keeping up with the photos

You have all been there, trying to keep your photos organized. It starts with the baby book and trying to capture the key moments...first smile, first steps, first tooth and then just gets worse. Today many people don't print photos at all. The create a file system online and then "storybooks" that can be played, like the kind you see at weddings. On the other side of the photo universe is scrapbooking. Not only do these moms or dads print photos, they creat theme pages around them to document in style.

I guess I am in the middle. I have used Snapfish.com since Ben was born. For me it is the "do all" photo system. First it is an extra "storage" of all my photos, should my computer hard drive crash and burn one day. Second, it is a way to easily share my photos. Yes there is facebook now, but not all "generations" and people are on Facebook. I like being able to send my photos to those that I know care. A select group of people on my address book that want to see my family grow. Third you can easily make gifts. Snapfish has saved me on Father's day and other holidays, a nice golf towel with the grandkids go a long way.

For the past few days I have uploaded all of our photos since last October, so yes almost an entire year. Arnie was great about uploading the pics to the PC, but he doesn't go the next step to snapfish. So that was my to do list. This past weekend I did a bunch and ordered them, they were delivered today (I do it in bulk thinking it is cheaper on shipping , but not sure that is the case). I sorted them by child (I order three of a pic if all three are in it, if you have a better system let me know), got their albums out and then realized "I am missing Christmas from last year."

I just didn't think I was that far behind, my mistake. I totally should have looked at the last photos in each album. So tonight I uploaded the photos I was missing. It was actually nice to look back again at Arnie and my trip to Argentina in January. We really have to do that more often. I had to go for work and we decided to go down 5 days early to see the country. With my business travel I really don't see the country. I try to limit my time away knowing Arnie is home with the kids alone. So a week in India is all work and no Taj Mahal. When Arnie was with me and I knew my kids were loving being with Grandma and Grandpa it felt okay to take a mini-vacation. Maybe next trip...

So, I am now almost caught up. The shipment should arrive in a few days and I will sort the next 280 photos (on top of the 450 I just got). We will again have fun looking through them (the kids love it) and I will finally put them away. Then in six months I will start all over again.

Again, if there is a better way please let me know.