When I was offered the opportunity to try the new American Greetings PhotoWorks Studio Books I was very excited.  I love digital scrapbooking, but I’m not a fan of using software that needs to be installed on my computer.  In years past I used a Creative Memories software but it’s very expensive to buy digital accessories.  The PhotoWorks website offers a wide variety of themes including Wedding, Baby, Travel, Kids, Holidays and more.

When I discovered I could choose a theme without downloading software I was in love.  The studio books are amazing.  Each theme has a pre-designed template, fully customizable by changing the photo layout or background color, as well as the digital embellishments.

After registering for a free account and then uploading my photos to an online album; a process which took twenty minutes (more or less time may be needed depending on the volume of photos you intend to use), I was able to create an entire 8.5 x 11 photo book in under an hour.

The PhotoWorks site allows me to save any unfinished projects making it very easy to pick up where I left off without any effort.  These books are amazing!  Most projects are printed in less than 3 business days, and shipped withing 7-10 business days.  My book arrived in one week.  I’m very happy with the price as well.  Most finished books are $39.95 for the 8.5 x 11 size, but PhotoWorks offers 8 x 8 for $29.95 or 12 x 12 for $54.95.  The prices are much more reasonable than other products I’ve used in the past.

Another great benefit to using American Greetings PhotoWorks is the ability to share my project.  I was able to e-mail my project in the form of a slide show to my family members as well as give the recipients the ability to save copies of the photos (or the book itself ) to their own PhotoWorks account to create their own photo gifts.

The American Greetings PhotoWorks Studio Books are simply fantastic and I’m so glad I got the chance to use this service.  Thank you Mom Central!

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I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of American Greetings PhotoWorks and received a free photo book to facilitate my review.

Owen, melting his mother’s heart with a post giggle smile.

Mommy’s boys, “playing” Legos.

Dawson, building a “Star Wars space ship.”

Stuck at home with two munchkins is no fun during the winter.  I want to break out the stroller and take the boys for a walk.  Murphy, too.  Poor dog is sick of freezing his paws in the snow.  Dawson is longing for Spring because he just wants to ride his bike!

Instead of yearning for warmer days, we spend our time indoors.  I’ve been taking pictures of everyday things.  I’m in a new phase photographically speaking.  I want to document every day life.  Even the mundane.  I missed beginning the Project 365 for this year.

I’m revamping the plan.  Starting March 17th, I’m going to document my 32nd year (I’m turning 31 this year, so I guess I’m going into my 32nd year of life, right?) as well as my kids’ lives.  We’ll see how it goes.  I’m very excited.

In the meantime, here are some photos taken recently.  Enjoy!

Okay, and I’m tired. I spent today cleaning (more cleaning, you ask? yes, because I’ve gone completely anal about organization in this house. that and I have nothing else to do while I wait for the baby to make his way into the world) my dining room, my craft area, and other things. Then Doug and I went to lunch at Tempura House.  They have the best buffet.  I love the sweet & sour chicken, General Tso’s chicken, and of course crab rangoon. Yum.

Dawson spent the night at my parents’ house so we could go to that wedding last night, and Doug and I really enjoyed our day together, even if we were just getting all those last minute things completed.  I vacuumed all the carpets.  Doug blew out the sprinklers for the winter.  I folded laundry. He blanched and froze more vegetables from our garden.

The only thing we didn’t finish was weather-proofing our windows with that shrink wrap, plastic stuff.  But there’s always tomorrow.  As long as a certain baby stays in my uterus.  Which is probably going to happen.  He’s showing no interest in being born just yet.  I’m still in physical pain, but cleaning distracts me.

Okay, enough of the random babbling.  I give you my favorite photos of the last few weeks (months?):

My neighbor’s daughter, Katie, with her brothers at her wedding reception last night.  These kids (who aren’t really kids anymore) are triplets.  I’ve known their family since I was a kid.  I can’t believe how grown up they are now.

The beautiful bride and handsome groom pose for a photo.  They are just adorable, aren’t they?

Last Monday, Dawson and I went on a Mom & Son date.  We had dinner at Rocky Roccoco’s and then went to see the Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen movie that was re-playing at our local theater.  We had a fantastic time.

We had some funky things happen to a few of the tomatoes we grew this year.  This one seems to have grown a nose.  Or… Nevermind. I’m not even going to say it.  Still the funniest produce ever.

I tried to get a picture of all the kids at Dawson’s birthday party two weeks ago, and this one is almost perfect.  Only one child is looking away, and one is missing from the photo because he was having a meltdown.  Still a fantastic party.  Everyone had a fantastic time.

Dawson had such fun bowling.  Here he is, just after granny-bowling the ball down the lane.

Now that I’ve uploaded all the photos (from both cameras) from the last few weeks, I’ve charged all the batteries and put everything into my hospital bag.  I’m ready for Baby O to arrive.  Counting down days!

