Scrapbooking: Our Wedding Album

Three years ago when we hired our wedding photographer we had decided that we didn't want to spend an arm and a leg for photos.  We didn't need the artsy fartsy wedding pictures with the cool effects or the magazinesque poses or the creative outdoor locations, especially if it was going to cost us $1200+ dollars more to book one of those photographers.  So we searched online and narrowed it down to some reasonably priced photographers that we thought could get the job done.  Well...we got what we paid for.

Did he document our day?  Sure.  Did he get everything in a photo?  Pretty much.  Did he get us to an outdoor location for a few shots?  Absolutely.  Did he even photoshop some of our photos so they looked better?  Yes.  Did he get us our proof book in a timely fashion?  Of course.  Problem is, after all of that, 2 years after our wedding, I still didn't have an album.  I emailed and emailed and emailed and emailed and just when I thought I was going to have call the Better Business Bureau or something, I get a response....

                 Oh...ugh....the company that puts together the albums for me

                 went bankrupt, so...ugh....I've been dealing with that.  I can

                 still get an album put together for you...ugh...it's just going

                 to take some more time....

Some more time?  It had been 2 years already!  I was pregnant for goodness sakes!  He then went on the tell me that he had proofs and prints and what not from weddings that had taken place AFTER mine that he needed to work on and get to his clients.  Oh no no no...weddings that take place after mine shouldn't take priority over my products, right?! So I complained (and by I, I clearly mean my fearless hubby) and the photographer agreed that if we wanted to skip the album he would throw in some more prints for us and give us our entire photo collection from the wedding on CD for free.  Done.  I mean, how hard could it be to put together a wedding album on my own, right?

So I went to the store and I purchased an album, got some wedding themed paper and off I went...my first scrapbooking venture.  Not soon after that Ryleigh came along, so my "free time" shifted and the wedding album got put to the side.  But now that Ryleigh is bigger and able to entertain herself more, I finally had time to get back to scrapbooking.  I didn't want the album to be too cheesy, ya know, filled with stickers of wedding cakes and glittery words that say "I DO!" (not that there is anything wrong with that), I just didn't want it for my album.  And it was actually pretty easy to do...and surprisingly fun!  I bought the majority of the materials at Michaels and in the end it only ended up costing me about $40 to put this album together.  I enjoyed it so much, I plan on starting one for Ryleigh soon!

So finally...after 3 years of marriage, here is my attempt at our homemade wedding album.  Some of the pictures might be blurry...I don't have the steadiest hand when it comes to taking pictures :/

Not too shabby for a first try, right?

 



A House Full of Richardsons

For the past 4 days our house has been buzzing with energy!!  Between Ryleigh, the 8 & 9 year old visitors and Lucy, things were much more fast-paced than what we're used to around here : )

The hubby's brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew all made the drive down from Michigan to visit us for a little while.  We haven't seen them since Christmas, so we were very excited to hear that they decided to include us as a stop during their summer vacation this year!  Since we moved away from Michigan, we have done a lot of driving between NC and MI, but this year we were able to host Thanksgiving at our house while family came to us and this summer is packed with visitors coming to stay with us, so I can't even explain how nice it is to be able to stay put this summer and let others do the traveling.  Thank you so much Dave & Cristin for packing your family up and making the trek down so that we can stay stationary for the summer, we really appreciate it : )

We had LOADS of fun the past 4 days...it was exhausting, but fun!  Our visitors drove through the night, so they arrived at our house at 9 a.m. Saturday morning, so needless to say, there was a lot of napping going on that day to catch up.  Tyler and Kylie were amazed at how fast their little cousin had grown since Christmas.  They kept reminding me that "the last time we saw her, she couldn't even sit on her own" or "the last time we saw her she just laid there doing nothing".  Haha.  It was so much fun to watch them let Ryleigh crawl all over them and to hear them talk to her in that high-pitched baby voice.  Nothing like hearing a 9 year old boy say "How big is Ryleigh?  SO BIG!!!!!!"

