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Keep it all in the Family Book

CRAFTS· PHOTOGRAPHY

It was a very special delivery.

This week, Will got a package in the mail and he was so excited to see open it….with a fork.  Yup.  In his excitement, he grabbed a baby fork and decided that it was the perfect tool for quickly seeing his “very speshaw sah-pwise”.

At first, I think he was disappointed that it wasn’t a monster truck.  or some type of weaponry.

I started explaining to him that I was very proud of him and how he has been learning his letters and how this book will help him learn all the letters in all the names of his family members.  We often say D…D is for Daddy and P…P is for Pappap…..you know how that goes….but that’s all the letters he’s been getting…the first ones.  I wanted to help him out visually so that he can know all the letters in all the names of those he loves.  Plus, I want him to learn the difference between family and friends.

He started warming up to the idea when I said that this book was just for him and he can be in charge of it.  He LOVES being in charge of things.

That’s when he asked…Mommy, did you give me this book and take all my pit-churs because you love me?  Yes.  And because I don’t want you to be like me…aka…a horrible speller.

I think it will probably be the first of many books I make for them.  I really enjoy seeing the boys enjoy ‘reading’.  I was a huge bookworm when I was little and I hope that I can encourage that passion.

So here’s how I made it…I used MyPublisher software (I’ve used it in the past for our family yearbooks and it’s really simple.  No, they don’t sponsor us or anything like that…if we host a bonfire, they won’t be roasting weenies, if you know what I mean.  We just love their photo books.) and used a bunch of family photos that I already had on hand and made the ‘spelling’ part with children’s blocks.

I taped down a piece of fabric on our table and created each name and took a photo from above.

For the portraits, I tried to find individual shots of each person but when I couldn’t find ones that I loved, I always chose ones with one of the boys (for example, my dad’s picture is with Will and my mom’s is with Weston).   

I also made sure to involve all grandparents, great grandparents, cousins and aunts and uncles.  I hope this means that Will will feel closer to those family members that live farther away.

I actually had to wait till LJ was born to order the book because I had one spot waiting for his photo 🙂

Some friends mentioned to me that they made books for their kids before….like an ABC book with specific pictures that relate to their kids (that child’s teddy bear for B) or photos of their child’s favorite things (trucks with their kid next to it).  The possibilities here are really endless….anything that can be documented or grouped together can be made into a very special momento.  What would you make?  I think my next one will be a book of Will’s artwork and schoolwork.  I have saved every single thing he’s brought home from his preschool and I can not wait to publish it to keep for years to come…especially the paper where he described me as a 37 year old and Jeremy as 3 🙂

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  2. Oh wow, Katie! This is SUPER meaningful…and the fact that it’s educational, too–well, it’s icing on the cake. I’m thinking I might have to adapt this idea for my nieces and nephews next Christmas (we have a no toy policy now that they are inundated with them). This would be the perfect thing! Thanks so much for sharing. Off to pin!

  4. What a great idea! And like every thing you do, just so lovely and well done! My 3 granddaughters in Texas are in for a surprise… thank you so much for sharing. Your boys are simply adorable and lucky to have you as their mother.
    Heiða

  5. That last part made me laugh so much! On my first placement as a student teacher, my pre-school class were trying to guess how old I was, and their guess was 52.
    I was 19.

  6. LOVE this idea! My daughter is 15 months and is showing so much interest in books. Our family does not live close, so this is a great way to show their faces also so she will be familiar with them when they do visit! Thanks Katie for the awesome ideas!!!

  10. Wow, I LOVE this! Such a great idea! Love how you used the blocks to spell out the names…genius!

  11. My first comment seems to have vanished, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up having two posted here. Sometimes this computer does weird things.

    I really love this idea and your pictures are gorgeous. I suppose that’s not hard to accomplish with such beautiful subjects! 🙂

  13. Katie, sorry if I missed this, where did you order/make the book from? Also are the pages hard or soft (like most picture books you can order). I’m thinking of making one for my 3 year old and know she will destroy it if it’s not hard pages. Love the idea!

  14. I read your blog faithfully. Yours is one of the few that I can’t wait to click on. I’m secretly disappointed when there isn’t a new post to greet me. How dare you have a life:)
    That being said I’m a closet blog whore. I’ve never once left a comment. Or expressed my gratitude to any of the “blog queens” for giving me joy.
    But this post said “let this girl know how funny she “…….. 37 y.o. Mama with a 3 y.o.boyfriend …..priceless.

  15. I love this idea! A great way to have a family photo book and make it educational.
    I’ve been working on some drawings “E for Elephant”, “F for Flamingo” etc so I can make an alphabet book for my daughter.

  16. I use My Publisher for our annual family photos too. I love this idea since none of our family lives where we do.

  17. This is such a cute idea! And for whatever reason, it made me all tear-y and hormonal. Definitely pinning this for future kiddos!

  18. I’ve had that alphabet book pinned for a while now on Pinterest and I think I’ll mix that with your block idea to spell out the item next to it! Thanks for the inspiration:) your book turned out so cute, I’m sure mine won’t be that good!

