photo books by Blurb review

i haven't done a ton of reviews on this blog, but i always want to let people know when i've found and love a product. this is one such blog post.

photo books. i love 'em. you see, i used to be a scrapbooker. then i had kids. and i found that by the time i got out all my scrapbooking stuff and pictures and figured out a layout - before i had even done anything - it had been at least an hour. and as a mom, you're lucky if you get an hour before you have to rush off to do something else. plus you actually have to have hard copies of all your photos - as in, print them out. 

and so enters in the wonderful world of photo books.

there are certainly a plethora of companies who do wonderful photo books and provide good services, but by far, i've found that Blurb books are the best. the pricing is competitive, the quality is excellent and the program to make your photo book is user-friendly while at the same time allowing for the more detailed touch or professional to make minute changes.

this is a screen shot of my favourite page layout from the 2011 year book {our trip to myrtle beach}. you can see on the bottom is all the pages and you can enlarge this to view the pages a bit better, but i like to see the page i'm working on as large as possible. on the left are the pictures i've selected from my computer to use. on the top are all the options - you can actually alter their layouts that come with the program {called Booksmart and you download it to your computer so that if you don't have internet - like we frequently do not - you can still work on your book} or create your own layout. i prefer my books to be clean and simple looking so i don't play around too much with the backgrounds or add little graphics, but those are available as well if you want to do a themed book. also, as this is not a photo editing program, your photos can be turned or flipped, but if you want to edit them or add special filters to them, you'll have to look elsewhere to do that and then add it to the program.

i started with Blurb when i wanted to make a birth to 1 year photo book {a baby book, if you will, since i gave up filling in all those little blanks in the sweet baby book i was given} for noah. it was gorgeous and the boys still love looking at their books.

 since then, i've made a gift for my mom {for her 50th}, a photo book for jude's 1st year and several others. i could work away at it, bit by bit, and all i had to do was boot up my computer and start plonking in pictures. then i came across the idea of making a family year book. i don't print my pictures out and put them in a photo album for all to see, and yet there's something to be said for having pictures to hold and look at - and i know i'll want them in years to come.  

so in 2011, i made our first family year book for the year 2010. it turned out beautifully and i decided to leave in Canada so it wouldn't get ruined. and yesterday i finished, uploaded and ordered our 2011 family year book. a whopping 252 pages, 811 pictures and it only cost *drum roll* $74.77 {that's Canadian}. that's cheaper than printing out 811 pictures, buying several albums and sticking them all in there. now i did have a coupon code to save 25% and ended up saving just over $20 but that coupon code was emailed to me simply because i have a Blurb account and they often provide codes to save money on ordering their gorgeous books.

because our internet is so slow and the book was so big, it took just over 2 {incredibly nerve-wracking as i was convinced the power was going to cut out at any second} hours to upload everything, but i think it would be faster if you're in the US or Canada and you likely don't have to worry about power outages and your internet going kaput.

the shipping is super fast and our 2011 yearbook should be at my parent's house in Canada before April 10th! {i'm still undecided if i want someone to bring it over or not. don't want it to get ruined.}

lastly, they have this cool new feature which i haven't tried but noticed upon checking out that you can order an iPad version of your book for $1.99! how cool is that? you could make a gramma & grandpa brag book and then send it to their iPad as a gift {for all my new mommy friends out there}! or make them a hard copy book {they start at as low as $3.99!} as a gift if they don't have an iPad.

so that's my two cents. i highly recommend Blurb and you can save 25% off too if you order a book by April 2nd and use the code AMAZE when you're checking out. 

