Confessions of a scrapbook addict

I need to have some sort of creative outlet at all times and lately... it's the kids' scrapbooks. As much as I enjoy doing them though, I do need to use a few tricks to keep caught up and not get overwhelmed by them... because maintaining two books, well, it's twice the work of maintaining one. These days, Liam's book is more about experiences and places we go, with an occasional quirk or funny saying of his thrown in, and Mallory's is more about firsts; but those areas definitely overlap. Take, for instance, our recent trip to the pumpkin patch. For Liam, that was a bona fide event: And for Mallory, it was a definite first (let's not talk about the guilt that comes from having enough photos of Liam to do a 2-page spread, but only enough of Mal for 1, and even then only by using one of Liam as a filler!): My favourite trick to keep caught up is to plagiarize myself. When I find a layout that works, I copy it. Case in point: I did the pumpkin patch page for Mallory first... then swapped out the photos, changed the text and boom - suddenly it's a page about Liam's trip to the cornfield maze. Gotta love digital!!Mallory's cornfield maze experience did not warrant a page, poor girl, but then again... Liam doesn't have pages devoted just to him wearing a super cute hair clip, so I figure it's all a wash. The problems surface when the firsts overlap with the events. Where does this page from Thanksgiving go, assuming I don't cave and print one for each kid, which seems kind of excessive? I'm thinking maybe Mallory, since it was her first Thanksgiving and her baptism, but still... the pages aren't exclusively hers, yaknow?

I'm thinking that, after Mallory's first year, I will do a combined family album of some sort... maybe maintain a book for each kiddo for their specific, individual stuff, but then when we have a field trip or 'event'... there's one page for it. For both kids. No more of this doubling up business.

Although Chad is generally a good sport about the time I spend scrapbooking, the supplies that pile up and the neverending quest for the perfect photo... I am sure he'll be thrilled to catch wind of future plans to scale back.