Raising Cubs in a Campground

In a couple months when I'm knee deep in book design, homework, soccer, piano, & karate I'm going to kick myself for not being a better blogger during the summer months, but the truth is we're busy all.the.time. It is my goal to punch out a couple more personal photo books before the end of the year - potential Christmas gifts for the kids perhaps? We're trying to downsize significantly so we don't have so much STUFF. I was able to finish one for Elsa in time for her 2nd birthday party which we held on the 3rd of August. Now that I have that project under my belt I don't have any excuse to not post an Alphabitty Moment on Thursdays!  I had been posting on Instagram for a while, but I've gone back through old posts to find where I left off on the dusty 'ol blog. It looks like the letter 'm' was next. For us, "M" means McDonald's playland. I get a large coffee with five creams, the kids get to play & burn off some extra energy...

Welcome to Alphabitty Moments! This week was an easy letter for me as Elsa has been playing non-stop with Little People lately. I have lots of photos to choose from but I adore this one the most. Something about not being right there with her, watching from a distance as she does her own thing, being down at her level...The gorgeous light pouring into our playroom is a nice bonus too. Her favorite of all the Little People buildings we have (THANKS Mom for saving them from my childhood!) is the barn with all the animals. A third of the 100 signs Elsa knows are animals signs so it makes sense that she gravitate toward this toy in particular. I remember Julia at this age starting to play with Little People as well. In fact I've been thinking a lot lately as we mark 5 years here that Julia was around Elsa's age when we moved here. I am overcome with gratitude for the blessings in my life, including the chance to raise not two, but THREE little bears now. Link up your Alphabit...

Welcome to Alphabitty Moments! Normally I share a moment that corresponds with a letter of the alphabet on Thursdays, but with spring break, Easter, & being gone last night I've gotten behind. It happens and don't feel like you can't jump on board just because you've missed the first weeks! Every little moment you record is one that down the road I can guarantee you'll be so glad you took the time to reflect on what was happening with your child on that day. Childhood is so fleeting! Take a second to press pause - or in this case, 'record'. The K moment I'm recording this week is Kiss. Not real original I know, but what I want to remember specifically is that all it takes is a kiss from from Mama to make everything OK. You know those little bumps and bruises, trips and tumbles? A little kiss from Mama & the hurt melts away. It is magical and I know that won't always be the case. I'm savoring the fact that Elsa can come to me and feel s...

I REALLY struggled with the letter 'J' this time. I could not come up with a word to fit the theme of Alphabitty Moments (If you are new here click on the A.M. label on the right hand side for details on what exactly an Alphabitty Moment really is.) Then it hit me square between the eyes. All those photos I was scrolling through on my phone of Elsa laughing and enjoying the simplest things was exactly what I want to capture with this project. So rather than honing in on a specific activity or habit of hers I backed up and looked at the bigger picture. Being a toddler is all about finding JOY in the little things. Little things that bring Elsa joy right now include: Peanut butter smeared on an apple slice Daddy chasing her across the room Sam pulling her on a blanket Watching Penny pop bubbles Singing Slippery Fish with Mommy Seeing Josie and Amelia when we walk into church Hearing Julia walk into the house after school Being out of the stroller at the mall Riding d...

Sorry for posting this week's Alphabitty Moment so late. We are entering that time of year where the three jobs we do collide with a different version of each of those jobs. Vague I know, but let's just say that I've got two computers running at the same time while I listen to a video on Maple Syruping and search Pinterest on my phone in the downtime between page loads to find one last MorningMischief program for our Saturday programs in the park. It will all be worth it come mid May when my entire camping season is all laid out for me and I get to do the fun part of programming - the programs themselves, the kids will be wrapping up school & I will be putting the finishing touches on the last blog books before I take the summer off, and PapaBear will be working much closer to home. It will be worth it. I just keep telling myself that. :) Anyway, on to the 'i' word for this week:  I is for "In The Air".  I had to dig through the files on my extern...

