Send. Help. Now.

*Disclaimer: All thoughts, opinions, requests for prayer, so forth and such are intended as 'tongue-in-cheek.' No alarm bells need to begin ringing in your head (mom).

I have fallen deep into the mire of a major family crisis! I need help, people, and a whole lotta prayer.

You may recall from this post a certain photo situation. Oh, my friends, it is much worse than I ever imagined.

Note the plethora of unused photo albums and baby books about to topple from the aforementioned (not today, in that other post) upper closet shelf. The designer of said shelf must be so devastated by my misuse. I'm certain the upper shelf was intended for sweatshirts and other such fashionable items. (I am so sorry, Stacy and Clinton, for disregarding your teachings. I know that sweatshirts are most definitely on the list of 'what not to wear.' Truly, I am sorry. But if you offer me $5000 to change my wicked ways, I'm certain I can reform!)

Here are some of the little gems I uncovered beneath the two-inch layer of dust atop this box (which, fyi, was also jammed on the poor, misused upper shelf). These are in no particular order - just the way I found them!

Aw, look, Braeden's first day of Kindergarten - 4 years ago!

I must say, I find it odd that I look so....fake...in this lovely family photo (thank-you Wal Mart) - taken nearly 5 years ago.
How sweet! We're celebrating Abbey's first birthday - yup, 5 years past. You will notice my great restraint in not photoshopping away the blush of pregnancy that can be faintly seen all over my face if you look very closely (not for lack of trying, people, but there's only so much you can do with a trial version and zero skill!).

Didn't Megan make an adorable little butterfly for Halloween? Sigh, it seems so long ago. Oh that's right, it was 2004.

The day night very early morning Shea was born, 2005.

Lest we forget, there is a multitude of digital photos taking up memory on our computer. It would seem that we purchased our first digital camera somewhere before Christmas of '05 (or perhaps I haven't dug far enough into the depths of the great cardboard box). Poor little Kai was not found in the box, all evidence of his existence is hidden deep within the recesses of this hard drive.

You see these? Sadly, they are not baby books. No, the baby books are resting empty and neglected (you guessed it, on the upper shelf). These are my wall calendars from the past 4 years, saved so that I might go through each one, searching out the giant circled notations of developmental milestones. The path to hades is paved with good intentions...and I truly have intended (for 4 years or so) to transfer each of those notations into each of 4 naked baby books. Suffice it to say that I have successfully paved my way to the gates of 'important memory neglectfulness hades.' Oh, woe is me!

I have friends who do this new-fangled art called scrapbooking. Every time they paste a new photo of their loved ones on a beautifully adorned home-made page, I hear a tiny bell ring and an angel gets its wings. I strongly dislike you people! How dare you be so dedicated in the face of my blatant neglect? Perhaps one of you could rescue me from this pit of unpreserved memorabilia?! Maybe if I take back the part about strongly disliking you...

* edited to add