Shutterfly- Personalized Calendars- A Perfect Gift

This year for Christmas I decided to make special gifts for my daughter. I keep her baby (my only grandchild Case) while she and her husband work and I am so blessed to spend almost everyday with him. Since he was 4 months old I have had him while they work. It is so special to me to be able to see him grow and learn and experience all the simple ordinary everyday things he does. I never took my children for granted as they were growing up and I don't  take him for granted either. I cherished every moment I spent with Amanda and Scott when they were babies, toddlers, pre-teens,teenagers and now adults. I never tire of being with them and I marvel at the individuals they have become.  Each day is a precious gift from God.  Thanks to the convenience of technology in the past two and a half years I have taken hundreds of pictures and videos of Case. I have kept his mommy in touch by sending some of these pics via email or texts to her while she worked. I believe these brighten her day and keep her closer to her sweet baby boy. Back to my gift for her since I kinda rambled a little which I do when I get on the subject of my kids.... both will tell you I get very sentimental when it comes to them.  I decided since my daughter never really wants for anything that I would go through all the photos I have taken of Case this past year and print some of them and put them in a photo album for her and Stacy.. I knew this was something they both would appreciate and cherish the rest of their lives. I  had received an email from Shutterfly a few weeks before Christmas and in it there was information on using Shutterfly to make personalized photo calendars. I decided to go to their website and check it out. It was so easy. They have lots of really cute templates to choose from and so many layout options. I chose my template and then went through the photos I have stored on my computer and found a bunch of my favorite pics I had taken of Case this year. I uploaded them to Shutterfly (which was so easy) and then I went page by page January through December and picked out pics I wanted on each month and dragged and dropped them on each page. There was also an option for notations on each page. It was so simple and a lot of fun!  I enjoyed making a calendar filled with such fun pictures of Case for his mommy to take to work and hang on her wall and enjoy seeing her sweet little boy everyday as she worked. I couldn't hardly wait to get the orange package in the mail to see the finished result! It came in just a few days and when I opened it I was very happy with the end result. Great quality and looked so professional.  I was pleasantly surprised at the cost which was much less than I expected. I could hardly wait to give Amanda her gift.
On Christmas Eve when she opened her present and saw the calendar she was so surprised and happy to receive this thoughtful gift. Then when she saw the photo album , what fun it was to watch her and Stacy turn through page after page and relive 2013 watching Case grow and smile and do all the amazing ordinary fun things that 2 year old toddler boys do.


Recipe of the Day

Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients     
1- 10 oz pkg chopped broccoli
1/2 cup crushed cheese crackers (cheese nips or cheez-its)

1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped onions
1/2 can cream of mushroom soup
1 egg (beaten)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook and drain broccoli. Mix all ingredients except crackers and pour into  casserole baking dish. Crumble cheese crackers on top. Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until bubbling.

This is great with roast and gravy or chicken dishes. It's even good once it has cooled.