10 Easy ways to capture & document your children's younger years

Time goes by so crazy fast. It's the very first thing people always say to you after you have babes! I'm actually starting to believe this cliche because dang-it it's true.

Wasn't it just yesterday when I took this picture of you laughing while your little sister slobbered on your almost 4 yr old shoulder? Now in a few weeks you will be six! Wuh? And Ruby, my cute little alien baby is now a toddler who is talking and saying funny things like "porn" for popcorn. You make me laugh from my belly. Goes to show my deep level of maturity.

Of course I've always been concerned about a) embracing the little moments with my children b) capturing or documenting those special moments and c) somehow organizing/displaying them in such a way that we can look back on them for years to come. If your a mommy then chances are you have probably been in the same dilema delama lama. How in the world do I have time to take all these photos let alone do anything with them????? Chances are you already are documenting whether it is your facebook albums, instagram, or a blog but here are a few things I'm finding that work and some that I want to try!

1)CREATE A BOOK FOR EACH YEAR

Right after Nevaeh was born, I stumbled upon shutterfly.com. Dream come true. To summarize it's basically scrapbooking but online. Since most pics are digital these days it really works great.

FRONT COVERS: There are a variety to choose from but I'm a huge fan of the leather bound ones.

Each book I start out with their ages (you can also see Ruby's books which are not yet printed and are red leather bound).

I made a decision to create one for each year for each of my girlies. After you upload your photos you can use their formats and backgrounds or create your own by choosing different templates. They have made some recent changes to offer more flexibility for creativity with layering and adding graphics and embellishments (If you peaked at Ruby's books on shutterfly then you can see some examples).

INSIDE PAGES

 LAST PAGE- I always end the last page with memories we created throughout the year & events

Another upside is you can do it on your own time frame. Forgot to do it for 6 months? Towards the end of the year you can kick into gear and chronologically organize the things that stand out....the things that you want them to remember.

2)A COLLECTION OF LETTERS

After each baby dedication at our church, the child is given a letter that was written personally to them that they are to open when they are 16. Seriously. How cool is this?

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 What about asking grandparents and family to write letters? It could be yearly at each birthday or even a one time thing. Then hold onto all of the letters until they are old enough.

3)JOURNAL TO YOUR CHILD

It seemed somewhat awkward at first but I started writing to each of my kiddos even before they were born. Memories, advice, words they first spoke, and family traditions. This helps tremendously to go back when creating online books as it's easy to forget when things actually happened isn't it?

THE MILESTONES

THE DOODLES- YOURS
MINE

HEART TO HEART

 KEEPING IT REAL

DADDY CAMEO

LIST OF MEMORIES AT EACH AGE

4)HOPE CHEST

We have one hope chest for each of the girls which will someday store special keepsakes. For now, one is being used for toys and the other for display. I've tried to be conscious to hold onto memorabilia from significant life events throughout the years. So after special outings I try to tuck away these little items until they are older. As of late, they have been in a shoe box. It was overflowing, disorganized and stuffed with special tickets, cards, misc pics, and small drawings.

Instead, I found this chic box to store keepsakes in instead. After all, Nevaeh's fave color right now is blue.

 

 Even Mr. Samurai in our book shelve is a fan.

Can't wait to get a red one for Ruby and a tan one for John and I. It beats shoe boxes in our closet!

5)BIRTHDAY QUESTIONNAIRES

This awesome mama has her child answer questions on every birthday. She even offers free printables on her blog here. Can you imagine how drastically different these answers will change SOOOO from year to year? What a great thing to look back on together.

6)FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL PHOTO

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Love this idea from MissZoot of taking a pic of your kids each year on the first day of school and putting some of their favorite things along the side. You can add their name, age, and grade if you are a label die-hard. I gave it a try...next year perhaps a backdrop minus the brown grass.

7)HAVE YOUR CHILD KEEP A "DIARY"

They can doodle, practice letters, and express feelings.

 AND more crucially write about boys- At any age.

It's neat to see their progression especially when they start to read on their own. For now I'm just thankful I get to READ my daughter's diary. The key words are for now.

8)ORGANIZING ARTWORK

How is it that kids have SO many projects? Of course we want to keep them ALL. When totes got to be too full, we decided to scan some of their drawings and format them to fit into frames. You can read about the process here.

Or how about compiling their prized artwork into a beautiful book of art like this mother did? These types of books keep their masterpieces altogether and are a great display piece for any coffee table.

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9)MEMORY SHADOW BOXES

Ashley Campbell used Alphabet Frames as a way of displaying a family trip complete with sand and their plane tickets. Super fun and clever.

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10)GET THEIR TEACHERS INVOLVED
In the pinterest world, I came across this clever tradition. Basically, you take a book (Oh, the places you'll go was recommended) at the end of each year, have their teacher secretly write a little note to your child and sign it. When they graduate they will have words of wisdom from all of their mentors. What an incredible gift!

Image via Barnes & Nobles

Next week is the last day of Kindergarten and now what will be the beginning to our soon to be adapted tradition. No matter what their age, it's never too late to start.