Welcome to Alphabitty Moments! I love the accountability to come here every Thursday and record at least one little moment from Elsa's 2nd year for her photobook collection. I take a LOT of pictures but often times I struggle to not skip over the less than perfect ones when it's time to put together albums. Using Instagram for this year's book has been a good exercise in focusing on what matters - capturing those precious moments before they are gone. I chose H is for Holding Hands this week because as busy and independant as Elsa is I don't know how long she's going to be willing to hold someone's hand and go where THEY want to go. This particular photo is special to me because it was the longest time she's ever held someone's hand and the sight of my oldest and youngest together like this made my heart skip a beat. It was so touching the way Sam slowed down to her pace. I am so grateful for the tenderness both Sam and Julia have for Elsa. I...

Welcome to Alphabitty Moments! I started this project in 2009 as a memory keepsake method that didn't require to me to record memories chronologically. It appealed to me to be able to pull from my archives or take new photos of those little moments that are just as important as the milestones that typically make it into baby books or photo albums.  Over the years I have shared finished books and as much as possible shared photos weekly for each letter of the alphabet. This time through the alphabet I have chosen to use mostly Instagram photos (I'm 4MamaBear) as those phone cameras are slick for capturing the every day moments. Today is the perfect example: G is for Grocery Shopping Snack. I joked on Instagram (I use the hashtag #AlphabittyMoments if you want to see more photo ideas or click on the Alphabitty Moments label on my right side bar) by titling the photo Grocery Shopping (Survival) Snack. I do 95% of my grocery shopping with Elsa because there is a consis...

My youngest, Elsa, was born during a thunderstorm in the summer of 2011. It was a Friday night. The power went out about 6:15 (which was 1 second BEFORE the women next door gave birth - Never thought I'd be glad to still have a couple hours to go yet!!!) The generators kicked in after 10 seconds and Elsa was born later that night. For the next 52 Fridays I set Elsa in this wicker basket for a little mini session to show her growth. I'm sharing this series as part of Kelly's Show Us Your Life Friday posts. Click here to see lots of other photo ideas! The top photo in this collage was taken at 1 week and the bottom one was taken at 52 weeks. As you'll see in the later collages she quickly spilled out over the basket but for some reason she wanted to curl up for this particular photo. As soon as she did  I knew that it would be perfect opposite her 1 week photo in her baby book for the Letter W. (Her baby book is an A-Z book called Alphabitty Moments  that is a style...

Welcome to Alphabitty Moments! Each week I share a photograph/word combo that preserves the ordinary moments of childhood. Often times fleeting and if we are not mindful of them - they are gone before we can truly appreciate them. Feel free to join me in this adventure by linking up in the comments or tagging photos on Instagram (I'm 4MamaBear by the way) using the hashtag #AlphabittyMoments. This week I'm sharing a photo I took of Elsa looking out the window of our playroom this morning. Her Finger dimples are already starting to fade so I wanted to make sure I used F is for Finger Dimples this time through the alphabet. I'm so used to my kids being off the charts for height and weight but she's been holding steady around 50%. Even her rubberband wrists aren't nearly as pronounced as they once were . What a difference a year makes!!! Scratch that. My phone won't upload the Instagram photo I want so I grabbed this from an online album instead. I like how it ...

Welcome to Alphabitty Moments! Sharing a photo and a fleeting moment from chilhood for every letter of the alphabet once a week is how I keep up with my memory keepsake projects for my kids. This time through the alphabet I am using mostly Instagram photos (I'm 4MamaBear on Instagram) because it's quick and easy. If you would like to join me, you can leave a link in the comments or use the hashtag #AlphabittyMoments. This week E is for...ECFE. We are huge fans of Early Chilhood Family Education here in BearCountry. I look forward to the opportunity to learn parenting skills, talk to other moms, & get out of the house just as much as Elsa looks forward to the Bang Bang Song, playing with different toys, and seeing her cousins every week. We are such big fans, we take two classes a week!  

Welcome to Alphabitty Moments! You can read more about how and why I post a word & picture for every letter of the alphabet by clicking on the Alphabitty Moments link on the rigth hand side of my blog. I hesitated to use Destroy for the letter D because in all honesty I don't know if I will want to remember the moments where Elsa would pull every.single.thing. out of our cupboards multiple times a day. Then I thought about how that perseverence and desire to discover all that was around her will serve her well in the years to come and that I do want to remember where it all started. We have since installed locks on the cupboards and knowing how sentimental I get, I will remove them with mixed emotions when that day comes. Happy to not have to mess with a latch, but sad that another phase only lasted a moment. What D moment do you want to remember this week? Add your link in the comments or use the hashtag #AlphabittyMoments on Instagram.

