For your family albums

At playgroup this morning, we were talking about how diligent we were with keeping up with the kids' baby books, photo albums, etc (And we weren't as dilligent as we'd all liked to have been :). We joked about how accurate we were with the first child's stats (I'm sure I had Lucy's first steps documented to the nearest tenth of a second (not really :) and how with the younger children, we're lucky if we knew what month it happened in.

I love making the kids' and our family's annual photo books on Shutterfly, and Elaine was asking me what kinds of things I documented and journaled about. So, here's some things you could think about documenting in baby books, family albums, etc.

I'm just going to list in random order, because I just don't have enough time to organize it sequentially :) Some of these I've used before, but I'm sure I'll think of some new things as I do this, so I'm excited to devote some thinking to this! :)

Kid stuff:

-first steps

-first food (include likes and dislikes)

-birth story (might want to note your doctor's name, where you delivered etc.)

-who came to visit at the hospital

-anything unusual (e.g. abnormally hot or cold temps for when you went home)

-what news stories were making news

-first words

-write down mispronounciations of words your toddler says and what they're trying to say (it'll be even more adorable years down the road :)

-document what they were for Halloween

-what kind of preschool they're in, their teacher(s), favorite things about school.

-who are their best friends? (write first and last names b/c those will be the details you might forget when you're looking back at the album two decades from now :)

-favorite things to play?

-favorite activity?

-quirks

-strenghts and weaknesses

-personality traits

-funny phrases that are unique to them (When Jack was first learning how to talk, if you were trying to be silly and he didn't like it, he'd shout, "No funny!" over and over. THat kind of thing...)

-favorite toys

-kids hobbies

-anything they're attached to?

-what was on the Santa list

-holiday parties (afraid of easter bunny, santa, etc?)

-Each birthday, ask your child these same questions and enjoy seeing how their answers change yearly.

Family:

-mom and dad working positions

-hobbies parents/ family is involved in

-what regular activities do you do?

-vacations (document things you might easily forget, like, the kids' favorite activity to play on the beach, favorite part about where you stayed; best and worst part of the vacation, did you travel with anyone?

-holidays (take a picture of the table set for Christmas dinner, for example; write about what you ate for a special meal. any traditions your family started? why?

-document any moves,

-take before and after pics of any house projects

-as husband and wife, journal about how your marriage has changed in "x" amount of years.

-personal goals for the future?

-family goals?

-church involvement (e.g. leading a kids small group, volunteering in the nursery)

-major news events and if/how they affected you.

-best and worst times from the past year (I wrote about Toby's diagnosis of bone cancer, for ex.)

-extended family members that were born or passed away

-you could have fun and make a list of "best & worst decisions" we made this year. :)

Most importantly, just have fun and include more details than you think you should. I already look back at albums from two or maybe just three years ago and think, "Oh yeah! I forgot about that, and I'm so glad I can relive it :) Oh yeah, and don't stress about it! And if you've forgotten something...just make it up! LOL!

Here's a link to my Shutterfly page where you can view the annual album for 2011 that I just made.

The father's day albums are one of my favorite traditions!

Here's all of the ones I've made (and if you actually view these, you have way too much time on your hands :p)

Don't know what to do with all your kid's artwork from school? Be sure to check out the Kids' Art Projects album. It's a great, super TIDY way to keep track of all their artwork!

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck