Guilt...it's part of being a mother. There are so many things that we feel guilty about: things that we could have handled better, things we could have done with our kids but didn't, things we were too strict about that we could of eased up on, and things that we should have been more strict about. But there is one thing that I think we all struggle with and that is how to document this crazy life of ours with all our pictures. We take more pictures than ever before now that everything is digital. We download them to the computer and there they stay. Nothing happens to them. I have boxes and boxes of pictures in my scrapbooking room from years past that have never made it into albums. There are scrapbookers and non-scrapbookers in this world and both have guilt. The scrapbookers try to make these elaborate layouts for just a few pictures. A lot of time is spent on this and only a few pictures make it into the album. The non-scrapbookers feel guilty that they don't make these books for their children and that they put their pictures into traditional books.
One thing is the same about these two groups of people; they all have tons of photo boxes with pictures not in albums and tons of pictures locked in their computers.
Project Life is one of my new favorite things. I first came across it in January when a Facebook friend made a post about starting her 365 project...a picture a day. This intrigued me. But we were already into January and I thought to myself that I am already behind with my kids scrapbooks this would be in addition and I can't take on another project. Then months past and another friend told me about Becky Higgins' website. I watched her videos and loved her thought process.
It kind of falls in line with Gretchen Rubin's quote, "What we do everyday matters more than what we do once in a while." So I started taking pictures of our everyday: Shannon making pumpkin bread on a Friday afternoon, organizing our legos, place cards on our Thanksgiving table, and alligators in the bathtub. My thought process had started to change. I look at our day a little differently now.
The part that I like the most is the documenting with the journal cards. They take five minutes to do. As long as it takes to write a Facebook post. Sometimes they are short and sometimes there is a whole story that goes along with that picture and now I am documenting those memories. If you don't write them down...we will forget. I remember when Timmy was little he used to sing a Bruce Springsteen song and he heard the lyrics all wrong. I remember laughing to his version of the song. But now I forget "his" words. I should have written them down. Now I write those things down. Once a day or once a week if I get behind I go to my camera, see the pictures I took that week and write my journal cards. At the end of the month, I download my pics to Shutterfly and when they arrive, I slide them into place next to their journal card. It is so easy.
With my calendar and camera I can document our everyday life before it is forgotten.
My new album and colbalt core kit have arrived for 2012 and I am so excited to use her new products. All you need is an album, a core kit and the pocket sleeves.
Sometimes simplifying your life can enhance it tremendously.
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