Not only did they have fun playing with their now much more exciting little cousin, they enjoyed running around with Lucy.  Chasing her around the living room, up the stairs, letting her lick their faces every time they laid on the floor, and Lucy loved every bit of it!  Poor thing pretty much passed out every night...but not after trying everything she could to sneak into their bedroom with them.  She'll sleep for the next 4 days straight : )

During the 4 day visit, we also ventured out into the 95 degree North Carolina heat.  One day we spent a good amount of time at the pool.  The kids really seemed to enjoy it and Kylie even made a friend.  Aunt Cristin also had lots of fun with Ryleigh in the pool. 

On Monday we celebrated the hubby's birthday by driving down to Charlotte and spending the day at Carowinds.  Dave and I both love roller-coasters, but we have spouses that don't, so it was a great opportunity to get a chance to ride without feeling bad for leaving the other one on the ground ; ) Tyler also likes roller-coasters but hasn't been tall enough to ride the big ones at Cedar Point yet...but he was tall enough at Carowinds!  He was able to ride all the rides with Dave and I!  I was also very proud of my hubster who actually rode 2 of the coasters with me...he was scared out of his mind and almost hyperventilating, but he did it!  AND he survived!  It's a miracle.  Ryleigh was able to ride the carousel with Mommy and Daddy, but that was it.  She seemed to enjoy it and she did a great job behaving the whole day.  She started getting fussy towards the end, but eventually gave in to her sleepiness after being awake for 7 hours. 

After our day at Carowinds, the next day was spent hanging out and relaxing.  The boys went golfing early in the morning and then came home and relaxed with the rest of us.  We had a pretty cranky baby on our hands considering the poor thing has 6 new teeth coming in!!  I couldn't believe it when Aunt Cristin told me she felt some popping through.  Only 2 weeks ago she cut her top 2 teeth, and now, she has 2 more that have popped through on top and 2 more that are popping through on the bottom!  She's going to have a full set by the time she's 1!

We were so sad to see everyone pack up and go this morning, but we certainly did enjoy the time we got to spend with them!  We are so blessed to have such a great family filled with people we love to share time with.  Ryleigh is so loved and since she doesn't get to see family on a regular basis it's always an amazing feeling to watch her interact with them when she can.  Thank you guys so much for coming down and spending time with us and we will see ya'll soon!!

with cousin Kylie

Uncle Dave being silly

fun for all ages!

Ryleigh says "I'm outta here!"

Tyler & Kylie having fun in the whirlpool

watching my cousins rough house

Having fun with Uncle Dave & Aunt Cristin

Aunt Cristin helps Ryleigh get used to the water

more pool time fun

eating puffs at the pool

trying to get around, but the ground is so bumpy!!

Ryleigh wants to crawl, but the ground is too bumpy to put her knees down...so she'll improvise

Kylie plays tea party with Ryleigh

then proceeds to "water her like she's a flower"

everybody joins in during bath time!

 

Uncle Dave & Kylie...half in North Carolina, half in South Carolina

Ryleigh  meets Snoopy...she was more in to her apple juice though

Ryleigh rides the carousel with Mommy & Daddy

everyone rides the carousel!!

using Tyler to stand up

morning cartoons with everyone

being one of the boys

Uncle Dave bouncing Ryleigh on the bed

"no Tyler, you play it like this"

Ryleigh is Nine Months!!!!!!!!!

Ryleigh at 9 months (July 15, 2011)

What?!  Not my baby.  I refuse to accept it.....


...ok ok ok...Ryleigh is growing up!!  My little baby is well on her way to becoming a toddler and I have to admit, I'm really enjoying this phase.  She is SOOOOOO much fun!!  Personality just oozes from my little munchkin and she is so independent (but still needy when she wants to be).  She loves to be silly and she loves to be scared.  Peek-a-boo is one of her favorite games, as well as watching you hide behind a wall then pop out and yell "boo!"  She is obsessed with blankets and other fluffy things and she will immediately bury her face in them and roll around when she finds them on the floor or on the sofa.  She also loves living on the edge, literally.  She will get as close to the edge of the sofa or bed as possible, then want you to hold on to her legs so she can work her way down to the floor.  She can sit on the floor and entertain herself for what seems like hours and now that she can pull herself up, she seems to always be directly underneath me.  She will look up at and me and give me this look like "Ma, isn't it weird that the place I want to be always seems to be the exact same spot that you happen to be doing something?!"