*disclosure: i was not compensated in any way to write this review, i just felt the desire to share about a product i love because what good are friends if they don't tell you the good stuff as well as the bad?

spain.

so we went to spain. it was glorious.

see?
it's been so long since i last blogged that i almost didn't know where to start. i hadn't meant to take this long, but the day before we left to come back to uganda i got slammed with a brutal head cold/flu thing that was going around. and i was pretty much bed-ridden until yesterday. absolutely brutal.
but i'm on the mend.
so...
spain. our flight route was uganda to kenya to amsterdam to spain. and then a bus ride to our destination in nerja. but it.was.so.worth.it.
our schedule was light and we spent afternoons walking around through the cobblestone streets and the mornings and evenings in soul-lifting sessions. {more posts to come as i process through the things i learned.}
lunch on the beach? awesome.

and while we had a rough go at the beginning with the boys in their classes/childcare, they had fabulous teachers and enjoyed playing with new friends.
after the conference was over our family took a train to madrid for a few days before flying home.

it was ridiculously cold in madrid. in nerja it would sometimes get up to 16 degrees in the afternoons reminding me of a warm, autumn day. but madrid? *shiver* it was -2 degrees. we had to buy scarves and hats and mitts for the boys it was so cold {and we certainly didn't bring those things with us to uganda!}. we did a bit of sight seeing and ate at mcdonalds and our last night there we bought a baguette, a huge hunk of delicious cheese and hunkered down in the warmth of our hotel room and demolished the entire thing. so. stinkin. good.
speaking our hotel, it was amazing. the staff were wonderful, the rate was cheap and the boys even got a little gift on our arrival. i highly recommend the novotel hotel in madrid, spain. and i know that the next time i go somewhere and need a hotel, i'll be checking to see if there's a novotel hotel in the area. we were also on the bus line and it only took us one bus to get into the heart of the city.

we're home now and i'm on the mend so i promise not to be a stranger and neglect this blog for so long again {if i can help it!}.

moving day {or the one where i vow never to rent a truck from Uhaul again!}

first, i'm glad my moving day didn't look like this:



and it definitely could have been worse {it could have rained or been super cold} but it wasn't. in fact it was the perfect day. sunny but not too hot with a cool breeze every now and then.

moving day breakfast and Noah looking as unimpressed as i felt with Uhaul

but when we still hadn't heard from Uhaul {um, how are they still operating?} and it was 8am on the day OF THE MOVE {after numerous phone calls the night before and the morning of and jamie getting disconnected once after a 20 minute hold time on the phone} i was kinda pissed annoyed.
but we made the most of it and people came over when they could and we moved everything out to the garage and drive way and then this happened:

pick up soccer

and this:

watching movies on Daddy's computer {Noah is holding an unopened roll of wrapping paper, in case you were wondering}

and some of this:

naps out in the sun

and then finally! around 4pm {FOUR PEE EM!} we got the truck and started loading it up. jude was a little freaked out about all the moving and boxes {today was we moved some boxes into my parents' attic he was totally freaking out again. poor fella. he hates boxes now.} and was quite clingy and wanting to be with jamie. this time though, i was prepared for it. noah was almost this age when we moved out of our apartment {when i was 7 months pregnant with jude!} and it was quite a traumatic experience for him so i was prepared for this kind of behaviour with jude.

the truck was bigger than we originally booked, but God is sovereign because He knew we'd need the space {sigh. we have so much more stuff than i originally thought. kinda depressing.}. and of course the kids got a huge kick out of going inside the cab and truck. 

when all was said and done, we were out and unpacked in Toronto {our temporary home until we leave for Uganda at the end of August} by around 8:30pm. 

what a day!

not how i anticipated our move to go, but thank God it's over! 

a HUGE thank you to all our family and friends who came to help pack, move, clean and support us through this move! 

{and now i'm off to read articles on the riots in Kampala and Osama Bin Laden's death - my life is good. i have much to be thankful for.}

books for kids

Books are a huge part of our lives.
I've been a book worm since as long as I can remember. I was reading (I'm pretty certain) by the end of Sr. Kindergarten because my best friend had learned to read and if she was reading, then darn it! So was I! (Competitive, much?)
And every birthday and Christmas until I got into high school and more into clothes I always got a ton of books.
Then I met Jamie.
Another bookworm.
And it seems as though we have two children who both love books as well!
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but one of the biggest things we'll miss when we move to Uganda is our library. Oh we love our library. We are there several times each month taking out huge stacks of books and maybe a movie or two.
I figured it was about time to let you all in on a few books that are standard favourites and a few that we are reading right now.
This is books for kids (stay tuned for books that Jamie and I like).

