Another Christmas has passed and we are days away from another new year. How fast did that go? January 1st is always the start of new beginnings; a time to wipe the slate clean and start anew. Everyone makes resolutions and I am no different — I want to dedicate 2015 to memory keeping. As our days speed up I feel time rushing by me often, especially as I see how fast my children are growing and changing. This time last year Juliet was still a swaddled little baby, and now she is racing around the house chasing Drake! What a difference a year can make. I have become more conscious of that recently, so my resolution this year is to find ways to preserve some of these memories of ours throughout the next year as best as I can.  So far these are my goals and I hope at year’s end I will be pleased with a year’s worth of work.

Project 365 – In my photography journey I have often heard about 365 projects. With a snapshot a day, you have 365 days worth of photos to capture in that year. I have started up a free blog on WordPress and am trying to get it ready for January 1st when I can begin this new project. I have seen multiple variations of this project from shooting only in black and white for a year, to shooting only details, etc. Truly you can make it your own, breaking it up into days or even weeks (Project 52) and creating themes and different goals for shooting. In photography they say the best way to improve is just to shoot more, so this goal is twofold for me as I hope to preserve my years while also growing my photography.

Letters to my children – This is also a popular project in the photography community combining words with photos. Before Drake or Juliet were born I used to write them letters and I still do from time to time, but it’s hard to find time especially since I use to hand write all their notes. I’m hoping with the new blog I can write each of them a letter a month and add that into my blog. It’s less pressure to only write one per month, and typing will make it easier and quicker, making it more likely I will be able to complete it.

Q&A a Day for Kids: a Three Year Journal – Bee blogged about this book a while ago and I loved the idea. Drake is at a great age right now where he can talk and express himself while still adding in the spontaneity and innocence created inside a child’s mind. Asking and writing down one question a night seems fairly easy and fun. We can do it during dinner or before bed time, and I can’t wait to see how the answers change over the years. I want to do this with Juliet as well when she is around his age, but for now this will be something just for Drake.

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Journal – I was gifted a lovely little journal from my SIL this Christmas, and I figure what better way to use it than to write down a little line every night about Juliet. Since I can’t ask her questions the way I can for Drake, this is a way to preserve her year through her actions and funny anecdotes. I mainly want to do this because I don’t want for her to feel left out when she is older, and I hope it will get me in the habit of doing these things when she is older and can answer questions, it will be second nature to fill out two books per night.

Time Capsule – I really liked Bee’s time capsule ornament idea she did for Charlie’s recent birthday. A time capsule seems like a neat project to do with Drake as a way to preserve his 4 year old self in some ways. I have looked at some different ideas on Pinterest and am still trying to work out what would be best to do. I like this vacation Mason jar idea the best and think maybe I could do that for Drake for all the special events in in his life in 2015 (birthday, vacations, Halloween, etc). I don’t think I want to make a ton of capsules because over time that might take up too much space if we don’t actually bury them, but a few to put on some shelves in his room seem like a cute idea. I love the idea of adding interview questions to see how much he changes as he grows.

Drawing Journal – Drake is my little artist so this idea is right up his alley. He does so many wonderful pictures and we have them scattered all over the house and stored on our phones and computers. This would be a great way to keep all his drawings from one year all together to see his progress, his interests etc. The link suggests the child draw their favorite part of the day and then say something about it, but Drake right now has strong opinions on what he likes to draw so I might just let him draw as he pleases for now. If this works successfully I might try to direct him more when he is a bit older, but for now I would love to have a year of pictures to cherish.