Savoring Life's Memories, by the Book

"I jot down whatever is going on in our lives that month," said Jennifer Henson of Ashburn, a director with the company. "Then I'll do what a typical day is for us right now."

She'll take photos not just of her family but of the street, of the cars, of the gas station around the corner or else note the cost of a Big Mac. Including the ones she is working on, Henson estimated that she has about 100 scrapbooks.

Although some women suffer what they call "scrapper's block," others battle the opposite issue: They begin to see the world as a fine, double-page layout.

"It's so strange because you'll be out somewhere, and literally the title of the page will come into your head," said Sara Schermerhorn of McLean.

At a recent trip to the zoo, she kept seeing the title "Going Bananas!" hovering over her children. As many mothers have, she has taken her kids to a pumpkin patch, she said, because it would make a good layout.

Michelle McVaney, who runs Get Crafty, a scrapbooking retreat in West Virginia, said that some women wheel in suitcases of photos and crop for 24 hours straight, without sleep. It is easy, she said, to fall into an obsessive mindset, to believe that something is lost forever if it is not scrapbooked.

For instance, her grandmother died last summer, and at the funeral, McVaney realized that she didn't have a photo of her grandmother's hands.

"She was always tapping her fingers," said McVaney, 31. "So before she was buried, I thought, 'Gosh, as morbid as it would be. . . .' and I took my camera and took pictures of her hands while she was in the casket, trying not to show she was in the casket. . . . You can become a slave to your camera."

Even driving to the supermarket, Suzanne Frollini often chastises herself for not bringing her camera.

"I love sunsets," said Frollini, 40. "And I think, 'Oh, it's a beautiful sunset today. I wish I had my camera.' But . . . who takes a camera to the grocery store?"

Schmidt said she had a minor revelation on that point during a recent family vacation to the Grand Canyon.

She and her husband were on a Jeep ride, and as she looked around at the epic rocks and vibrant orange, she realized, "I look around, I'm seeing a picture.

"You're not looking at it like it's life," she said. "I thought, 'Am I living my life through a camera lens?' "

She's been trying to put down the camera a bit more often. The last time it snowed, she managed to simply go sledding with Matthew, leaving the camera behind.

"I had one second of regret," she said. "Then I thought: 'I'll be okay. It's fun.' "