I've never been particularly great at keeping memories. I blogged about it a few weeks ago when I was looking at my memory box of pictures and outfits from when the boys came home from the hospital. 

Every year I include something in my resolutions that has to do with taking more pictures, organizing pictures, making memory albums, etc.  But like most other resolutions it usually doesn't happen.  

One year I actually made a digital photo book of the year, with a two-page spread representing every month, along with notes about what we did that month. It's wonderful. It still sits on my end table. I vowed to do it ever year.

I've never done it again.

I suck.

I've come to a point in my life where I have started to learn to work with who I am rather than try to make changes. And apparently I am not a scrapbooker.

But I want to make sure that I keep memories of my kids' childhood, in some way shape or form.

I think I may have found a good/creative way.

Earlier this week, my PittsbughMom Carpool Lane blogger, Joline, recommended a book she found at Marshals. I googled it and could get it from Amazon.  So i ordered two. 

It's called Q&A a Day for Kids.  The book is a 3-year journal with a question for each day for the kids to answer.  

We started it tonight and I'm in love.The questions are simple, ranging from "What are you excited about" to "What animal do you feel like right now".  Matthew is old enough to think critically and write a lot about each question. Ben is just learning to write so everything is spelled phonetically and it'll be so much fun to see how his answers and spelling changes next year.

I'd most definitely recommend it to anyone looking to do something unique with their kids as a keepsake.

So how do you "keep memories"?

Matthew has decided that he's too big for his room and his bunk bed. Instead he's been asking to sleep in our guest/computer room. We have a queen sized bed in there.  That means I've been spending much more time in this room than I ever have which has given me the opportunity to really look around. Hanging on the wall in that room is what I would consider to be one of my prized possessions. If my house were ever to be on fire, it's one of the things I would grab first (after kids and pets, of course)

It's a simple shadow box. But what's in it is what I value. When each of my kids were born I brought them home in the same fuzzy blanket that was made for me by a dear friend.  We used that blanket to snuggle them both when they were itty bitty. While snuggled in that blanket, I had the standard photo taken by the front door of Magee as I was leaving the hospital. 

In that shadow box is the blanket, the two photos and the two outfits that my boys wore coming home from the hospital. I don't know what made me think to do it (probably whatever we used for before Pinterest) but I'm so glad I did.

I generally suffer from a lack of time for memory projects. I have thousands of photos which all sit nicely in a box inj a closet or on my computer's hard drive.  I dream of vacation days that I would use to scrapbook but I never quite seem to make it happen. Matthew's baby book is filled out to page four, Ben doesn't even seem to have one (that I can find).  I know that  I will regret not taking the time to do more of these projects, but I just can't seem to make it happen.

But I have this shadow box. And I've been looking at it every night as I put Matthew to bed and reliving those wonderful days.  In fact, it was six years ago today that Ben was born (Happy Birthday Ben!) and I remember it like it was yesterday. 

What's your most prized possession?

I'm a worrier. I've always been one.  When I was a little girl I can remember worrying every time my parents would go out and leave us with a sitter.  I remember my mother telling me that my grandmother, too, was a worrier.

I try not to let my worry get in the way of my life, but sometimes, like this week, it's hard.

My mother had a small heart attack a few years ago and for a year after that I'd get worried to death every time my father's number showed up on my caller ID.

Every time there is an accident on a local road I'm terrified it's someone I know.

Every time my husband is home later than usual I'm scared.

Two weeks ago I followed behind an ambulance heading towards my kids' school. I got progressively more panicked as the miles went on and I followed him, turn for turn.  I finally let out  the breath I was holding when he turned down a different road.

I've always been able to calm my fears by assuring myself that I'm being irrational and everything is, of course, fine.

And then Sandy Hook happened. And I'm scared. I'm scared that no matter how safe we try to be and how much we try to project them sometimes bad things happen. And we are often powerless against them.

I think that the more I have invested in people, the more scared I get.  As the years wear on and I'm more and more in love with my children and my husband, the stakes just grow higher. I can't bear the thought of anything bad ever happening to them.  

I don't know how you make sense of something so senseless. and I don't know how to protect my babies. And that leaves me worried. More now than ever.

Like every parent, I want my kids to grow up to be happy, successful and charitable.  I not only want them to find whatever career path or lifestyle makes them most happy, but I want them to realize the important of spreading love and charity.

Throughout the years we've "dabbled" in charitable giving. We've donated our time to the local library, bought toys for Toys for Tots and planted flowers for Cub Scouts.

Last year, however, on a whim, a friend and I started a charity that has allowed us to really show our children the value of giving.

Play it Forward Pittsburgh is a gently used children's toy drive. We collect toys from area families for several weeks/months, then turn around and give them all out to families in need at a "shopping" day in December.  The idea started when I was cleaning out my children's playroom and wanted to give the unneeded toys to  a new family. Along with a good friend who had a lot of experience in raising money through charitable events, we decided to take our idea of giving gently used toys away to the internet. It was an instant hit and last year in the course of two weeks we collect 5,000 toys. I like that it allows my children to look through their own toys and decide what to keep and what to donate to a new little boy.

We started a bit earlier this year (October) and were able to collect over 20,000 toys! On Saturday we set up shop and gave them all away for free to area families that needed a little extra help this year. We gave toys to over 2,100 children.

What I love most about the toy drive, in addition to helping needy families, is the lesson it's teaching my kids. They now understand that we have more than we need and that some people don't. They see us working hard to give to others. They know it's possible and worthwhile to help others.

I was so impressed this year that so many volunteers brought their children. And they all said the same thing, that they wanted their kids to see it for themselves. To help, to give back. And the kids all seemed to "get it". Some were older than my kids, but some were younger. All of them were there for the same reason. To help people.

Many parents thanked me afterwards for giving them the opportunity to share this lesson with their kids.  I think it's important and I'm so glad they do as well. It warms my heart to know we are raising a generation of altruistic people.

What do you to to help teach your kids to help others?

Photo by Allie Wynands, Point Park News Service