December Daily, Days 1-9

Earlier today, during Noah's nearly 3-hour nap (thank you, my son), I completed the first nine days of my December Daily album.

I had the photos printed at Costco, and Noah and I picked them up yesterday while running errands. 

Before I uploaded them to Costco.com, though, I resized most to 5.5x 2.5, added text (if I so desired), and placed each of them on a 7x5 canvas in Photoshop Elements.  

Two of them (Days 2 & 6) were printed in a 4x6 size.  

Here's a look at my album so far:

December 1: Noah is eating "real" food now.  On this particular night, he ate what we ate: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. 

December 2: A picture of our tree.  For this shot, I made sure my aperture was large (f/1.4) and then purposely switched my 50mm lens to the manual setting and turned the focus ring until the tree lights were blurry and out-of-focus.  Voila, bokeh! 

December 3: Movie night with my mom.  We watched the first three Twilight movies together, so it seemed fitting that we also see the fourth and final movie as a pair.  

In the theater lobby on our way out, we stopped to take a few pictures in a photo booth.  I cut the photo strip into sections and along with the tickets, assembled this collage of ephemera.

December 4: Nearly every week on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, Noah and I visit the library for Mother Goose on the Loose, a program designed for kids, 0-2.  We sing songs, listen to stories, dance, and march around.  It's a little like teaching first grade, except I'm only responsible for one little one, not 20.  I'm pretty sure I have just as much fun as Noah does! 

December 5: Noah is now 11 months old.  The older he gets, the more he dislikes sitting in front of Mr. Bear; he'd rather sit next to Mr. Bear and check him out.   

For the journaling, I tried to capture what Noah might have been thinking at the moment I took the shot.  The journaling reads: "Hello, Mr. Bear.  Did you know I'm 11-months-old today?  Mom says I'm getting big, but not as big as you.  I like your soft fur and your brown nose.  I have a nose, too."

December 6: Brian and I took Noah to the mall today to meet Santa.  We weren't sure how he was going to react, but it turns out he LOVES Santa.  In fact, it was difficult for the photographer to get a shot of Noah looking at the camera because he was so enamored with Mr. Claus.  (I think it was his beard!)  I'll take that over tears any Christmas!  

December 7:   It's been really rainy for the past few weeks, but today the sun was shining, so Noah and I went for a walk in the park. 

December 8: Brian, Noah, and I attended the Festival of Lights parade for the first time.  Noah loved seeing all of the floats.  My favorite entry: this garbage truck with its enormous wreath and Santa riding on top.  Following the truck were a dozen garbage collectors pushing garbage cans (decorated in lights) around and around. 

December 9: My parents stopped by for a quick visit on Sunday.  They brought Noah a box of musical instruments, including this tambourine.  As I snapped this photo, Noah was hitting his forehead with the tambourine, which is why my mom (and I) were laughing.

Anyone else working on a December Daily album?  How's it going?