Mama the Memory Keeper {Part 2}

Remember THIS post? It feels like forever ago--back when I used to keep the blog updated a bit more than just Liv's weekly photos and birthday parties. I feel like as soon as Miss Olivia turned ONE, I came out of a year-long fog of sorts. Suddenly, I had more energy to do more than just survive the days, and get the basics accomplished. It's probably a combination of sleep + a toddler who can now play with her older sister + just FINALLY getting the hang of things.

I knew before a lot of blogging could happen, I needed to catch up on our memory books. So here's an updated post on what I do to keep up with photos, memories and giving my girls a little piece of their story to keep.

I decided to essentially keep up with THREE ways to keep our memories/photos organized.

ONE:  Each kiddo gets a BIG First Year album. I made these with Shutterfly, and since they are HUGE, 90pages+, I bought them when there was a 30% off sale on top of a 40% off coupon code, with a  $10off coupon and free shipping too! They are 12x12 hardback. Looking back, I'm not sure why I didn't go with 10x10, but now my Grandma can easily read them.

I really like the Storybook themes on Shutterfly--very easy to use the same theme/elements (washi tape, Polaroid frames, etc) throughout and there are several cute layout ideas that help get me started. I worked on these after the girls were in bed, and let's face it, I don't sleep anyways.

TWO: Our Family Yearbook--I put all of our Instagram pictures (the daily snippets of our days) in an 8x12 hardback book, also made with Shutterfly.

I don't do much "scrapbooking" with these, which means it only takes me a couple days to put them together at the end of each year. I just use the same 4 or 5 layouts that use square photos and fill them in. I did decide to add the Instagram captions so we could tell what was going on at that time.

THREE: Memory Journals--hardback moleskine journals where we record all the memories. I usually date each entry and write down a funny thing the girls said that day, or a new skill they acquired. I keep a running list of things I want to record on my iPhone, and then spend an hour once every few months to write them all down. I'll give these to my girls when they move out--so they have all the little moments that made our lives so full of joy!

The other books I've made are quick coffee table books with each of the girls' weekly photo projects. I used Shutterfly for Hannah's, but tried Picaboo for Olivia's and was equally happy--and spent a LOT less! These are canvas covered 9x11's with a photo insert, and just have all the photos in large formats. I also made each of the girls a small book with all of the professional photos from their 1st birthday parties. Someday I'd like to catch up on all the hundreds of photos in my iPhoto that happened after their first year, before the next sibling--but that's what I'll do after their all grown up and I have a LOT more time--right?