Some of our standard favourites and ones that we read on a regular basis are the following:

The Jesus Storybook Bible

I love reading this one. I've been known to cry reading almost all of them one or two of the stories. We've made our way once through all the stories and now we're back for round two. The pictures are gorgeous and I have never read a Bible story book like this before. The small caption is "Every story whispers His name" and it's so true. In every story that's in this book, the end always ties it back to our Redeemer and Saviour Jesus and it's so completely beautiful.

Big Truths for Little Kids

We had put this one away for awhile but I recently pulled it out again and as soon as I did Noah said, "Oh I love this book, Mommy. I really love this one." Basically it's a book full of catechisms to read through with your child and then there's a story that follows each set of questions. There aren't very many pictures and I haven't started the "story" part of the book, but I imagine we'll get into that shortly with Noah as he can handle books with almost no pictures these days.

The Story of Easter

I recently purchased this board book and I love it. It tells the true story of Easter with great pictures for kids without getting too graphic or sugar coating it either. I've read this with both Jude and Noah. This is one that will stick around in our kids library.

First 100 Words

We received this one when Noah was a baby and now it's a favourite of Jude's. Most kids love this book for the colourful pictures that they can identify. Jude now points to almost everything in this book and can name it (which all of a sudden helps me realize that he's got over 100 words. that's crazy.). He'll sometimes sit and point at the page with pictures of babies/kids and shout "baby! baby! babeeeeee!"

And here are our current library faves:

Boy of Mine

Oh this one may have to be purchased. I absolutely adore this book and so do both boys. It's a board book and a sweet one to read before bedtime. It's part lullaby, part poem. Noah practically has it memorized and Jude looks at it and says, "boy - mine!" We all love it. (That's it. I'm convinced. I'm buying it.)

Benny the Breakdown Truck

This is an adorable British series and I love that they call a tow-truck a 'breakdown truck'. There's also a 'bonnet' instead of a trunk and 'petrol' instead of gas. I love it. Noah's really into cars and tow-trucks and so this series may be one that becomes more popular in our household. 

Hands are not for hitting

I got proactive about Jude's habit of hitting (and blogged about it here) and looked up some books that I could read to him about proper uses for our hands. This one is simple and corrects bad behaviour in a positive way by showing what hands are for (hugging, saying hello, etc.). 

Little 1

This is a sweet book about numbers. I think I may like it more than Noah does, but it's both beautifully illustrated as well as sweet and educational. Bonus! 

I would love to know books your kids like (and books you like reading to them since they usually want them read over and over and over again) so make sure to leave a comment.

the one where I give a rave review

When I find something that I love, that works amazingly and that I can stand by I tell everyone about it.

I'm not a salesperson by nature, but when I'm passionate, when I really believe in something...well, I kinda don't shut up about it.

(So here goes...)

When Noah was first born we swaddled him. At first we did it because that's what we thought we were supposed to do. But he soon proved to be Houdini Jr. The kid could get out of ANYTHING. He would wriggle his hands out and then slap himself in the face. And then wake himself up. Which would wake me up. And then we'd all be cranky. So we continued to swaddle, but I obviously needed something that would keep him swaddled throughout the entire night.

So when in my desperation for more sleep I went looking online for something to help and I stumbled upon the Miracle Blanket.
Really? MIRACLE??? Isn't that a bit much?

But I decided to go ahead and buy it.

And I didn't regret it. It actually kept Noah swaddled! Which helped him to sleep longer! It was a miracle!

I'm pretty sure I talked about it a lot to every other new parent at the time. And then he got too big for it and he eventually learned to stop slapping his face (this was probably around 4.5 months I think).

Then came Jude. He was much more laid-back than Noah (less face-slappy) but we continued to swaddle until my long guy outgrew the Miracle Blanket and kicked his legs free.

