Merry Christmas

I just wanted to take a moment and wish everyone visiting my post a Merry Christmas, and happy holiday season. Stay safe, much laughter, and make memories that will last a lifetime.

My son made it home from Gulfport, MS today for a few days. I will be off enjoying my time with him for the next few days. Please keep him in your prayers, as he will be shipping off to Kuwait in a couple of months as a SeaBee for the US Navy. It will be the end of 2008 before he gets back home. I am at peace with this, knowing his heart is where it should be...although we will miss him and we are hopeful that this year will pass quickly.

I will be adding pictures and layouts probably next week.

I have added some links to my favorite scrap sites under sites of interest....feel free to click and take a look around and snag some goodies, should you wish. These girls work very hard, so please give credit where it is due and leave a Thank you, should you download any of their work.

Merry Christmas, Priscilla

Guess Who Turned SIX!

Goodness how time seems to fly when you are having fun. It seems like just yesterday I was laying in the hospital, scared out of my mind since my little guys decided to come two months early. FORTY HOURS OF LABOR, and then a C-Section. My you can't tell they were 3.8 lbs and 3.14 lbs now.

We had a wonderful time for their birthday. We went with the "Pirates of the Carribean" theme and they had a blast. We had pizza for dinner, then they did a treasure hunt, and pin the flag on the ship. Jadan made out with the gifts too, I had a whole livingroom floor full of Thomas the Tank Train set, and of course Samuel jumped on the opportunity to help Jordan learn his new video game.

We got the biggest laugh out of Jadan, and I just have to share. We were trying to put his train set together, and he kept on talking about "destructions"....I was like what is he talking about...and he reaches over and grabs the "instructions" and says here is the "destructions"....we couldn't help but laugh.

This is my challenge for Scrap Girl's Twelve Days of Christmas Contest- Task six. I call it "The Meaning of Christmas". Wish me luck...

Scrap Girls 12/20 - Thursday Challenge for Journaling I have used a couple of these photo's before....so it's a rescrap. The Poem is "An Angel Left Her Wings." by: Tina M. Marascia.

Scrap Girl Challenge - Smiles, I can't resist the smiles on Jordan's face in these pictures, I turned the one on the bottom to a sketch.

I have been busy, but am taking a moment to update my blog a bit. Adding several new scrap pages. I just finished the first two scraps today for a "12 Days of Christmas" Challenge @ Scrap Girls, December 2007 Contest...wish me luck.

As usual, Double click on the pictures a couple of times, for a better view.

Norm and I Christmas 1999

This is number 2 of my submissions for the contest. This one is called "I believe in Santa." I snapped these pictures of Norm and Jordan last night while Jordan was giving daddy some love, and watching TV.

This is another contest entry for "Inspirational holiday songs". I chose "Frosty the Snowman," since I had several pictures of Jadan from his Christmas program to use.(Video located below)

This is one of Jordan's pictures from his Christmas program. It was made for SG's Frame Challenge.

I was just playing around and wanted to do something a little different, so I made oval pictures, instead of the typical square/rectangle pictures I scrap. These pictures were taken the day Breanna and Samuel came home from the hospital, and exactly one year later after their first birthday party. They still love to curl up on the couch with Norm or I and snuggle. I was going through some pictures the other night and found the pictures of their first birthday party. Stay tuned, when I get a chance to scan them....you will probably be seeing more layouts, of that special day.

This these next couple of layouts I did of Breanna. She wasn't feeling well for a few days before, and decided to try to snap her out of her little funk she was in...it worked - I did a small photo shoot of her a couple of weeks ago with her teddy bears. I can't remember which challenges I did this for at the moment, but here they are.

(I am not too sure how much I like this one, I was trying to get away from the typical pink that seem to be the majority of her layouts.)

I'm finally back

...not much to post, will try to get around to putting some new stuff up in the next few days...

My computer's DVD-Rom quit ejecting last week, and when Norm carried it in to the Geek Squad...they said the hard drive was going bad and so I basically got a NEW COMPUTER....they boosted my HD up to 320 Gigs....replaced my DVD with a 20X, and it's running so much better!!!

Tonight was the boys, Kindergarten Christmas Program. Jadan is the one on the lower left with no sun glasses and clapping for most of the beginning of the song. Jordan is the one on the next row up to the right with orange star sunglasses, and his hands out in front of him.

I was able to catch a couple of songs on video with my new camera....Heehee....Here they are take a peek!

SG's Challenge : Surprise Expressions

*DOUBLE CLICK ON EACH PICTURE, TWICE, TO ENLARGE


I forgot when we put the tree up on Thanksgiving day that the kids had a fit when the presents went under the tree. They begged and begged to open just one gift and they would leave them alone until Christmas....and so far THEY HAVE!!! LOL

Here is Samuel's Surprise when he opened his Star Wars Characters.

