the "book" has arrived . . .

the "book" that i won't even begin to tell you how many hours i put into ... mainly because i think i've already bored you with the details enough as it is. lol! the UPS dude pulled up this afternoon and dropped this off to me ... have i told before how much i love the UPS dude?!?!

it's the cutest little book ... 7x7 in size. i was a little worried that it would be too small ... or to hard to read. but it's perfect. and it worked out really well with the photos that uploaded from my blog. since all my blog photos are resized ... a larger book would have required me to replace all the photos with the full-sized versions. any idea how long that would take?!?! lol! and i think i mentioned that there was a reason i wasn't going to add the white borders to my blog photos anymore, right? it's because when they get pulled up into the blog book ... you don't have as many options on cropping them into the page designs. a lot of these pages had a spot for a square photo ... but because i had the borders ... there was no way to really fill up that square without a border showing on one of the sides. so this way, if i leave off the borders ... i can crop into my photos more in the book and fill up the spaces.

here's a few pages just to give you an idea of what i have.

for example, on that second page here with the 4 pics ... those 4 pics could have filled up the entire page with 4 square photos. and the first page ... those would have been larger squares too.

there were a lot of posts that i would have loved to add more photos too. posts where i've linked you over to other sites to see something i've done ... or linked to a photo album with additional photos. but most of them, i didn't do. this was one that i did add more pics too ... mainly because i had an extra page there where i didn't want to start the next post. if i had more time ... i would have done all the ones that needed to be done. although now with my faster computer ... i could have, but oh well. lol!

so there you have it. "the book". lol! and thanks to amanda for being my "book holder" for the pics. i already have my 2005 book all uploaded and ready to order. but i'm already half way through my 2006 book too ... so i'm going to wait and order them at the same time.

then, since we're all bored to death here without alyssa and sarah to entertain us ... we did some quick "laura and me" photos just for fun. i will say right up front ... i'm not having one of my better days. my hair is a mess ... i'm scheduled for a haircut on friday. i only did half my makeup today. i only had about 5 hours sleep last night ... was up super late finishing up some assignments. i was also too lazy to go get my external flash ... and my camera settings were way off. but i didn't have time to mess with it ... because of these 3 kiddos that apparently require a ton of attention.

an almost 10 month old, a 16 month old, and a 17 month old ... super crazy! luckily, they're all good kids and get along pretty well. and they're all on the same nap schedules which is super nice ... then again, that means they're all awake at the same time too. lol!

and me and amanda ... who has been deemed my "helper" this week with the girls away. she has been great at helping with the kids and talking to them and picking up after them. just as long as she doesn't have to pick anyone up. lol! i don't know why ... but she does not like to hold them. funny, since that's all alyssa and sarah do ... hold the babies. at the same time ... amanda is bored out of her mind. i've taken down tons of the girls "good toys" to play with ... and she's watched a few of the new shows that i've recorded for the girls that she usually misses.

but from me and amanda both ... "girls, come back soon because we both really miss you!!!".

Comments

[Deneen]

So happy for you! Your book looks great. And I truly know how much you miss the girls. Love the photo's with Laura too cute.

[doris.sander]

laura! that little book is the coolest thing ever! :D

[Carla]

Oh my gosh, that book is really nice. Its like your published your diary or something. And its so professional looking...including the cover, way cool! The kiddies are cutie pies and I love the pics of you with them. Are you gonna scrap them?

[cari]

I LOVE the book!!! That is the coolest thing! You have to give me the details... though I afraid of all the hours of work... I think it's worth it in the end:) Thanks for sharing!

[Leslie]

Your book looks AWESOME!!! Love the cover and size too! Cute pics of you and the kids - they must keep you busy, busy :)

[Erin Bassett]

Congrats, it looks great!!

[DisneyCyndi]

Oh my goodness, I love this idea. One day, but right now I don't think I am up to the task (especially since I have so many blogs)!

[jackie]

I love the way the book turned out!!!

[karine]

This book is so great! and the pages that you shows are well presented, it makes so professionnal, that's just wonderful ! I love the photos with the babies, aren't they so cute?
Karine
PS : your hair looks very well

[Lisa]

That book is amazing, such a great idea :)

[Laura T.]

Oh my God - that book is AWESOME. You are given me inspiration to work on mine.

Thanks for sharing some pictures with us.

[Katy]

Yeah! Bet it feels so good to have that book in your hands, especially after all your hard work ... and it looks fabulous ... truly just like a book (I know that sounds like I'm stating the obvious, but I didn't expect it to look so professionally finished, I guess!)

Cute pics of you and the kids too. :)

[Kate Hydorn]

Wow! That book is so neat! And what a treasure to have to look back at throughout the years- and for your kids and grandkids to see! It's great that you have your layout in there as well-just in case something would happen to the real ones. I've just recently started a blog, and I can't even figure out how to get a page header in, so I think a book like this is a long way out for me, but I love looking at yours! Congrats!

[Marilyn]

Your book is FABULOUS! I am so glad to see it. I want to do this and have been a little nervous about the whole thing. I will definitely be referring my family to your blog so they can see this. You used blurb.com right?

[Rebecca]

Incredible! Who knew something like that existed? Sheesh! I'll have to start blogging now!

[Nichol]

okay. THAT is cool. I must make me one of those....that's on my to-do this weekend. :)
you are an enabler....lol!

[Aleida Franklin]

Oh my--your book looks fabulous!

[Debbie Hodge]

wow! did you use blurb? off to look at back posts to find out. love it.

[kimberly]

This is a really neat idea. My sister told me about your blog. I've just gotten started in digital scrap booking and blogging and would love to know how you did this - which I'm sure is in your blog I just didn't find it. Any pointers?

[Brenda]

wow!! Your book is so amazing! Your so on top of things to get them all done this way. You'll be glad you did one day - me on the other hand..........

[Carin]

Is that not the greatest invention!? Blog slurping! Your book is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

[NikkiH]

Hi Laura, sooooo I am working on my own blog book and I got the whole idea for it from you and this blog post (lol that is why I am leaving a comment way back on this post) I have a question about your books (the 7x7 ones), which BTW I am getting all my inspiration for mine from lol, hope you don't mind, What do you have on your back covers? Also, did you have to go through all your photos and resize them to fit the pages (I already have to resize the pictures for the cover pictures (eyeroll lol). Also any advice you can give me to start doing to my current posts to make this process easy when I do the 2009 book? Thanks so much girl :)

Nikki

PS, Thank goodness Blurb works with blogger/blogspot again, I have been waiting for a few months now lol.

[NikkiH]

lol :) me again, also what font did you use on the cover and inside of the book?