Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Works For Me!

This week, I thought I'd share and ask for ideas from you on keeping in touch! If you are like our family, we all live in different states spread all over the place. So, keeping in touch with one another requires a little more effort and creativity than just hopping in the car or walking next door.

A couple of ways I work at this relate to Emily (our 19 month old). I started a little newsletter that I send out twice a month called the Emily Edition, which includes recent photos and a narrative of what Emily is learning and doing at this stage. (I'm not sure my idea to link to this worked, any suggestions?) I never thought of what a great scrapbook it would make for her, but with the printed out pages slipped into plastic sheet protectors and put in a three-ring photo album, it is so priceless!

We also try to send out a mini-movie on Sunday evenings called the Sunday Family Movie. Our digital camera takes these little movies and then we e-mail them out to family. We try to keep it at 10 seconds or less to keep the size of the file down. Then, at her birthday, we made a DVD of movies and pictures from the year called, "Emily: Year In Review". She LOVES to watch this and I hope it becomes an annual tradition for us to do this for her and any future children.

Now, what works for you? I'd love to learn some new and creative ideas for keeping in touch over the distance! Click here for more WFMW ideas!

11 comments:

Mom2fur said...

What a cute idea! I tell you, I like e-mail so much more than talking on the phone. We bought a computer for my mom, who is now 83, and she says it is the best gift she ever could have received because it lets her communicate as often as she wants with her kids.

Jenn @ Frugal Upstate said...

If you have a techno-savy family (or at least basically computer familiar) you might like the Myfamily.com websites. My extended family has had one for about 8 yeas (since they were free-now it is like $30 year, but only one person has to pay, then you can have as many members as you want) It is a family website, all premade, with sections for news, calendar, photos, recipes, chat room etc. It is a great way to keep in touch, we post pictures of the kids etc, and everyone can comment on them. It really makes my widely dispersed family seem close.

Nettie said...

What great ideas! I wish my camera made movies. The newest thing we do is blogging! Although not everyone has one, I think most everyone reads the ones that do.

Sandra said...

That is such a great idea. I do a newsletter too but would love to try the videos and DVD thing too.

My family is all back in South Africa so it's hard staying connected and making it easier for them to watch the kids grow.

Thanks for such a great idea :)

Amy said...

What a wonderful idea and a great thing to give to Emily when she gets big! Think of what a hit that will be when she is graduating from high school. I have an Emily too- good choice in name :)

Thank you for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Making memories are SO important! I LOVE your ideas!

Feel free to stop by tomorrow at my blog and participate in Tasty Thursday!

Carol said...

What a great way to bless your friends and family!

Shhhhhhhh! said...

What a great idea on the little home movies. I have that on my camera, but I never knew I could put them together for a longer movie. I'll have to check that out.

Anonymous said...

Dear Monica:

As one of the beneficiaries of these ideas, let me thank you again for the effort that you and David put into the Emily Edition and Sunday night movies! Both things have been a huge blessing for this long-distance grandma!

Lots of love, Mom

Susie said...

I know that as a Grammy I appreciate the photos my DIL sends me through her
site (hosted by Kodak I think) I can pick and choose the photos I want and order prints.
My WFMW is up :-)

Anonymous said...

Dear Monica:
Yes, I agree that you & David have done a superb job of keeping all of us long-distance Grammies informed & up-to-date on Emily's growth & progress. Thank you so much for all your efforts. They are much appreciated.

Love you, Grandma