A Gift to last a Lifetime

Our good friends had their baby boy last week, so this picture of the week is purely for cuteness sake…

But it did get me thinking about album ideas that are often talked about but rarely created, that are perfect for babies, toddlers and early readers. I’m talking about an ABC album or a Nursery Rhyme/Literacy album.

My oldest daughter and I made an ABC album when she was 4-1/2, her first foray into the world of scrapbooking. These albums are so easy, educational and best of all, use up all of those “extra” photos that you don’t know what to do with! We had a picture of an elephant that we had taken long ago on a zoo visit, and put it on the “E” page. We put an extra picture of one of the kids napping and put it under “S” for sleep. A picture of my daughter at a party with a ladybug painted on her hand made it on the “L” page.

These are all pictures that didn’t make it into other albums for whatever reason, some were duplicates and some just didn’t find a home. But here they made sense and my daughter and I had a great time picking them out and deciding what page they should go on.

I also read about a Creative Memories Consultant/Pre-School Director who made a songbook album filled with photos of her children as well as nursery rhymes and children’s songs. Think of the pages you can make using “Wheels on the Bus,” or “Patty Cake!”

Both of these albums can help children develop skills they need for reading. What a great gift - for a child, grandchild, niece, nephew, friend or any new baby - that will promote lifelong learning.

How Do I Love You?

I read this article in my "Lasting Moments" magazine and thought it was a great story to share. It was written by Creative Memories Consultant Kim Hicks:

"I created a small album for my daughter Paige when she was about 4-years old titled "How Do I Love You?" It was filled with photos of her at different ages and notes I had written about what made me love her. I made it for her right before giving birth to a new baby. I wanted her to have something tangible to remind her that this new baby wouldn't take away my love for her. But I wouldn't realize the real value of that album until much later.

"When Paige was 10 years old, I noticed the album was missing from the shelf where we kept it. I found it on her bed, tucked under her pillow. I was curious about why she was keeping it there. That night, I sat on the side of her bed and told her that I had found the album and asked her why it was under her pillow. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she told me that a group of girls at school had been telling her that she was ugly and stupid and not welcome to be their friend. As you can imagine, this was crushing for a mother to hear. This little girl is brilliant, spunky, talented and beautiful. But most of all, this little girl is gentle and kind to everyone.

"My heart ached to learn that her heart had been broken. And then she told me she knew what they were saying wasn't true but that it hurt so much she was having a hard time keeping that in mind. At night, she would lie in her bed and cry. Then she said, 'Right before I try to go to sleep, I look at the pages and read what you said about me. It helps me remember that someone really loves me and that there isn't anything wrong with me. Then I know that I'm really not all the things they say about me, and I can go to sleep without crying.'

"Up until that night, I had been unaware of her personal struggle. Had I never found the album, I'm sure I would never have known. And if I had never created the album, I'm sure the outcome would have been quite a different story."

In honor of this story, here are two pictures from the beach this weekend, coupled with ideas to turn this story into your own album:


I Love YOU because:
* You're sensitive and sweet
* You love rainbows, hearts, butterflies and flowers
* You kiss your sister good-bye when you leave for school... and if she's still sleeping you tell me to tell her to have a good day
* You dance when you're happy
* Even though you're only 7, you want to make ME happy
* When your cousin was in basic training, you didn't know what it meant, but were worried enough to pray for him every night.
* You hear God.


I Love YOU because:
* You worry the animals in the pet store are lonely
* You love making us all laugh
* We have no idea that you're learning something... until one day when you just spring your new knowledge on us
* You have buckets of stuffed animals, but that's still always what you ask for
* Despite medical issues, you take multiple medications without complaint
* You don't complain that your sister is older and gets to do things before you (...yet)
* You talk to animals... and listen, too.

How do you love yours?

Dad and Nomad

Two Pictures this week:

My oldest daughter's school had their first annual "Father/Daughter" dance last weekend - a formal affair that was perfect for Valentine's Day. They decided to bring little sister along, too, although she only lasted through dinner and one or two dances before she wanted mommy to come pick her up. No worries, the other two stayed and closed down the joint, dancing to the likes of "YMCA" and "Celebration". The round tables had linens and the chairs had bows, they had a spaghetti dinner and a picture booth. Everyone had a great time! This is a picture of all three of them before they left for the dance.


My youngest daughter got a turn with "Nomad" last week, a "cat" from preschool that you take home, play with and take on adventures - and then write a story about him to take to school. We were also encouraged to take pictures to include with the story in the "Nomad journal". Those who know my daughter know her obsession with all animals (especially kitties) and so this was quite a treat, she and Nomad were hardly separated the whole time he was visiting. Here they are cuddling on the couch.

So the thing these two pictures have in common, is that they will both go in their school albums. Everyone does their school albums differently, I put only school activities in each of the girls' albums. So each album starts with her school picture, then class picture, then pictures of anything from school that I captured during the year: Halloween party, jog-a-thon, field trip, or school function. I have friends who use their school album for "school age", anything including birthday parties and city sports is included with the school activities - both ways are fine! I use it also to record all the pertinent information, teacher's name, friends in her class, etc. Each school year only has 8-10 pages, depending again on what I have taken pictures of and it will be interesting to see as they get older if that increases or decreases per year.

I do know that I'm visiting both classes this week to take pictures of Valentine's parties... don't forget your camera tomorrow!

Sister Twister

Picture of the week:


This is a funny picture of my daughters playing Twister, the first time they've played the game. My husband was visiting a friend and brought the girls along and they immediately connected with the kids that lived there. The friend's wife took the picture and e-mailed it to us. How fun for me to see them play, since I wasn't there!

So besides it being great for me to see my kids play Twister, what else could I do with this picture? I'll probably put it in their "Sisters Album", an album I've mentioned before in my blog. It's where I put a lot of the pictures of the two of them, that don't really seem to fit anywhere else. This is a very low-maintenance album, it started when my youngest was a baby and every year I just add maybe 20 more pictures or so, about three pictures per page. I don't journal in this album, I just put the month and year the picture was taken and mount it on colored paper. I bought a book with poems and special sayings about sisters, which I put on each page as a header. It's simple, but very cute.

I know it seems like I work on a lot of albums, which seems like, frankly, a lot of work. But after talking with one of my customers last week, I'm realizing there are some advantages to working on albums as "themes" vs. chronologically. If you get behind on albums when you're working chronologically, you can be years and years behind, which seems overwhelming to catch up. But theme albums take a lot less time to "catch up", because there are less pictures. If you working on a "school album" all you have to do is add school pictures - and if nothing else it's a mind game, you can tell yourself you're caught up on at least one album... you're not so far behind any more! Also, I can pick and choose what I want to work on. It's not so much of an overwhelming chore when I can pick what I want to work on instead of looking at ALL pictures of 2002 and thinking I have to get them all in a book right away.

If you have a picture or album idea to share, e-mail it to me and I'll post it on the blog!