Memory Books

First, I would like to say "Bravo!" to all of you moms out there who scrapbook. I think the devotion you put into your work is meaningful and rewarding! Although the art of scrapbooking is amazing, the cost and time involved is more than I am able to invest. With all of the photos of my boys being digital, photo books have become a great option for me to capture all of their snapshots in one compact and adorable place. Plus, once you make one, it's easy to order extra copies for grandma and grandpa without any extra work! Many photo books also offer text options to add dates, names and descriptions. With these wonderful options at my fingertips I have made it a goal of mine to put together photo books for each of my boys this year.
We all have those stories of the silly, funny, sweet and sometimes embarrassing things that our children say. Every mom of grown children out there will tell you to write those things down because you'll forget them. When they would tell me this I remember thinking, "How could I possibly forget that?" And yet, here I am a couple years down the road, and I've already forgotten many of the things my witty 4 year old son has said. This brings me to my second goal this year of documenting these fun moments and phrases in writing. I got to thinking and the thought dawned on me, why don't I combine the two? How fun would it be to have all those sweet photos surrounded by those great stories and memories you have of them? Also, if you have a child in school (elementary or preschool) you can easily "preserve" their creative artwork and crafts by taking photographs of your favorites and putting them in your books as well. I still plan on keeping 2 or 3 things a year for each of my children to keep in their memory box, but taking photos of my other favorites allows me to hang on to them without taking up so much space. These years go by so fast! With the busyness of everyday life this is one of the best ways I know of to remember every little bit of their childhood adventure. So ladies, get your cameras and your pencils ready. Take a million pictures, document the date and all those fun moments in a notebook to match up later with photos, and then get to work on your memory books! Have fun!
P.S.-If you haven't heard of blurb.com, that's a great place to get started on a photo book! You can also make them at kodakgallery.com and snapfish.com along with many other sites.