Mighty Mommy : Preserving Family Memories :: Quick and Dirty Tips ?

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by Cheryl Butler

Before I had my family, I vowed I would never be one of those mothers who didn?t stay on top of my precious kids' photos, art projects, and notable milestones. ?Eight kids later, I humbly wave my white flag and eat those words.

Because most of us live extremely busy lives, we don?t always have time to dutifully record the milestones our kids reach. Here are some easy ways to preserve your family?s memories without investing an exorbitant amount of time or money:

Create a Memory Box

A memory box is one of the simplest ways to keep track of all the sweet, funny, poignant, remarkable, and everything-else-in-between memories and milestones of your child. All you need is a large index card box, some dividers and 365 4 X 6 index cards. ?Label the months of the year on the dividers and then divide the index cards so you have approximately 30 per section.

Keep the box in a convenient place such as in your kitchen and whenever something notable happens, simply write the date and year and a one or two line description of what happened on one of the index cards. At the end of the month move the cards to the back of the box so you?ll always have a fresh card waiting when a new memory occurs. ?

The idea is that over the years, we'll have cards filled with memories and at a glance will be able to see the fun and memorable things that happened on that date.

Create Digital Scrapbooks

Collect all your shoeboxes and Tupperware bins of loose and disorganized photos and create a digital scrapbook. Digitally scan old prints and then save them onto CDs or DVDs or an external hard drive. There are dozens of online scrapbooking sites that you can use like Shutterfly and Smilebooks who will create a hard cover photo book for under $30.

Record Your Kids'?Voices

Invest in a tape recorder that you can use to record family birthday parties, or after school conversations, your newborn?s cries and coos, or a grandparent reading a book to your child. ?These recordings may not mean much now, but 15 ? 20 years down the road, you will be so grateful to have captured those slices of time when your kids were so young.

Want more of Mighty Mommy's practical parenting tips? Check out mightymommy.quickanddirtytips.com.

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Source: http://mightymommy.quickanddirtytips.com/preserving-family-memories.aspx

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