Oh my, Christmas is upon us...

*DOUBLE CLICK ON EACH PICTURE, TWICE, TO ENLARGE


Jadan is silly. Norman was burning some pictures to CD for me when Jadan discovered that the labels from the CD's actually had left over stickers. He went to town, peeling and sticking them. As I was walking out the door to my best friend's sister's baby shower, I snapped his picture. Later I discovered that we were challenged to use a book cover as inspiration for a layout. I of course remembered that we got books at the book fair the other night, and so I told Breanna to run downstairs and get me her book. I had the perfect layout in my head (Breanna's Grumpy Layout is below). Jadan couldn't be outdone so he ran downstairs and got his book. He bugged me and bugged me until I used his book as well - "Dora Saves the Mermaids". This is what I ended up with.


This is our Christmas tree this year. Norm and the kids put it up as I was making Thanksgiving dinner. It keeps them out from under my feet, and they all four decorated it. We have several ornaments clustered together of the same color, but it's beautiful just the way it is.


Christmas Traditions: Stocking hanging
There is an ornament that hangs with our stocking on their shelf. This is an ornament that was sent to me by a friend. This ornament is made of metal and is a rustic heart, with many jewels on it. It is hung in the middle of our stockings to represent the little jewels I have in my heart for the little one's that went on Angel's wings to heaven all to early. Today is the anniversary of my second loss, and it allows me to share with my children, family, and friends the memories of happiness, and saddness of loss regarding siblings that should be with us today, but only were in our hearts briefly.


This is the layout I had in my head when we first had the children's book challenge. Breanna sometimes has the tendency to sleepwalk. This is one day when she was taking a nap, she wandered into my room and fell back asleep on my bed. I thought she had waken up but apparently she was still asleep, because she doesn't remember me snapping the picture.


This is a layout, "Deck the Dog in Boughs of Holly", I did for a friends of mine using her freebie scrap materials (polkadottedplum.blogspot.com). They tend to feature my layouts on thier site. Thanks Lauren and Amy. This little guy was my Christmas present last year from Norm and the kids, my little buddy Harley.


Jadan Decorating the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving Day. I have several more pictures and will be adding layouts as I get the chance to scrap them.


Another layout challenge I did for Scrapgirls regarding Military appreciation at Christmas. To all of our troops near and far....We wish you all a safe holiday season, and may you be home with your families soon.

Things to be Thankful for....Happy Thanksgiving

Well, first of all, let me wish everyone that comes and visits my blog a very happy, love filled Thanksgiving Holiday. May we all hold the things we have been blessed with close to our hearts, and not take them in vain. Most of all remember that our Heavenly Father gave his son, as the greatest gift we could ever receive. As we usher in the Christmas season...please remember the true meaning, and try not to let the "Bah Humbug" mentality take over.

I have been blessed, and gifted early this year. My husband knew how much I love scrapbooking, and started looking at the Black Friday Ads this morning. To my surprise he had been listening when I said I wanted a better quality camera to take my scrapping pictures with. I had a Kodak Easy Share 2.something megapixel camera. I have been using for several years now. He knows how much I love my children and documenting their accomplishments in life...so he found something on sale he thought I would like, and then checked the store's website to find out it was an everyday price. So sales aren't really sales sometimes...just a way to draw attention to some items.

He tells me he is going to the store, and comes back home with not the camera he was looking at but this little baby below: (mouse click 2X's for a better view)



EASYSHARE Z712 IS Zoom Digital Camera
Superior performance. Superb picture quality.
12X SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH VARIOGON Optical Zoom Lens
Optical image stabilization
7.1 megapixels
Best-in-class* click-to-capture speed (0.26 sec.)
High ISO mode
KODAK PERFECT TOUCH Technology
KODAK Color Science Chip
High resolution 2.5 in. (6.4 cm) color display


Can I say, this camera is amazing...the photo's are so clear. YOU CAN EVEN SEE THE DOG'S NOSE PRINTS ON THE GLASS DOOR....LOL. Here are a couple of pictures taken with it tonight. Looks like early evening huh? I am totally amazed and in love with this camera. My next hope is to get the picture printer to go with it...maybe for my birthday...LOL.



Norm put some of our Christmas lights out last weekend and today since it is supposed to be raining, wet, and cold tomorrow. Our tradition is to put the Tree up, and our decorations out, while the Thanksgiving meal is being prepared...(and it keeps the kids out from under my feet usually...LOL)




Here is something for us to be thankful for. The year's last smile of color, before the winter cold sets in. Thank you Rina for sharing this and a few other pictures with me of your yard. When I seen them I was not only in awe...but instantly thought these will come in handy for a "SCRAP!"

