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Totally agree. And the more times I make something, the quicker I get at it.

We do a different approach (one that is easy for me to pull off because I do graphic design for a living). We have a photo of the kids on the front and a bunch of pictures of everyone throughout the year on the inside. The kids are front and center because they change the most and I always have tons of photos of them since I'm the one behind the camera. It is hard to get a photo of everyone and hiring a professional has been expensive with pretty mixed results, honestly, so there's just not as much to choose from. And I will say I'm pickier about the photos of myself than maybe I once was. I do think that has something to do with it not just with our card but everyone's.

We just held a large corporate event and for the sake of the environment and also managing an event with 700+ invitations, we decided we'd use Pingg. Now this is no diss to the Pingg site, but we had huge issues with the invitations because so many corporate spam filters blocked our invite (which came from the pingg.com domain). We were scrambling to call around at the last minute to figure out who was coming. In the end it would have been probably similar cost and a lot less stress if we'd just used paper invites - arguably, we could have sent more basic email invitations as another alternative.

So dead? I don't think so ... but I can definitely see their popularity taking a big dip. Email is just too nice, too convenient, even with some of the pitfalls.

This room is one of my favorites I've seen. LOVE the colors. LOVE the robots. LOVE the melted crayon art, type set tray, and other charming details. I will also tell you from experience that having bright colored walls in a nursery make for awesome baby photos. We've got amazing ones of both our kids in front of their brightly colored walls.

Watch the Good Eats episode on Chocolate Chip Cookies. Alton tweaks the recipe for every taste and explains the science behind it all. One of my all time favorite eps.

I love involving the kids in the kitchen and these are some really great tips. We have special stool (kitchen-helper style) that has been my biggest and best investment for our kitchen. It's their spot in the kitchen and they love it. My sister also read somewhere about a famous chef teaching his kids to chop veggies with one hand behind their back until they got the hang of it and we've been trying it with our daughter. It works pretty well - the no slip cutting board is KEY.

I saw this linked via another website and I had to check it out ... one of my favorite parts is the trap door in the floor with the hidden compartments. Too cool!

I was thinking Quik would be kinda tasty. :)

All we've made so far are apple chips, but they've been amazing! Just thinly sliced apples dried for ~4 hrs. And thanks, Kit, for reminding me to try kale chips!

Had to come back and comment ... I made this on Fri night and it was a hit with the whole family, from my 2yo son to my 63yo mom. A keeper for sure!

As a note to LizBWebb, I think the thighs would be preferable for the extra fat ... better for browning and a richer end product. I had thought about using breasts too, but I'm glad I opted for thighs. I'd love to her your results if you try it though!