Lilly's Chocolate Heart

Happy Valentines Day from heaven!

I made the above digital scrapbooking page with My Memories Suite software. It was fast and easy!  (My original post about the software is here.  If you're interested in learning more about the software or buying it for $10 off, click on the upper right button that says "My Memories" on this blog.)

We started our Valentine's Day off today by reading Kevin Henkes' book Lilly's Chocolate Heart.  This sweet, short book is a family favorite.  And of course we had to eat homemade chocolate hearts while reading it!  Yum - we're going to make this an annual tradition.

At Lilly's first hospitalization for a virus, the speech therapist there gave Lilly a swallow study, which she passed.  This sweet lady seemed quite taken with Lilly.  We saw her and worked with her again at Lilly's next hospitalization for a virus.  The therapist had a son Hunter's age at home.  She told me that at that time, his favorite book was Lilly's Chocolate Heart. And that every time she read it to him, she thought of our Lilly.  So of course I had to get a copy of the book.  Hunter was delighted with the story.  (Especially the page with the picture of a radiator heater.  Those of you who know him won't be surprised about that.)  And really, we all enjoy the story.

Next Hunter did some Valentine's math, where he estimated, counted, and sorted, and recounted hearts, and recorded it all on his worksheet:

Then Tabby joined us for a little Valentine's craft involving coffee filters, markers, and a water dropper.  (They love anything that involves the water droppers - I have a box of them that I used to use to give Lilly water to drink with.)

I got the ideas about the math work and craft project from No Time For Flash Cards.  (Great ideas for little ones, though even Tabby, who's 11, enjoys some of them.)  Another Valentine idea I took that we're having fun with are supper "conversation hearts."  I took foam shaped hearts and on one side wrote things like you see on the candy conversation hearts (like "too sweet", "too cute", "xoxoxo", etc.)  Then on the other side I wrote questions such as "Who is your favorite person in the Bible?" "What is your favorite time in history to learn about?" "What is your favorite season?" etc.  I hung them on a ribbon with clothespins and the kids get to take turns picking one for us to discuss at supper each night.  (I have a ribbon of hearts on the other side of the window too.)

Solomon loved being a part of all the activities, though he finally had enough.

"Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law." - Romans 13:8

We have a contest winner!

This evening, my My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software contest officially ended.  T. and I were  excited to see who our winner was.  For everyone that entered, I wrote their name on a piece of paper and folded it up.  (Most people received the double entry, so they got their name on two pieces of paper.)  Then we put the papers into a box and thoroughly mixed them.  I even had T. throw them up in the air and put them all back in the box.  Then we prayed that the person that won would be the person that would be the most blessed by the software.  T. then drew out a paper, unfolded it, and read the name.

And ...

The winner is C.M.!  (I sent you an email already.) 

Thank you so much to everyone else that entered!  It really warmed my heart to read the entries, especially since almost everyone shared Lilly memories with me. 



T. and I have had so much fun playing around with this software.  We plan to do a lot more of it and will share more of the things we create.  If you would like to purchase the software, you can currently buy it for only $29.97 by ordering here and using this $10 off code at checkout:  STMMMS89191  And, from what I understand, I can run this contest again next quarter.  :)

 Another fun moment today was when we received these two bird and nest ornaments in the mail.  They were made by S. and L. - the sisters of little 6 year old Emily, that has full Trisomy 18.  S. and L. contribute every month to Lilly's memorial tree.  T. and I were so impressed with the birds and nests - thank you S. and L.!

Finally, our last photo today is of a Lilly angel that T. made the other day, after being inspired by H's whimsical paper Lilly.

"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" - Psalm 8:1



An amazing new billboard

One of the very first Trisomy mom's I ever talked to was J., the mama of Giuliana who was born exactly one month after Lilly.  Giuliana has been through a lot but is really doing very well overall.  Testing showed that she does not have full Trisomy 18 like Lilly did.  (Full Trisomy 18 means three copies of the 18th chromosome in each cell in the body, instead of the normal two copies.)  Giuliana has mosaic Trisomy 18 which means she has an extra copy of chromosome 18 in only some of her body's cells.