This is another layout I "Re-Scrapped" this week from a page in Breanna's Baby Book. I will get them all scanned and redone one day.

Thank you all for taking a peek in my little corner of the universe and may your holidays all be filled with love, laughter, and good health.

School Year 2007 Pictures

Ms. Breanna, is doing so well this year in school. She is her normal chatty self, and occasionally I get phone calls from her teacher...but I can't complain. She made ALL A's on her report card and one B. A far cry better than her old school, where she was always complaining. She has several little friends that she chats on the phone with regularly, and seems to be happily content with the change this school year.





Samuel, is still my source of wonder and laughter. You can't ever tell what is going to come out of his mouth. He loves all of the typical boy things: Power Rangers, Sci-Fi, Star Wars, and the list goes on. He seems to be adjusting well in school also. His grades are ranging in the A's & B's also. He seems very pleased with his teacher, and gets along well with his classmates. He was (one of) my "Student's Of The Month" for October. Samuel also got the privledge to honor his dad and I with a tribute in the school play for Veteran's Day. (I will post pics when I get a chance.) Both he and Breanna were in the play, but Samuel had a speaking part. "Since 1926, Veteran's Day has been celebrated on November 11th as a National Holiday to honor our U.S. Veterans."





Mr. Jadan was my other "Student Of The Month" for October. He loves school, doing his work, homework, and has been making lots of progress in kindergarten this year. I had the joy of volunteering in his class a couple of times this year so far and he really enjoyed me being there. He still askes me occasionally to volunteer in the classroom, however time/holidays/life hasn't given me much opportunity as of lately.



Mr. Jordan is my electronic nut. He loves Game Cube, Play Station, Computers, Computers, Computers....did I say Computers??? He also seems to be doing very well in school, and is progressing in kindergarten as well. He is, however, always happy to get home and do homework, and spend time with mom. He seems to be the more withdrawn of the children when it comes to school for the time being, but this is giving me the opportunity to help him with things. We are still working on handwriting, and reading together at home. He seems to really like the little take home books we get on a daily basis.

Like A Feather Drifts...

(left mouse click the image twice for a better view, for some reason in this format it looks very gritty and flat, sorry.)



Yesterday's Challenge was to use a feather to create a layout. I instantly knew what I was going to do with that feather. This was my creation. This is one of my favorite pictures of Breanna and Samuel. My quote explains my pleasure in watching them grow, discover, and explore.

Quote: Like feathers drift in the wind....they drifted into my life, and now I have the pleasure of watching them grow. I love you, Mom

Veteran's Day Tribute

I wanted to do something special this Veteran's Day, so I created this LO, honoring my husband and his career in the military. He will be retiring next year around Christmas. His career has carried him the way around the world. He has done a Med. Cruise, a tour in the Sandbox, a WestPAC, and UNITAS, among various other amounts of "haze grey and underway" time.


This LO, contains a picture of him while he was out on his last career cruise aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln(CVN-72), where he received his Air Warfare Quilification, Pin, and EIGHTH Navy Achievement Medal, Summer 2006.

As we all know the Navy couldn't survive without it's blue shirts - the back bone of the military, so honor your loved one's and give the one's who serve abroad, and on the homefront a huge BRAVO ZULU!

United We Stand, Happy Veteran's Day

My How Time Changes Things..

Left mouse click, twice on the pictures to enlarge.

First layout was of my little man about a year and a half old I think. He loved to play with sunglasses, and earned the nickname "door keeper". He was constantly opening shut doors and shutting open doors. This was one opportunity that I had to snap a picture as he was just so adorable.

These pictures were taken just this past week. My how my little man had grown. I couldn't be prouder of him. He is so curious, and questions things until he gets answers ...inquiring minds want to know. Sometimes he just blows me away with the knowledge he has about different things. He is all boy...give him a video game and he will toss the instructions and learn on his own. He still loves to sit and play with his action figures and make up his own stories about them. He loves transformers, power rangers, and just about anything Sci-Fi. He's certainly a boy after his father's heart as well. I just stand amazed. He is so patient, and kind, and so loving. My heart swells with pride as I see him matures. He's growing up way to quickly....but I am enjoying every moment of watching him accomplish something new, that he has been trying so hard to figure out...and watch his confidence grow.

My Husband, the Crypt Keeper & I (Black Cat) for Halloween.





I had a "Purple" challenge and I chose to redo a page I had previously paper scrapped of my beautiful daughter Breanna, taking a nap, approximately six months old.

