My niece, Paige, is 16 years old this year!!! WOW, what a shock! I wish she was here so I could personally hand her this book I made, but she recently moved to Fargo, ND to live with her Dad.
I had made her 2 younger sisters small booklets last year and decided that Paige needed one too. When she was born I wasn't into stamping or crafts, but I am now.. so here goes!
I had such fun looking through pictures I had taken of her over the years. It was difficult trying to narrow down the choices for this booklet.
I am so glad I saved this... it is perfect for the first page of Paige's book!! When Paige was born her Mom and Dad ordered candy bar wrappers... they are so clever. They slip over a hersheys candy bar. Instead of 'Hershey' it says 'here she is'. The net weight printed on the bottom left is her weight at birth.
I don't know if Paige ever saw this so this may be a terrific surprise for her when she receives this book in the mail.
Family pictures...
On the left is Paige with her Dad, Charlie, and her Mom, Tracie. Below the picture is the back half of the candy bar wrapper from the previous page. It lists the specifics about Paige's birth: date, time, height, and weight.
On the right is Grandma Sandie, Uncle Dave, and me with a 'not so happy' Paige. Oh well, babies do have bad days too!
Oh Baby is right!!! Look at this cutie! This picture is blackmail material for sure. In some ways it seems like only yesterday that Paige was a baby, and yet it was 16 years ago!!! Where did the time go?
She was a charmer! Just look to the right and see how cute her smile is!! She always took great pictures.
Whenever we were together I tried to remember to get a picture of Paige with her cousins. In this one Paige is sitting with Leah, Cara, and Uncle Dave.
On the right Paige is sitting in her recliner. I think she received this as a Christmas gift one year. It really does recline!!! All she needs is a crown because she looks like royalty sitting there.
These pictures were taken at our house.. a day at the lake.
Paige is floating in a rubber boat with her Mom and then later that day we took a pontoon boat ride around the lake. Bob always has the kids take a turn driving the boat. It's a pretty boring job since we're going very slow and you don't need to turn the wheel much... but, Paige always liked it.
On the right Paige is wearing party hats on her ears. Yes, I probably made her do it. I either had done the same thing myself and she was copying me, or I put them on her ears for her. You gotta have a little fun!
For many years we'd have our Christmas celebration at Sandie and Roy's house and that is where this picture on the left was taken. Paige is sitting with her cousin Leah and Uncle Dave.
On the right Paige is enjoying the attention of her 2 brothers Andy and Nick.
I have lots of birthday pictures and here is another on the left. The years just kept flying by and we didn't even realize that she was growing up so fast!!
Another cute pose on the right!!! It appears that Paige was a little bit of a ham when it came to taking pictures.
Doesn't the picture on the left make you giggle?? This is one of my favorite pictures of Paige. It was taken at our house. She is laying inside the blow up floating raft that is stored standing on its side in our shed at the lake.
On the right is a picture of Paige opening her birthday gifts with the help of her brother, Andy, and with Mom looking on. This party was at Sandie and Roy's on the deck.
I love the pose and the cute 'almost angelic' face of Paige's picture on the left. It was difficult to choose pictures for this book; I had many cute ones.
On the right... Do we have another musician in the family?? I don't think her drum phase lasted very long, but it looks like she is having a good time here.
Both of these pictures are taken at our house.
Paige loved going into the hot tub!! On this particular day she must have been the only one who wanted to go in. Her cousin Leah is looking on.
On the right Paige is blowing out candles on her birthday cake. Look closely at the side of the cake and you can see where Paige ran her finger through the frosting to sneak a taste. She LOVED sugary food!!!
These 2 pages show Paige with her 2 cousins Leah and Cara... she idolized them.
On the left Paige is riding on a 4-wheeler with Leah at one of the birthday celebrations at Rita's house.
On the right Paige is sitting with Cara and Leah. I think this picture was taken at Sandie and Roy's during Christmas.
On the left is one of Paige's grade school pictures. I think I have one from most of her years in grade school. I wish I would have written the grade or her age on the back of them because I don't remember how old she is in this picture.
On the right is a really cute picture of Paige and her sister, Alexa, dressed as ballerinas. This is before Alivia came along.
On the left is a picture of Paige with her 2 younger, much younger, sisters. Her 'little' sisters adore her. One teenager and 2 babies... I don't know how my niece does it!
And on the right is a picture of Paige when she belonged to the cheer squad.
This is a picture of Paige when she went to Homecoming... I think. The dress and shoes are really cute and look great on her. The quality of the picture isn't so great. I think the picture was taken with a cell phone. Those types of images are smaller than pictures taken from a camera and when I attempt to enlarge them with my photo program they get blurry.
I wish I could have seen her in person and taken a picture with a camera.
I used another picture of Paige in her party dress for the back cover and stamped a verse that I thought would be appropriate for a person her age. I think it is rough going to be tough to be a teenager these days and I wouldn't want to repeat that part of life again. She can use all the support we can give her.
The book is on it's way to Fargo, ND where Paige lives with her Dad. I packed it well and I hope it makes it to her without being damaged.
Happy 16th Birthday Paige!!!
I love you.... Aunt Chrissy
