In our house, there is a “computer” room.
In that room, there is a computer – but there are also several overflowing boxes.
In those boxes, there are pieces of paper that I treasure very much.
They show off first ABC’s and 123’s, families shaped like hearts, crayon pressed so hard by Nate that you can scratch your name in it, school work documenting little Nia’s Math and Spelling skills, colorful finger paint art and Nia’s illustrated stories.
Nia/Nate Originals
I cherish every creation in those boxes. Each one is so special and shows how the kids have grown. But now I’m afraid – the collection of Nia/Nate Originals is growing too large. They are only 6 and 3 – I can’t possibly let the collection keep growing – it would eventually take over our house.
But where do I begin? How do I choose one over the other? What if I throw one away that I will wish I had later? It’s just so hard for me to even think about sorting through those boxes and dividing the contents into “keep” and “toss” piles.
In my head, I have issues.
Are You Zhazha? 
You make me feel like the worst mommy ever! I toss 90% of what Andrew brings home! Did you keep things from preschool? Things that didn't look like they did them? Andrew draws every day in school…always with orange crayon and I have NO space for these things! Ack!
Oh Nikki – I feel your pain! I can be such a pack rat, so the rules I instituted are that I only keep it if it marked a particular milestone or really surprised me in some way, or if it had a handprint or something really personal on it. It is always hard to throw them away though, and the worst was when she found one of her masterpieces in the trash. "That's not trash!" she yelled. I agreed and quickly retrieved it. Ugh! Good luck – it's so hard!
I know what you mean Karen! Nate always colors so hard that you can't even tell what it was he was coloring – the letter C? O? a frog? I do keep some of the preschool things – I went through and did like Ginger did – only I wanted to keep everything still! AH!Ginger – Nia has busted me so many times! She still talks about the giant cotton ball snowman that she and I did a few years ago. I had to throw it away – it was too big and starting to fall apart. She's scarred though!
Has Lola read this yet?!?! I wonder if she still has all our "crap" from school. Certainly, she does…you can't ask her for any advice. I kind of go with Ginger's guidelines.