12 Months of Ian

Just a few more hours until December!! All things considered, I'm pretty proud of how far I've gotten on Christmas shopping with a toddler. I still have a bit left, but I'm farther along than I thought I would be.

December officially means Christmas card and Christmas calendar time! Those are my next two major projects. We took some pictures this week for our Christmas card that I think will work well and I'm excited about choosing a design and getting them printed! I love getting photo Christmas cards and I love that we will have photo cards as keepsakes for years to come. As soon as I get Christmas decorations out, I will post the picture of our card from last year (it's in one of the Christmas decorations boxes in the garage!).

I'm also going to be working on Ian's annual Christmas calendar. We totally stole the idea of a calendar from Aunt Kt, who gave us an adorable Christmas calendar of Cousin Ace two years ago on his first Christmas. So I knew I had to make a calendar for Ian's first Christmas too. Shutterfly had an amazing deal last December - buy one, get the rest 50% off, and tons of cute backgrounds, so I couldn't resist buying one for each family member on my side. (James' side of the family got calendars with Ian and Ace in them!) I actually meant to post this last January, but ya know... Time flies with a little one.

Anyways, without further ado - here is Ian last year at his calendar best!

Front Cover

(Picture by Kay....love, love, love this baby picture!)

January

February

March

April

May
(Again, pictures by Kay - she's so talented!)


June

July

August

September

October

November

December

A HUGE thanks to my hubby for scanning all these pictures for me! We had such a good time looking over these pictures and reflecting on how much Ian has changed since last year! I am excited about this year's calendar and am hurrying to take advantage of Shutterfly's deal again - buy one, get the rest 50% off.

What's even more exciting is that I just learned I can use this fun trip down memory lane to score 50 free cards from Shutterfly! They are having a promotion for bloggers right now. All you do is write a blurb about your favorite Christmas cards (ha - I had to include Ian's calendar too!) and upload your post to their site. Then they will send you a coupon for the free Christmas cards - all you do is pay shipping.

Check out the promo: http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/.

And while you are at it, check out these links too and get your own Christmas projects started!

Christmas photo cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

Holiday photo cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

Wall Calendars: http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars

Happy memory making!!

Reception and Send-Off

The couple that runs the place where Nana and Pop-Pop got married have a photography studio in the back, so right after the wedding, we all headed over there for formal pictures. The guy was great at getting Ian to smile. He used a stuffed Barney and had plenty of giggles coming out of Ian! (Ian doesn't even know who Barney is!)

After pictures were over, I caught this little video of Ian dancing around the studio to the radio music while holding Barney.



After pictures, it was time for cheesecake and sparkling cider!

Cutting the cake.

Toast!

Cheers!

Uncle Mike gave a very sweet toast. Barney helped.

Ian loved the bubbly! It was soooo good! (The lady later told us it was from Costco...apparently Martinelli's is the brand to get...that stuff rocks!)

Being nice...no cake smashing here.

But him??? You gotta watch out for this guy... He might smash cake. :-)

Giving in. Being nice and promising not to smash cake.

Sticking to his promise!

Ian certainly made himself right at home while eating cheesecake. Sheesh! What kind of Momma would let her child put his foot on the table during dessert?!

Cheese! (*Ahem* Yes, Ian does have a finger up his nose.)

Take two...much better!

Uncle Kenny watching Ian while I took pictures. I promise - they really do like each other!

Time for presents!

A double toaster from us...Frank is saying he just got one that morning. I almost believed this jokester for half a second too!

They must have donated their other one because they seem happy with this one.

A heavy duty non-stick frying pan from Uncle Mike and Aunt Lissie.

Lots of skepticism about the contents of Uncle Kenny's gift.

Looking to see what else is in there other than Reindeer Poop (brown jellybeans). Uncle Kenny had put a false bottom in the bag, so they could feel something else, but couldn't see it.

Ha! A metal box screwed shut.

Haha!! Literally! Definitely Uncle Kenny's work!

Poor guy. Had to unscrew a million screws on his wedding day just to get his gift.

Uncle Kenny took pity on them (due to the hints of a certain big sister who shall remain nameless) and went and found an electric screwdriver.

Frank is pretty strong though. After getting just a few screws undone, he was able to pull the box apart.

Newspaper! What I've always wanted!!

All that work for... A fifteen minute batter charger! Very handy for the screwdriver they just used. It's actually a very handy device to have in general. I think Uncle Kenny has given all of us one now.

Getting ready to leave for the honeymoon.

Frank moved the "Just Married" flags so he could actually see while driving (I inisted!).

Ian giving the doggie a few more pets.

Farewell bubbles!

More bubbles!

Aunt Lissie did a great job with the bubbles! We had some bubble technical difficulties, but she pulled it off.

Bye-bye, Mr. and Mrs.!

Hehe - love this! Lissie is such a fun member of the family!

Pop-Pop escorting his bride to the car.

Saying good-bye!

Bye-bye, Mrs. Nana!

Ian sharing some laughs with Aunt Lissie while Pop-Pop and Nana got loaded up.

Bye-bye, Mr. Pop-Pop!

Officially Mr. and Mrs. off on a grand adventure.

Congratulations again, Nana and Pop-Pop! May your marriage know nothing but blessings and love through good times and bad. Love you both!