Welcome to Alphabitty Moments! You can read more about my memory keepsake meme by clicking on the Alphabitty Moments label on the right hand side of my blog. I am using Instagram as a quick and easy way to share photos this time through the alphabet and as a resource for many of the photos too. This week, C is for Cart Car: ...those wonderful contraptions that buy me an extra five minutes in the grocery store to grab the things on my list. As you can see Julia barely fits in them any more...just another fleeting childhood moment that I'm so glad to have captured before it is too late! What Alphabitty Moment do you want to remember this week?  Link up in the comments or use the hashtag #AlphabittyMoments on Twitter/Instagram...

B is for {The} Bang Bang Song. It is a family favorite . Click on Alphabitty Moments on the sidebar for more details on how and why I chose a word for each letter of the alphabet each week. You are welcome to join me in this memory keepsake adventure either by blogging or using the hashtag #AlphaBittyMoments on Instagram . "C" you next week!

Three and a half years ago I began matching an everyday moment from my kid's childhood with each letter of the alphabet. That was the beginning of Alphabitty Moments . I have used Blurb.com's free Booksmart software to make custom layouts for a photobook version to preserve these fleeting moments.  Elsa's version even became her 1st year baby book .  Many photos in my most recent book were taken with my cell phone since it is always with me. I expect that trend to continue so I can capture real life without spoinling the moment getting out my DSLR. Search Alphabitty Moments on the side bar of my blog and you'll find lots of ideas for 'moments' that might inspire your own series of photographs. You'll also find that I started (and stopped!) sharing these moments on my blog over the years. Thanks to Instagram it is now so much easier to share the little things in photographs and using a hashtag of #alphabittymoments it will be a piece of cake to share ...

  It's been a while since I've entered a challenge at i heart faces but when I was reading the interview with guest judge Kelle Hampton I knew I needed to take a minute and find a photo to enter. A blog about enjoying the small things? I don't know if there is a more perfect match to my Alphabitty Moments project than that! Before it got too hot and sticky to play outside after 8am we spent an afternoon slip n sliding in our backyard. We like to link two together and put them down a hill for extra fast slipping and sliding - definitely a fun way to enjoy life on a hot summer day in BearCountry!

While this isn't my first Alphabitty Moments book, it IS the first time I've used my "little things" concept for a baby book. I am so pleased with how cohesive it is and that I was able to get almost 300 photographs in an 80 page book. It was very important to me that I stayed true to the theme of Alphabitty Moments but at the same time cover as much of Elsa's first year as I could. One way I incorporated extra photographs & text in was to add a summary of her first year near the beginning of the book. A rainbow theme runs through the entire book as a nod to the theme for her 1st birthday party (which is also her golden birthday). Do you make a baby book for your children? The traditional handwritten ones or do you do a digital version? I'd love to hear from you! I have (mostly empty) traditional baby books for my older two children. Sigh.... If only I'd thought of Alphabitty Moments years ago!  It is so easy to have a list on your refrige...

LIGHT SABER! When Sam turned six we felt he was old enough to watch Star Wars again. We had let him watch them earlier and he started having nightmares so we held off on watching them again until he was older. The day he turned six the first thing he wanted to do was watch Star Wars. No surprise there! The boy loves shooting spaceships and good guys/bad guys. His favorite thing to do is to have light saber battles with daddy. These $8 ones have held up really well surprisingly! It's usually the cheapest toys that hold their interest the longest.Wish I would remember this fact when I'm buying them gifts!  Do you have an Alphabitty Moment you want to remember this week?

Kitchen Helper If there's baking or dish washing to be done then I can always count on Julia to be right there to help. Some day she won't need a stool to reach the sink. Who am I kidding...some day she might not willingly stand at the sink - stool or no stool!  I relish our time together in the kitchen and try really hard to not stress out about how her 'helping' can sometimes make things take longer and make a bigger mess.  These are the moments I want to remember! What Alphabitty Moment do YOU want to remember this week?