photographs!

And I'm also excited to be able to share the software with ONE LUCKY READER!  This is an $80 value the winner will get for free! Y'all know how I feel about winning and free!

In addition, I will have a discount for ALL of my readers for $10 OFF the My Memories Software , but also $10 OFF in the My Memories Store. And that, my friends is an awesome coupon!

How to Enter to win your own copy of this amazing software (an $80 value):
1. Visit My Memories  and leave me a comment telling me what your favorite layout or digital pack is.
2. Follow My Not So Little Guy & My Little Punky Pie publicly.
3. Follow me on twitter.
4. Tweet about this contest and leave a link to the tweet.
(click on the "time" underneath the tweet to get the status link)

For bonus entries follow My Memories in the following places:
Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/
Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593
Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite

Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry!

The contest will run until December 11, 2011 at 11:59pm and I will select a winner via random.org. Winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to contact me.

Good luck!
I was provided with a free copy of the MyMemories digital software for my honest review. All opinions are my own.