Thursday, September 1, 2011

Perserve the Memories, But Keep Your Sanity cont...

As the days zips by into months and years, I have become a big advocate for journaling and reflecting. This is something any of us can do, but have been making a conscious effort to instill it in my children. I believe it helps build appreciation and is a wonderful indication of how much they are learning and growing while they may not see it at the time.

I gave up scrapbooking years ago, but admire moms that can put together these amazing books. It was not an enjoyable hobby for me, and have taken another route to capture this reflection. I also love that my kids are old enough to help with this.

One summer day for the past three years, I have taken an entire day to make each of them a photo book online. Yes, it does take me around 6 hours for three books. This includes downloading all of the pictures, figuring out how to use the new photo shop software and organizing the pictures with captions. I usually use whatever the photo special or deal is at that moment, but have used Snapfish, Mixbook and Picaboo. Reviews on those would be a whole other post, but these sites are becoming more user friendly each year.

In each book, I include each child's highlights from throughout the year. First day of school, birthday, Halloween Costume, Christmas with "the" coveted item, and anything else special they did throughout the year. For example this year was Megan's first year of Academy soccer, Lucy's Tae Kwan Do and Max's first year of preschool, making friends and Bible School.

I also include a few vacation pictures and anything else memorable. At the end of the photo books, I leave several blank pages where they write about their favorite memories. This year Max dedicated quite the space to our new puppy, Duke, Megan wanted to do things she has learned and series of books read. Lucy wanted to write about her inventions and ideas.

They have turned out so amazing. I love how they capture the "given" highlights, but also what they feel is important.

No comments: