Capturing Moments, Resolved

Written by KT @ One Organic Mama, Contributing Writer

So I strive, each year, to create a book of photos of my family.  I take thousands (seriously) of pictures, and my 5 and 2 year old would never see them if I never printed them out and looked at them – so I started making one photo book a year.  They love to sit down with them and talk about our friends and family.  I love that they can enjoy the many pictures I take.

I wanted to add a new touch to my 2015 photo book.  I always narrate it with the happenings of each month – which are easy to remember since there are so many pictures – but I wanted to capture my kids as they are – freeze them at their ages.

So… I resolved to do just that in 2015!

I have a plethora of Ball jars… who doesn’t right?!  I picked the 3 biggest ones I have… You know the ones that would allow you to pickle an entire zucchini, to put on the windowsill in the kitchen.  Since I am not pickling anything today (its -10 with the windchill in MA) I figured I won’t miss the jars.  So here is how I set them up:

Capturing Moments with Jars:

Jar 1

Jar 1 will collect memories.  Fun, silly, sad, happy, memories from 2015.   You know – like the day my 5 year old came off the bus ECSTATIC that he got the surprise bag (show and tell bag) for tomorrow! OR the day my 2 year old came to terms with the fact that there is definitely a baby in mommy’s belly, and definitely NOT one in his 🙂 Each memory will be dated.  Each month I will devote a page of our photo book to those memories.

Jar 2:

Jar 2 will collect quotes.  Not quotes from me… I don’t want to remember most of what I say… but quotes from the kids… and my nephews too 🙂 Quotes like, “Mom, does 1,000 come after 129?” or “Mom, can you please make the baby in your belly a sister?”  Each quote will be dated.  Quotes will then go right on column two of our memory page in the photo book for each month. 

Jar 3:

Jar 3 is for making memories!  Jar 3 gets spare change and money from the year.  I have to admit – I am a terrible saver – BUT – I have disciplined myself to get rid of change and leftover money from each week into the jar.  Additionally – any gift money (from Christmas, anniversaries, or Birthdays goes into the jar too).  Basically, any money that we won’t miss (money left over from weekly groceries, or found in the car, etc) will get put into the jar.  Come vacation time – we will use the money collected throughout the year.  Our vacation is always such a treasured memory making time and this savings plan makes it easier to enjoy. 

I put a basket filled with strips of paper and a marker next to the jars – so it is easy to jot down our happenings each day.  Also… I hope by the end of the year – my 5 year old will be able to contribute some memories too!!   I love making the photo books to enjoy with the kids – and I think this touch will really help me to remember how they were in 2015!!

How do you capture and enjoy your memories as the years go by?