I like the Miracle Blanket because it's soft, it's one piece of material and there aren't any buttons, zippers, velcro or any other potentially dangerous materials that could hurt or irritate a newborn's skin. And it keeps babies swaddled, which is proven to help babies sleep better (think about it, they were all cozy and tight in your belly for 9 months and they did just fine in there!).

If you're a new Mom, I would HIGHLY recommend you check their website with all the details and even a little video of how the blanket works. (And then go buy it. Because seriously? It WORKS.) And right now they even have a 10% off summer sale and if you buy 2 or more, it's 15% off!

*Disclosure: While I was sent a free Miracle Blanket, money or giveaways cannot buy my opinions. I love the Miracle Blanket and would still rave about it had I not received anything. (Psst, my lovely friend and new Mommy, Ashley was the lucky recipient of a beige Miracle Blanket.)

The Good, The Bad & The Redeemed

Stories about customer service...

The Bad

Back in January, my friend and her fiance came to Canada for a visit. I threw her an engagement party. There was some last minute drama and change of location, but it all worked out and was a really lovely evening. I had planned to get a custom made calendar with pictures of her and her fiance that will start in 2011 (because that's when she's getting married). I had put in an order and it would be ready on the day of the engagement party. I would be bringing it to the party and getting the guests to sign it and add important dates or messages on the calendar for the bride and groom to discover as they went throughout their year.

A cute idea, non?

So when I hadn't heard from the photo lab that my calendar was in, I decided to call them.

There was much running around when the calendar couldn't be found. I spoke to a lovely girl and she figured out that somehow there was a mix up and it never got printed. I was disappointed and frustrated. I told her that my friend was going back to England on Monday (it was a Friday) and now I would have to mail it to her without all the special notes from people. I told her I still wanted the calendar but that I would like it for free due to the fact that they did not fulfill their guarantee that the calendar would be ready within 5 days.

I was told to call the manager on Monday.

So I did.

She was NOT the most helpful person.

In fact, she went on to blame other departments and was very rude and short with me, telling me that if they (the photo lab) were getting charged, then I would be too!

When I asked when she'd hear back from whoever it was that she was waiting to hear back from, she snarkily told me that she had emailed him and email may take a day or two and it's not immediate. Um, I know what email is. Pick up a phone and call the guy! So she said I'd hear back by the end of the week.

I never heard back from her.

So when I got a call last week (approximately 1.5 months LATER) from their printing department in Toronto asking me about the year I had dated the calendar for, I told her I did not want the calendar anymore due to bad customer service and was not interested in it being printed anymore.

The Redeemed

On Friday, I got a call from Zehrs (the photo lab) and a girl told me my calendar was in.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?

I laughed a little and said I wasn't interested in it anymore and went on to explain what had happened. She asked the person's name and I told her and she paused and said, "Oooh." (I'm guessing the old manager was fired.) And then she proceeded to offer me the calendar for free because of my trouble.

THANK YOU!

She's the new manager at the photo lab. Of course she is.

The Good

A couple weeks ago I checked out an online store called Storks and Berries. They were having a sale on AppleCheeks diapers and I wanted to try them out.
So I ordered a couple and thought about how cute my boys would look in the Cherry Tomato Red and Eucalyptus Green diapers! :)

Oh and I chose the cheapest (but longest) postal option - because I'm cheap and I figured I'd just wait a bit longer for my diapers.

That same day I got an email from Dawn who owns the company saying that her husband would be in my area later that week and that he could bring my diapers and mail them from Toronto or even drop them off at my place instead of mailing them from Alberta and taking an additional week or two!

I was SO IMPRESSED with her thoughtfulness and told her I'd blog about her. :)

Sure enough, later that week I got my diapers in the mail and they were perfect! My boys love them and so do I!

She emailed to follow up to make sure I was happy with my diapers and that I had received them okay.

Great job, Dawn! THIS is what customer service should be all about.

I definitely recommend Storks and Berries for any diaper or baby/kid stuff you need!

While I am pleased with the eventual outcome of my calendar experience with Zerhs Photolab, I am not likely to order a calendar from them anytime soon.