I'm finding myself saying "no" a whole lot more lately, which is fine.  She is exploring her surroundings.  I wish she wouldn't enjoy exploring Lucy's dog food bowl or the toilet paper roll as much though.  She will usually crawl around and I'll see her turn the corner into another room.  I'll give her a minute then I'll make my way to see what mischievous things she has discovered that I would never think to touch...one day she made her way into the bathroom only to grab one end of the toilet paper and pull it all the way out into the dining room before I noticed.  Good eye Mommy, right?  I'm getting better at disciplining her...I still find is hard to spank or smack my little angels hand, so I've resorted to flicking her hand.  I think she is catching on though :/  She sure is testing lately! 


I'll have to admit, one of my favorite things is when I take Lucy outside, I stand right outside the door (which is all glass so I can keep an eye on her inside) and she will make her way to the door, pull herself up on it and repeatedly bang on it until I look back at her.  And when I do, this HUGE smile appears on her face  that exposes her little teeth and the loudest squeal ever comes out.  It's priceless.     


This month hasn't been as exciting as the last few months, actually, scratch that, it hasn't had as many "new" things happen, but it's been just as exciting.  Ryleigh is still learning to master the skills she has learned in the past few months (like crawling on her hands and knees, pulling herself up using the furniture, walking around the furniture, clapping and giving kisses).  She has learned to wave "hi" and "bye" this month and I have learned that cutting teeth #3 and #4 is a horrific process.  It took her about one week to get 'em through and she learned to really enjoy the taste of baby Tylenol and Motrin ; ) My saviors!!


This month we got to celebrate Fathers Day with Daddy.  He had lots of fun taking Ryleigh swimming.  You can see the pictures HERE.  We also visited Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah in Buffalo this month.  And an added bonus, Yaya, Poppi, and Great Grandma & Grandpa Elliott were there too!  You can see all the pictures and read about our visit HERE.  Mommy and Daddy celebrated their anniversary this month which meant Ryleigh spent her first night with "strangers".  No, not strangers...but babysitters who weren't family members.  They said she was great, other than a few middle of night cries for "mama", which you know made me smile to hear : )  Other than that, we hung around Greensboro mastering the art of walking around the furniture and exploring how high pitched our voice can go.  We went to the doctor today for our nine month check up and everything looks great...even our wasp sting that we got today : (  Ryleigh weighs 20 pounds and is 30 1/4 inches which puts her in the 85th percentile for weight and 97th percentile for height, so our munchkin is still a tall one!


We have a pretty busy month coming up with visitors, so we should be posting lots soon!  Can't believe time is flying by so fast, but in all honesty, I love being able to interact with her the way I can now.  I hope she continues to stay silly because it makes my days so much better : )

loves her big girl car seat

big baby blues

all smiles at Uncle Jason & Aunt Bekah's house

loves her new toy..she's still trying to figure him out though

Fourth of July spirit

Ryleigh repeats after Mommy

when Daddy's attack!

Mommy & Ryleigh playing with the web cam

for those who would like to see a typical Ryleigh play session...it's a long one

Ryleigh shows off her new "trick"

  

getting to play in Mommy & Daddy's hotel room before they pawn me off for the night ; )

so true

Daddy's attempt at matching PJs...we still love him : )

She got herself up onto the step and got scared when she recalled her last attempt at crawling up the stairs...it would have ended badly had Daddy not been behind her : (

exhausted

"What? Am I not supposed to be in here?"

in preparation for our visitors this coming weekend, Mommy has an air mattress on the floor in the guest room...Ryleigh and Lucy automatically think it's for them to play on

cheesin'

this expression reminds me of a forced school picture...like, "smile for the camera even though you don't want to"