With the gobs of birthday parties at my house these past couple months, I’ve got another thing to add to my “to-do” list. But, at least it’s something I enjoy doing and is very important to me! Every year, for my childrens birthdays, I write them a letter. I have this huge fear that my children might grow up not understanding their value and place in this world. It would also break my heart if they were to every question my love for them and how important they are in my life. So…I’m hoping they will value these letters I write to them and maybe do it for their own children too! Sometimes life gets in the way and we forget or just don’t tell our kids how important they are, so doing this is a great opportunity to do so!
Include in your letters:
– Your child’s current favorites: foods, shows, things to do, etc.
– Funny things that have happened throughout the year
– Big events/happenings (family or national)
– Insights on your child’s personality
– Special things about your child
– Express your love for them and your hopes for them
I have a folder for each of my children saved on my computer where I include all of their letters from me, their letter to Santa, gift ideas for them, etc. Besides saving their letters in the folder, I also like to have them printed off on the first page of their photo books. Photo books by Shutterfly, love them.
The days of scrapbooking are long gone…I’ve got no more time! And, digital scrapbooking is so easy! I just upload my pics to Shutterfly, drag and drop them into the photo book layouts. I can save them and add to them whenever I want. When I’m all done I submit it and it comes in the mail to me. They seem pricey at first but when you think of all the money you are saving on printing photos, purchasing a binder, purchasing paper, stickers, embellishments…it’s TONS cheaper!

I do one 12×12 book per kid, per year. Does that make sense? So, I have a book titled “Shane 0-12 mo.”, “Shane – 1 Year Old”, Shane – 2 Years Old”, etc. I also decided to color code them….all of Shane’s books have a green colored binder, Caden’s has blue, etc. (See pictures). And, as you can see…I also insert their letter from me on the first page. The greatest part is that I can make an entire book in just a few hours…that’s my kind of scrapbooking! These books are so cute and my kids love pulling them off the shelves to flip through them!
Be sure to make time for making memories and preserving them!

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