  20. Oh, that is just soo cute!! And I am so jealous that I never thought of that idea to use the blocks for the names — I LOVE IT!! So cute! I gotta make something like that for my guys!

  21. LOVE this idea! I’ve see family picture books before but I love how you added everyone’s names with the blocks. It turned out so cute!

  22. This is beautiful… I love coming across ideas I’d not typically think of myself.
    It happens a lot. lol.

    I like how you used the blocks against the fabric, very cute. My littlest one who is two really loves looking at photos of her family, I think I might need to do this…
    : )
    MB
    http://www.hystericallyeverafter.com

  23. Bwahaha. You as 37 and Jeremy as 3 . . . all I could think of was “act your age!” :-p Love the idea of personalized readers!

  27. Will’s face in the second picture is priceless! Looks like he was going through so many emotions. Love the idea and the simplify of the book! I’ve made photo books via Shutterfly before, and I went crazy with the sticker option they offer. Now I think I’ll try the clean and simple look for the next book. BTW, I tried Blue Apron after your post a couple weeks ago. The meals were delicious and we ate a few new things I can’t pronounce. Wish the veggies came pre-chopped though. Haha!

  28. I have made my daughter books of family members. She is 3 and now loves to look at them. I plan to do the artwork one and make books for grandparents day! I also recently decided to to individual birthday books to supplement the year books. I don’t see how you can stick to the book size for a whole year? I need about 20 more pages. Although I use shutterfly.

  29. Love this idea! I may have to make something similar… we’re doing the same thing over here with our almost 4 year old… we sound out words so much our 18 month old is starting to try to sound things out to… I heard him say “d-d-d-d dada” yesterday!

  30. I did a similar book using pinhole press. It’s a board book, which is great form my 1 year old! And we too have family way far away 🙁 She loves them!

  33. I love this. Absolutely love this and the pictures are wonderful, you are a great photographer. Such a sweet and special gift.

  35. I definitely max out at 100 pages with our family yearbook. I hear that Blurb makes great books that are bigger.
    xo – kb

  36. It is made by MyPublisher. The pages are regular photo book pages but I did pay a little extra for the lay-flat option to that people’s faces weren’t cut off and the turning of the pages would be easier. Will doesn’t need board books anymore (although, we still definitely read them!) but if it was Weston’s age, I would not make it with paper pages 🙂
    xo – kb

  37. The blocks are a mixture of old and new. Some are from when I was a kid (I salvaged them from my mom’s yard sale) and some are from Target.
    xo – kb

  43. Katie,You get the MOST-INNOVATIVE MOM Award for this Mother’s day from me:)

    Your boys are too cute for words!

  44. I can relate, too! My first year of teaching, one of my 1st graders asked me if I had any kids. I told her no, so she asked “Do you have any grandkids?”

    Of course, I was an ancient 25-year-old newlywed at the time.

  45. This is a great idea! Love it!
    My stepsister used to have neighbors that had a pug and a duck for pets and they were bffs. On one of my trips to visit, I had taken pictures of the pug & the duck because it was funny to see them hanging out together. After my nephew was born, I decided to use the pictures and wrote a little story about “The Pug & The Duck” and used Shutterfly for the photo book. I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

  49. I love Will’s freckles – adorable!

    This is a sweet idea. We do something similar with just pictures stuck up on the wall, and a label, right next to my daughter’s bed, which she ogles while she waits for nap time to end, haha.

    While I looooove the blocks for the cute factor, from a literacy perspective, if you were ever to do it again, I’d suggest using type or even a handwritten sign etc. It’s more helpful for kiddlywinks to see words in real word scenarios. (I’m an English teacher). Seeing W E S T O N is less helpful for when he sees “Weston” etc. The ultimate aim is to familiarise kids with real text. Of course, the blocks are a good starting point 😀

  50. That so interesting to hear that because I asked the preschool teacher about it and they said that it would be best to use individual letters and make sure to use all capital letters at such an early age. Of course, he just turned four so this is probably because of his age and is probably not recommended for a kid older or more familiar with letters (like I said in the post…he is still learning them!)
    xo – kb

  51. One of the advantages of using the blocks in the book is that there is a good chance one of the boys will try to spell the words again on their own.

  52. I love this idea for when we finally get our baby. We are waiting to adopt through open adoption. I think incorporating the birth family and our family would be such a cool way to do this!

    Thank you for the idea!

  55. Back before all of these online publishing companies, I (against my better judgment) made ABC books for my kids with old fashioned scrapbooking. I wrote in the words they knew that started with that letter, so it’s a fun memory of their first vocabulary, too. I just made a Disney book for my youngest with all of the characters she got to meet. She loves being in charge of it, too. 🙂

  56. Very neat! I’ve done something similar with my girls. I used Shutterfly to make them ABC books using their toys for each letter (and family members too). Then I give them as presents on their 1st birthday. Both girls have loved them. My 4 year old is beyond learning her ABC’s but she still likes to flip through it to see “her stuff”!

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