Memory Lane Activity

Visit your local art, stationery or photography store to pick up a photo album (or three). Decide what kind of album you want. You can choose from scrapbook-style books, magnetic-style albums or the kind with the plastic pockets. You can spend anywhere from under 10 dollars to a couple hundred dollars (and that'd better be one nice album).

Photo albums with plastic pockets are the easiest to work with. Just slip the photos in and you're done. The downside of these albums is you can't get creative with your page layout and the pictures can tend to slip out of the pockets—which is very annoying after you spent all weekend putting the pictures in a specific order!

Magnetic-style albums are easy to work with, as well. Plus, young kids have a hard time pulling photos out of them once they've put them in, which is great if you have a toddler. You'll rest assured knowing all of your hard work won't be instantly undone (like when you fold the laundry and it ends up scattered around the floor within seconds). The downside of these albums is that the adhesive can stain your pics over time. So this type of album isn't ideal if you plan on keeping the album forever.

Scrapbook-style albums leave the most room for creativity, but they're the most high-maintenance. You can write on them, draw in them, add birth announcements, mementos, your kid's lock of hair ... You can also usually add pages to these photo albums. The downside is they are much more time-consuming to work with because you have to stick everything in with photo corners or tape. If you opt for this kind of album, make sure the paper is high-quality, non-acidic, lignin-free and made of cotton or wood pulp. Also, try to use photo corners made especially for photographs. Don't mount your pics with white glue, rubber cement, pressure-sensitive tapes, staples or a hot glue gun, as they all age poorly and can physically damage and/or discolor your photographs.

When you get your albums home, clear off the coffee table and pull all of your stacks of photos out of the closet.(Or print them if you've yet to even get that far.)

Have your kid help you organize the photos in chronological order. All of the pregnancy photos in one pile, newborn pics in another, first birthday shots in a third, etc.

Then have your kid help you edit the photos to see which ones make the cut.

Once you and your kid have selected the winning images, pull out the album and do a dry run. Before you go sticking the photos in, make sure there are enough pages to fit all of the pictures you've chosen. You don't want to get to the end of the album with a stack of 50 photos yet to be added.

Then have him help you stick or mount the pictures into the albums.

When you're finished, spend some time flipping through the finished albums with the rest of the family.

Next weekend, break out the wedding photos!