Giuliana has had heart repair surgery and many other of the same problems as children with full Trisomy 18.  But one big difference is, she can physically do so much more.  I'm sure that is due to being "mosaic."  But even with being mosaic, she is still a little miracle!

Giuliana will celebrate her 2nd birthday on August 4.  The celebration is beginning early with the posting of three billboards in high traffic areas of her city.  You can read more about Giuliana and the billboards on  J's blogpost.  I so appreciate J.'s advocating so hard for our special Trisomy kids!

T. and I are continuing to have fun learning how to use the My Memories digital scrapbooking software.  I made this page, using a discovery that T. made yesterday.  There are a lot of "effects" you can use to change the look of photos.  All of these photos were originally in color.  I changed the top one to "red."  The bottom left to "sepia" and the bottom right to "black and white."  I did this scrapbooking page in maybe 10 minutes, as that was all the time I had for it this morning.

T. quickly whipped out several pages too, and those are posted below.  You'll notice similarities in the background paper.  They were part of a six page designer template.

Don't forget to enter!  The My Memories Suite free software giveaway ends this Friday at 6:00 p.m.!  You can find out how to enter and see all the details in my review here.  It has been a lot of fun reading the entries that have come in, mostly by e-mail.  I can't wait to see who the winner will be!

I am having a good week!  My new Lilly with Jesus picture helps me so much.  :)

"Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!" - Psalm 105:1-2

T's digital scrapbooking page

Today my daughter T. got to try out the My Memories Suite software that I received for free to review.  This is picture is of the first digital scrapbooking page she created.  She is 10-almost-11 years old and needed very little help on moving around in the scrapbooking program.  She even taught me something - how to add "imprints."  (The purple scroll looking things next to the picture of her and Lilly.)  This digital scrapbook page took her less than 15 minutes for everything.  (Like me - the hardest part was choosing the photo!)

Then a bit later, she got back on the program and whipped out three more great scrapbooking pages in a short amount of time.  These really are so easy to make!

Our 3 year old H. likes to be creative too.  Yesterday he said he wanted to "cut and glue" a picture of Lilly.  I wasn't really sure what he meant but he cut out a strip of paper and said it was Lilly's body, then glued it to another piece of paper.  Then he drew Lilly's body, added googly eyes and a pom pom nose, and ladybugs for Lilly to hold.  He was so pleased with his picture.  I thought it was cute in a whimsical sort of way.  I'm so glad he drew Lilly smiling.

The children of the Kwant family also love to do projects to remember their baby sister Hannah, who lived 64 days with Trisomy 18.  Their two latest posts showing memory projects are here and here.  T. and I always enjoy looking at the Kwant's latest projects and getting ideas.  (Big sister C. has an Etsy store where she sells things she makes in memory of Hannah.  You can click there through the sidebar on the right of this blog.  You can also check out her blog of items she is making here - I admit I am partial to her latest post - on lily hair flowers!)

Don't forget!  The My Memories Suite free software contest ends in one week!  Get all the details about how to enter on my last blog post or here.  And thank you to everyone that has entered!  We've been enjoying your comments and emails!

My Memories Suite free software giveaway (Digital Scrapbooking)

If you've read this blog at all much, since Lilly went to be with Jesus 5 months ago, you know that we have done a lot of memory projects about Lilly.  And we don't seem to be running short of ideas either!  Memory projects are, for us, a way of working through grief, helping to heal, and keeping Lilly's memory alive.

Recently I was contacted by a woman named Liz from My Memories.  (Think digital scrapbooking.)  She had come across Lilly's blog and said she really liked it.  She wondered if I would like a free copy of the My Memories Suite software program to try myself, and one to give away.  My first thought was "LOL - I've arrived as a blogger!  A stranger has contacted me for a giveaway!"  Then I was a little suspicious.  But I did a google search and found that Liz has done this deal with a number of other bloggers and it seemed to go very well.  Then I read the reviews of the My Memories Suite software on amazon.com and found that they were all very positive.  So I agreed to give it a try.

