I’m a sucker for a good family tradition. I think that family traditions mark time in a most meaningful way. My family had a few traditions. The one I remember most vividly was our yearly ski trip to the Sierras with three other families. We saw each other only once a year but I still feel a strong connection to those kids. We made that trip for 13 years and it was our longest-standing family tradition.

Fall is my favorite season. I was born in the fall. I love the weather. I love the colors. I love everything about fall and since I live in California and our leaves don’t really fall until winter, I don’t even have to deal with raking until late December. It’s just sweaters and strolls and crisp afternoons. That’s why I was inspired by a photo book recently featured on Shutterfly Gallery called Falling Leaves With The Lil Lefflers.

We had my son’s fourth birthday party this weekend and for those who have been following this blog, we indeed managed to find a cake in the shape of a cell phone—much to his delight. I had every intention of capturing all of the iconic moments—playing games, the pile of brightly colored presents, blowing out the candles, eating cake.

I went to my doctor the other day and the medical assistant saw my Shutterfly badge (while she was taking my blood pressure). She said, oh I love Shutterfly. I get all my prints there. I started a photo book too, but I just can’t seem to finish the book. It’s too hard. That’s when my blood-pressure started to go up. Just kidding.

I make Year-in-Review photo books which I love. I’ve done them the last three years and I pull them out all the time to look at them with my kids. It’s good fun. But I will share a secret with you. I am actually making old-school baby scrapbooks for my kids. I started my son’s when he was born, nearly four years ago, before I even knew about photo books or digital scrapbooking. I finished his book a few weeks ago and now I’m starting my daughter’s. Hopefully I’ll finish it before she goes to college. What was I thinking?