our news

I mentioned we had some news that we shared with our friends in our new years card (and a special thank you to our patient friends and family who actually sat down and de-coded the card!). We wanted to share our big news with my parents and our children Bee and C on Christmas morning, so we decided to tell everyone all at once.

I offered to help my parents with their Christmas card this year and decided to do a Family Tree showing how our family is growing (there were 3 new babies in 2009). My parents have six children (I'm the fourth) and between my siblings and I there are 14 grandchildren. While I had everyone together this summer for our annual family reunion, I asked each person to stand against a wall so I could take their photo (mug shot style, with a sideways profile..).  Later I traced the photos in Illustrator to make silhouettes of each person in our family. The result was a family tree chart that we printed on 10x14 sheets of paper and folded in fours and mailed out as Christmas cards.

For a gift to my parents I printed a large poster size version, framed it in a simple black frame, and wrapped it up for them to open Christmas morning. My mom unwrapped the gift with Bee and C sitting next to her. Immediately Bee and C wanted to know where they were in the chart, so my mom pointed to their silhouettes. And that's when she realized that this chart had a new addition (fourth row).

A new little baby for our family. It was perfect. My mom screamed, and the children literally jumped for joy (they've been asking for a baby for over a year now). It might be the happiest Christmas morning ever.

Comments

[Hamptontoes]

Congratulations on your pregnancy! You family tree is so clever...I absolutely love what you have done.

[elissa]

Wow. That is fantastic.

[Sammi]

Congratulations Brooke, sounds like a beautiful way to break the news :o)

[erin]

that's the best kind of news! congrats to you and yours, brooke.

[BeachMama]

Congratulations Brooke! What a fun gift and a fun way to share your news.

[plaisirs simples]

this is SO cute and creative!!! congrats!!

[Lynne]

so wonderful!!! hope you are feeling good!

[Trang]

I love it! This idea is so great! Congratulations to you & your family!

[Doris]

Congratulations! Such wonderful news. Hope you are feeling well!

[julie]

congrats! such a fabulous way to announce the great news!

[judy]

i think you are one of the most thoughtful and creative persons i've ever "known." thanks for sharing your ideas and this great news so that we can all rejoice with you!

[handmadecharlotte]

amazing....congrats on the baby and the poster is beautiful.

[Nina]

Congratulations!

[jen jafarzadeh]

wow, congrats!! what an amazingly clever way to break the news.

[amy]

wonderful!! beautiful!!

[Gemma]

Could you please explain how you did the silhouettes? Coincidentally I want to design a shirt hat uses a silhouette in it fir my graphic design class. Love and Joy. Xxx.

[Courtney]

Congratulations!
Welcome to the world of three. (It's really not much more difficult than two, I find. And SO fun!)
I love the family tree.
xoxo Courtney (from Babyccino Kids)

[Sherisa (L'élephant Rose)]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Such a super clever way to announce your newest bundle! :)

[laura]

umm i love this! i wish i was this creative. :) and of course congratulations. :)

[Meanders]

I thought that's what your decoder said, based on the number of letters in each word! I guessed "New baby in (a month with 4 letters--June? July?)" Congratulations! And as a mom of 3 (10, 4 and almost 2) it is a lot of fun. I hope you still have time for creativity, and of course the kids eat that up.

I love the silhouette card. Your relatives must look forward to your cards, but I hope your family isn't competitive! How to follow??!!