Let me first say that I love the idea of scrapbooking. And at the same time I find it completely overwhelming!  Shortly after Lilly was born, my nephew's wife L.S. gave me a scrapbook for Lilly where she pre-made a bunch of pages and had them all ready for me to just add pictures.  I loved it.  And because I was so busy caring for Lilly, that was all I could handle.  During Lilly's life, I collected scrapbook pages I liked here and there and have just saved them.  Then our local scrapbook store shut down recently and I got a stack of paper and embellishments for pennies.  I even bought a couple scrapbooking idea/technique books at used book sales.  (Yes I like to research everything!)

So why haven't I completed my amazing Lilly scrapbook yet?  Pictures!  I have 1000s of pictures!  And I had them developed in big batches and they came back to me all out of order.  I am STILL sorting them out when I have time.  (There are times I enjoy going through them and other times it's just too upsetting, so it's hard to make steady progress.)  Since I have so many supplies, I am determined to finish the scrapbook, Lord willing, before our rainbow baby's birth in September.  But it's still overwhelming.

However, after I downloaded the My Memories Suite I was able to crank out several experimental pages in a short amount of time.  It was so easy and fun!  I got to just paste in pictures, which were all on my computer already (and importantantly - IN ORDER!)  No searching to find them. 

On the software, when you make a page, you can select from a "designer template" or make your own from scratch.  Here are two I did with the pre-designed format, adding photos, text, and embellishments:

It only took me about 15 minutes per page, and the majority of that time was in just selecting which pictures I wanted to use.  The software program is truly so easy to use, I was able to figure everything out without clicking on "help."

I also made a scrapbook page where I just started from scratch.  It too was very very simple.

I'm not an expert on page layout and design.  But I was still pleased with how the page turned out.

So what do you do, once you create a whole scrapbook?  You can upload it to the My Memories website and select a cover and have it printed.  I thought the cost was very reasonable.  I am by no means a scrapbook expert but I've observed just how expensive all the stickers and special papers and other embellishments can be.  Making a scrapbook digital can be much much cheaper.

The My Memories Suite does more than just digital scrapbook pages.  You can also create calendars.  Here is one I made in minutes:

I read somewhere that you can make greeting cards too.  I haven't figured that one out yet.  I am wondering if perhaps that function is not on the version of the software I have.  Or maybe it is done directly on their website.  And, there is a function to add music, but I did not try that one.

So!  If you've read this far I know I must have your interest!  How about it?  Want to take part of a little contest to see if you can win this simple, fun, and powerful software?  (Great soundbite, huh?)  Here is what you need to do:

1) Visit the My Memories website at:  www.MyMemories.com and pick a digital paper pack or layout that you really like.  Then leave a comment on this blog, or e-mail me at LittleFirecrackerLilly (at) gmail.com, telling me what you chose.  (If you choose to leave a comment rather than e-mail me, please be sure you leave a way I can contact you if you win.)

2) For a double chance at winning, also share with me a favorite memory of Lilly that you have, or a blog post you liked, or a picture of her you really like.  :)

This contest will END on Friday, JUNE 8th, at 6:00 p.m. (EST).  I will take everyone's names and put them in a jar for a drawing.  (Remember - if you do steps one and two above - you get TWO entries!)

If you don't win, or if you would like to just buy the My Memories Suite software, you can get a $10.00 discount on your purchase, plus a $10 coupon for the www.MyMemories.com store, by using this discount code at your checkout:

STMMMS89191

Note that you can instantly download the software after purchase, or have the software shipped to you.  On that same page, you can also click to download a free trial. 

Feel free to share this contest with your friends, family, or anyone you feel would be interested.  I look forward to hearing from you!  :)

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." - James 1:17