A Father’s Day Gift with Snapfish

I struggle with Father’s Day every year. Actually not just Father’s Day, I struggle with my husband’s birthday too. I find him an absolute nightmare to buy for. Whenever I ask him if there’s anything he would like he just gives me the cursory shrug of the shoulders and an ‘I dunno’. Recently though I was asked to review the Photo Books by Snapfish. This presented a great opportunity. My husband takes countless pictures of the boys with his phone, my phone and his digital SLR. These photos get uploaded to the computer and just sit there on the hard drive. A photo book immediately struck me as a great gift and a way to get the most out of our photos.

The Process

Once you’re at the Snapfish website and  have registered you can start uploading your pictures to albums. This means you can save the photos for later or start creating projects straight away. On registering I was given 50 free prints which I thought was a nice incentive. I did find the photo uploader a bit slower than other photo websites I have used previously,although it is just as simple to use. They provide tips and a demo if you are struggling. I admit I’m not tech savvy so I had to use the demo and read the tips.

In projects I selected the 11 x 8 classic photo book design. Snapfish then presents you with a number of design options for your photo book. I selected a theme that was suitable for Father’s Day. I also opted for a leather cover. I then had the fun of filling the book with my pictures. Snapfish give you the option of auto fill. I did try this but decided I wanted a more personalised approach and selected the photos in the order I thought was best.

During the process I was able to save the photo book in My Projects which enabled me to come back and review it later when I was less busy with the boys. Once I had edited and fiddled a bit more I was ready to order.

What I hadn’t counted on is that the photo book would take longer than 2 days to be ready for dispatch. I designed the book on Wednesday and ordered it on Thursday. It didn’t come until the following Tuesday so unfortunately it wasn’t here in time for Father’s Day. However even though it wasn’t here on the day my OH was still really pleased with his present. I probably made the mistake of not researching how long a photo book would take to prepare. I would say that if you were ordering a photo book, give yourself a clear week between ordering and the date you need it for.

The Photo Book

The Photo Book arrived in suitable hard cardboard packaging which meant it was not going to be easily damaged in the post. The Photo Book I selected had a section cut out in the cover to reveal the first photo. OH did comment that he though the cut out section was a little rough at the edges and maybe could have been a little better.

The book itself was good quality and the photos were well reproduced within. What was slightly disappointing is that some of the Father’s Day text was partially cut off at the bottom of the pages. OH pointed this out and said it was a shame.

All in all I thought this was a great gift for Father’s Day. Nowadays we don’t tend to get any of our photos printed off so this was a useful way of developing the photos into a keepsake. The delivery time was a slight obstacle that I didn’t count on and the cut off print was a slight disappointment. The photo uploader is a tad slower than other photo uploader software I’ve used at other websites but this was a minor flaw in the process of developing the book.

The book I selected was £29.99 with the leather cover option. It does seem a bit on the expensive side when you consider that the cut out section was a bit rough and the Father’s Day text had been cut off in some places. However the photos are well printed and when you consider that it is a keep sake it is a great idea for a gift.

Overall I was happy with the finished process but more importantly my husband was genuinely pleased with the Photo Book of his beloved boys (even though I didn’t order it in enough time for the day itself!).

If you are inspired by Photo Books as an idea for a gift head over to http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/snapfishuk/welcome.

The Gallery Week 63 – Practice Makes Perfect

For our eldest’s third birthday my parents gave him one of these fab balance bikes. Unfortunately it has sat in the garage, looking quite sad, because our big boy wasn’t quite big enough to tough the floor to push himself along. Well speed forward a few months and a bit of a growth spurt later, he can now touch the floor. However I think our son though that now he could touch the floor he would be off in a flash, like Daddy on his bike.

He’s really keen to try his bike and he asks for a go almost every day. Observing him though you can see he gets a bit bored and frustrated because it’s not as easy as his scooter. He wants to call it a day when he falls to the side and hits the tarmac. He sticks his tongue out so far in his concentration that it’s almost on the floor. We’ll keep encouraging him though, we won’t let him give up. We’ll show him how to get back on his bike when he falls and hopefully, in a few weeks, he will find that practice might not make perfect, but it will be a lot easier then when he first started.

This week’s Gallery prompt was 3 word Gallery. Visit Sticky Fingers for more Gallery entries.

Short thought: Mummy’s Little Helper

Our 3 year old has become a helper. Always asking if he can help with something. He asks to help cook, asks to help with cleaning. He wants to help me run the bath and he wants to load the washing machine. He often wants to help with things that aren’t too safe for him though, such as stirring the pots, boiling the kettle or pushing the lawn mower with Dad. However I feel I can’t keep saying no to him. He really wants to help and I should start to embrace that and reward it.

Today I asked him to pull the bin up the drive. He was thrilled to be asked. I then gave him some light bags to carry into the house. He then put a few things away in the fridge for me. He was so happy to be involved and obviously felt like a grown up. Here is my next question: Do I start to reward these little jobs at only 3 years old? Or do I let him do them and give him the praise he loves to get from Mum and Dad. Either way, I’m not complaining that he wants to be so helpful. Before I know it he won’t want to!

Silent Sunday

And the fighting. Oh dear lord the fighting….

I have two boys. I have two very energetic, bouncy boys. They are 3 and 15 months now. I think they like each other. I think they might even be a bit fond of each other. However recently the horse play between them has been taken to a whole new level of horse, um, play.

Months and months ago Littler Boy would pull Big Boy’s hair. Not out of spite (I don’t think). He just didn’t know what he was doing. Big Boy wouldn’t do anything and would just cry. We *ahem* encouraged Big Boy to gently nudge Littler Boy away and say no. It worked, for a while. Then the nudges became pushes and the pushes became actual punches. We obviously kicked ourselves and tried to rein it in a bit. No fighting allowed Boys, lets all be lovely to each other. Who the heck was I kidding? As Littler Boy has got bigger he now torments Big Boy and goads him into retaliating in some masochistic attention seeking ritual! If anyone had told me my 15 month old would be able to pick a fight with a 3 year old I would have laughed in your face, but he does!

So now we have punching, kicking, dive bombing, pushing, lifting, bundling and rolling. Our only saving grace so far is that there has been no scratching or biting. Because that’s just not honourable between two brothers fighting is it? Big Boy’s favourite trick is to drag Littler Boy around the floor by the foot of his sleep suit. Littler Boy’s goading technique involves sitting directly on top of his big brother while he is in the middle of playing with a toy/drawing/watching something. I know they are boys and I know it is to be expected but so soon? I’ve got how many years of this to come? As they grow I can see that extra curricular activities will surely become our allies in taking the fight out of these brothers in arms!

Silent Sunday

My Blog : A Gallery Post

I struggle with my blog. It isn’t something I spend an awful lot of time on. I’m not a prolific blogger. I have a rant, I have a giggle, I reflect and I debate (with myself mostly). So this week’s Gallery post had me a bit stumped. I really couldn’t think of a picture to represent my blog. Then I took these pictures on my phone:

They are the reason I started this blog. It is a place I can record my thoughts and feelings. I can document our experiences and blog about my transition from working mum to stay at home mum, something I’ve found very cathartic. Having them has made me think more deeply about our life and our decisions. Something that would have been insignificant before having children can now be an emotive experience.  The blog has been an outlet for me to express the rumblings going on in my head and make it all a lot less foggy. It doesn’t have to be for anyone else to read, it just helps me release the ramblings in my brain. I hope as I make the change to staying at home I’ll be able to find the time to blog about them more often.

My Blog name was inspired by my children. It is something we say to them, usually at night on the way to bed. Love them buckets.