The Amazing Shutterfly...

Have you checked out Shutterfly lately?

They have some awesome Christmas cards. And believe me, I shopped around.d Shutterfly has been my favorite by far. We will definitely be ordering through them. And lucky me... I found this promotion to get 50 free cards just for blogging about them. How lucky is that?

Here are a few of my favorites:





























I love this one. It's very bright and colorful. I like bright and colorful. Hubby will probably think it's too "childish" but what's he know? ;-)
































I love this one because of the meaning behind it. Jesus is the reason for the season :).


















Simple, but elegant. I think this one is my favorite.



I've used Shutterfly in the past for Photo Books and was very impressed!
With Alyssa's birthday coming up very quickly, I've also got my eyes on the thank you cards.
I'm also thinking that these calendars would be a good gift in the future.

I definitely advise you to check them out for your future photo purchases. I have been very pleased with all their products I've received so far.

Which style is your favorite? Check out their collection for yourself. You may just fall in love :).

Five Question Friday... Better Late Than Never

1. What is your favorite part of a Thanksgiving meal?

Food wise, I'd have to say my freaking awesome sweet potato casserole.

But in general, it was seeing Ally Kate enjoy the meal like a big girl. This was her last first holiday, so it was bitter sweet. She loved all of her food. But her favorite was the same as mine. What can I say? I make a mean sweet potato casserole.

2. Are you a host or a guest for Thanksgiving this year?

Host.

We had planned on having 18 people over - me, hubby, Ally Kate, my mom, my dad, my brother, my SIL, niece, nephew, my other brother, my other niece, my MIL, my FIL, my SIL, her boyfriend, other niece, and other 2 nephews.

It turns out that Ally Kate woke up that morning at 3;30 am gasping for air. Scared the bajeebus outta Mommy and Daddy, let me tell you! We were at the children's hospital within 10 minutes. But what do you know? They are CLOSED! She was actually better by the time we got there, so we decided to come home and see if we could get her to drink some fluids before we decided to go to the ER. Hubby got smart and Googled "wheezing in infants." What do you know? Croup is the first thing that comes up. It sounded exactly like what she had. So, we followed their guidelines of a steamy shower and humidifier and got her back to sleep.

When we informed our families later that day, my one brother, SIL and other SIL decided not to expose their kids to it. So, it ended up only being 9 people. It was definitely more relaxing that way, but I felt awfully bad about it :-/.

3. When you think of one Thanksgiving tradition, what comes to mind?

My Daddy's dressing lol. My granny used to make it for our Thanksgiving get togethers. Then when she got too sick, my aunt started making it. Then when Granny died, we stopped getting together for Thanksgiving, so my Daddy makes it now. It's freaking delicious! This year, he made a pan for our get together, a pan for my brother, and a pan for me!! I was so excited.

4. You have two pieces of pie in front of you and you HAVE to eat one...do you choose pumpkin or pecan?

Ick. Give me apple, please. I never even liked sweet potatoes until very recently when I was forced to eat them because they came in our farmers market basket haha.

5. Are you a Black Friday Shopper?

Not a part of the morning crowd. No way. We tried that one year and I will probably never do it again. That was nuts. All to save a few bucks. I'd rather spend the extra money to be shopping with the "normal people" ;-). And stay nice and toasty in my bed.

BUT we did venture to Costco last night and it was almost bare in there. Guess all the crazies were at home in bed haha. We did get a Magic Bullet for $32. Woo! I'm excited, but too lazy to wash it :-/.

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I'm hoping to get back into the hang of this blogging thing since I'm not consumed in lesson plans anymore. I don't think I ever mentioned it on here, but I started student teaching in August. I'm with a 3rd grade class at a school VERY close to my house. I absolutely love the kids, but am SO glad I don't have to write lesson plans anymore. I kid you not when I say I turned in 40 pages of lesson plans for ONE WEEK! College requirements are a bit ridiculous, don't you think?
Anyways, I have 8 more days with my little rats and then I get to go back to being a SAHM / craft-a-holic!

Balloon Wreath

Ally Kate's 1st birthday is quickly approaching. I've made it my mission to do a few DIY things for it. First up is this balloon wreath. It was super simple. I just followed the tutorial from How Does She?. I will warn you that it takes a ton of balloons, though.
I love the way it turned out.

Still need to do:
* A cupcake shirt
* A tutu
* A giant cupcake cake
* Cupcake Bites

May also make:
* Cute shoes