My Favorite Spreads From Riley's Journals

 I gathered all the kids' art journals together, and came up with seventeen of them!  I put them up on our mantel to photograph them, and it actually makes quite a pleasing arrangement- maybe I'll keep it that way for a while- ha !

 

 As you can see, I used different sizes of books over the years.

 

 

 Doing the covers was always my favorite part, and I love the look of them all lined up, so that you can see the variations.

 

 I actually think I kind of like the looks of them turned around a little better!  All those pretty fabric ribbons showing...

 

 

 

 

In looking back over all of them, it was hard to choose just a few favorite spreads!  So I thought I'd break the posts down to show a different child's each day. 

 

First we have Riley's journals.

 

 This was the very first spread I did in his journal.  I did one like this in each child's- showing a timeline for their birth. 

 

 The one above talked about needing to stop breast-feeding him.

 

 And this one has a photo of me as a baby, and one of him, wondering who's side of the family he'll resemble.

 

 How soft the top of his head was- oh, to be able to rub my cheek against a baby's head again!

 

 I've always loved the one above- I did it on his six-month "birthday".

 

 Learning to walk....

 

 First haircut!  I also did a page like this for each child, with a bit of their hair from the first haircut.

 

 Just a fun page about those early years of excitement, seen through a child's eyes.

 

 Second birthday...

 

 Letting go of the pacifier!

 

 He was obsessed with the color yellow for a while.

 

 Learning to count to twenty...

 

 The above was from one of his books that was a vertical format- it was hard for me to work that way, so I didn't do another one like that once I finished that book!  The above spread was about his discovery of monster trucks, specifically GraveDigger!

 

 As the kids grew older, there weren't as many "firsts" to document, so this was just a page about simply being four.

 

 Learning how to swim...

 

And the final page in his book- turning five!

 

 

As I look back over these, it's obvious to me how much more time I had in the beginning of the books!  The pages are so much more detailed and thought-out.  By the end, I was simply trying to keep up, so I wasn't spending as much time on each one.  But they're still all very special to me!

 

If you'd like to see more pages from his journals, they are here, in this Flickr album.  I actually think there may be some from early-on that didn't make it into that album (I should update it!), but the vast majority are all there.

 

Next post, I'll show some favorite pages from Noah's journals!