Because we’re all running around, trying to get ready for a wedding, and I realize I have to run to Target because Dawson has NO dress pants… Here’s a photo of our little dog, Murphy.  I took this one yesterday while I was photographing our garden.  When I uploaded the photo, I decided it looked much better in black and white, because those are the colors of Murphy’s coat.

This is not just a dog, he’s a best friend.  Don’t you just want to pet and cuddle him?  He is adorable, yes?

I have taken some great pictures in the last few months (and now that the weather is nicer, I’m ready to get out there and take some more).

My favorites:

Capitol, Madison, WI

Motley Crue, Concert on Valentine’s Day, in Madison

Building a Snow Man

Spitting Image of His Father

Handmade Valentine’s

I don’t have pictures from my birthday.  I had so much fun with my loved ones, talking and laughing and eating, that no one remembered to take pictures.  Isn’t that crazy?

The big 3-0 isn’t so bad.  I’m over the whole “freaking out” thing. I’ll recap the birthday a little later.  I’ve got the day off and tons of housework to do.  Unless one of you awesome blog readers wants to come over and help?  No?  It was worth a try…

My day began with a visit to the dentist.  I loathe dentist appointments.  Honestly, I’m almost 30 years old and I’m still afraid of the man with the little drill.

Several months ago I broke part of a tooth because of an old filling that cracked.  My dentist put on a temporary cap on that tooth and this morning was he removed the temp and put on the permanent crown and cap.  I had to bring Dawson along because the appointment was at 7:30 A.M. and Doug was already at work by 5:00 A.M.  There was no way I could find a babysitter to come over earlier than nine o’clock.

Dawson was well behaved for the most part, and things were going smoothly, except for the part where the doctor tried to put the new cap on without anesthesia.  That “live” nerve (tooth) was quite sensitive and when I winced in pain, Dr. M. says “Oh, did that hurt?”  Umm…freakin’ DUH!  This did not make me happy, nor did it curb my fear of the man with the drill.  Yikes.

After the appointment, Dawson and I went home and had breakfast (he had cereal, I had ibuprofen), and then it was time to get the Doodlebug ready for preschool.  After I dropped him off I went home to start my BlogHer work and Doug was nice enough to leave work for twenty minutes to pick up Dawson at 11:30 this morning so that I wouldn’t be interrupted.

After work I went to the grocery store to get some ingredients for a holiday party I’m attending tomorrow morning, as well as cookie making ingredients for this weekend (my friend G. and I are having a cooking baking party on Saturday).

Next it was time to tackle the house cleaning.  I’d been trying to do a little bit here and there all week, but today was the first day I had several hours to really get busy.  I’d let my dining room turn into tornado alley.  Mail and magazines were piled up on my side table, my craft area was in disarray, and I can’t remember the last time I cleaned the computer desk.

Doug came home from work and helped me by cleaning the kitchen, doing dishes and making dinner (not in that order), and he promised to get a jump start on Dawson’s room tomorrow after work.  That child has toys strewn all over the floor and it’s making me nuts.  I tried to put the laundry away and nearly killed myself in that hazardous zone.

Tomorrow night I have a scrap booking party to attend, but I’m going to try to squeeze in some more cleaning before I leave.  I don’t know why I’m suddenly in the mood to get this house in order, but it’s nice to get organized.

I got a card in the mail about the Easter Seals pick-up in my neighborhood on the 22nd, and I’m psyched.  I’ve got boxes I was going to drop at Goodwill, but the ES will pick this stuff up.  I’m so excited because it saves me a trip!

So that’s what’s been going on around here.  I’ve got some pictures from the sledding fun Dawson and I had on Tuesday.  Check these out:

And Tuesday night, we put up our Christmas Tree.  Finally!

This one of Doug is my favorite.  It’s rare to get a good phot of him!

So there you have it, folks!  It’s been a busy day, and a busy week in general.  I’m so glad tomorrow is Friday.

What about you?

First on the list?  Getting our family photo taken for our Christmas cards.  Every year I stress over this task.  I want the picture to be perfect.  Can I just say how difficult it is to get all of us to smile at the right time?  Do you have any idea how hard it is to get the kid and the dog to look at the camera at the exact same moment?

We tried to get this done last night before we had Thanksgiving dinner.  One hundred takes later and we are no closer to snapping the perfect pose.  This is the best shot we got and I don’t really care for it:

Here is the color version:

It looks as though Murphy’s ears are connected to Doug’s goatee.  He claims he was just trying to hide his second and third chins. Such a funny guy, that one.

I ordered a sample of this photo from Walgreens, just to see how it will turn out.  I’m positive we’ll have to take a new picture.  I might kill myself.  I have no patience when it comes to using the self-timer and remote.

What do you think?  Use one of those photos or try, try again?

Since I’m participating in NaBloPoMo this month (3rd year in a row) I realized I might be short on content from time to time. Today is one of those days when I haven’t had the chance to compose a coherent post. Since I’m off to work, I thought I’d show off a few of the best photos I’ve taken the last few months.

This is my first Best Shot Monday post. Enjoy!  For More BSM click here.