31,000 +

Photos.

Currently, in my iPhoto library, I have 31,744 photos.  Over 14,000 of them have happened since Jason was born.  16 months ago.

Oh dear.

The hard drive on my beloved Mac is getting full.  Between the home movies and pictures (especially since I got my fancy pants camera) and the 12,000+ songs in my iTunes library, I'm running really low.

So... here's my plan for the safe storage of our photos:

As of right now, we use Time Machine to an external hard drive for all pics and music.

We have another external hard drive available.

I just bought a professional membership at flickr.com for $25 a year that will allow me unlimited downloads to "the cloud."  That way, I can always access pictures from yesteryear really easy.

I'm planning on burning multiple sets of DVD's full of pictures.  Double sets for me (i'm notorious for losing the important things), a set for Mom, and a set for Debbie.  That way, if the cloud evaporates and our house catches on fire, two other people will have all our memories.

Do you have any tricks or tips for saving that many photos?!

As I'm sitting here typing this (and uploading pics of a trip to visit Julie in Baltimore),  I'm thinking all the work going into this is crazy.  However, what could possibly be more important than our memories?

Speaking of, I have 4 photo books coming to me from MyPublisher tomorrow - Happy Valentine's Day to me! 

And here are my three children, happy as can be on a sunny February day:

 Basia dog playing in the snow

 Kayla with her valentine from Gramma and Grampa...

I'm so not over the fact that there's pink.  I just love it.

Jason delighting us all by smashing his valentine's day cookie in his hair.

after that, he ate it.  lovely.

immediately following... bath time.