Quote: You are the poem I dreamed of writing, the masterpiece I longed to paint. You are the shining star I reached for in my ever-hopeful quest for life fulfilled. You are my child. Now with all things I am blessed. - arthur unknown





I also finally got around to scrapping the boys (Jordan & Jadan) Fifth Birthday pictures, this is what I come up with.



Hard to believe they will be SIX next month!

RENOVATION....

Well the time has come to refurbish my first set of twins pictures, and while I am at it...put all of them back on my computer. I haven't been able to find my picture disc's since we moved(almost a year ago.) SO before something happens to all of them I want to: Scan, burn and store them all on a disc. While I am at it..I am cropping the pages to "save" the pictures as well. Looking at the pages of their books I recognize how much of a novice I was when I started scrapping and doing this is allowing me to recreate some of the pages...I wish I could have done ...way back when.

This is one of my favorite picture of Breanna and Samuel, it was taken just outside my bedroom door, in the house we recently moved out of. I am awash with memories of them playing chase up and down the hall just after learning to crawl. This picture was taken just before Breanna started walking, and Samuel would only venture onto his feet if he had his "push cart" to hold on to. It took him a long time to learn to walk. To this day I can still envision them crawling around with bottles hanging out of their mouths (thank you "Playtex Nursers").

Double Click on the pictures for a larger view.



MY CHILDREN, MY HEART
by: © Lisa Beattie
Her laugh rings through me
Like a thousand bells.
The soft sweet way
Her little head smells.

His smile so bright,
His giggle so sweet.
His precious tiny fingers,
His chubby little feet.

What filled my days before,
I do not know.
I've so much love within me,
From inside my heart I glow.

A beautiful new world
Has just begun.
For in it, is my beautiful daughter
And my handsome son.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


This is the first picture and the moment I first laid eyes on my baby girl. It was such a bittersweet moment. Samuel had been rushed off to NICU, due to fluid on his lungs, and she was none too happy when they woke her up and took her out via C-Section. She fussed until I touched her face and she heard my voice, then all seemed well with the world. I was upset that it was about twelve hours after my recovery before I got to spend time with her again. It was an amazing moment, and another one of my cherished pictures.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


This final layout was a challenge: "Random Can"....your goal was to reach in your pantry and pull something out and use it for inspiration....I looked and found Orville Redenbacher's Popcorn...and used the box, colors, and layout for inspiration for this layout.

This picture was taken just outside the NICU, in the waiting area, after I had the boys. Breanna and Samuel would stay in there and watch video's while either Norm or I would go in and take care and spend time with Jordan and Jadan. They were content with their big bag of popcorn and a movie.

Special hero

SPECIAL HERO

© Christina M. Kerschen

When we were a baby, you would hold us in your arms.
We felt the love and tenderness, keeping us safe from harm.
We would look up into your eyes, and all the love we would see.
How did we get so lucky, you were the dad chosen for us.
There is something special about a father's love.
Seems it was sent to us from someplace up above.
Our love is everlasting, We just wanted you to know.
That you’re my special hero and we wanted to tell you so.

"An Angel Left Her Wings"

(Click on graphics for a larger view)


An Angel Left Her Wings
By: Tina M. Marascia

I have this little angel. For me she left her wings.
She has no idea how much happiness she truly brings.
She brightens up my days with her smiles and her laughs.
She helps me to remember all the blessings that I have.

Her face, it is so perfect, she's sweet and soft and pure.
Sometimes she can be willful and sometimes she is demure.
She tries her very hardest to please and do what's right.
She gives the greatest hugs from morning until night.

Every person that has known her sees this light within her soul
I know that in this whole great world, she has a special role.
She's helpful and considerate to everyone she knows
This light in her shines brighter as my angel grows.

When she sees someone is sad, it opens up her heart.
She wants to do all that she can; she wants to do her part.
She'll squeeze away the sorrow and make me forget about my pain.
She shows me where the sun is when we're hiding from the rain.

I know that God must love me, He showed me with His Grace
I knew just how completely when I saw my angel's face.
And in that very moment when she came into my world,
I knew that she was so much more than just my baby girl.

She would be my sunshine, with a sweetness that won't end.
And when she grows up one day she would be my closest friend.
She would be the reason I would always try my best.
For my little angel baby girl would be my greatest test.

When God entrusts to you an angel, who has left her wings for you.
Encircle her with love with everything you do.
Let her know God made her, and that He trusts you with her care.
Be sure to make time for special moments with her to share.

And when at night she finally says her prayers and goes to sleep
I Thank Him for my angel, and ask for him to always keep
A watchful eye and hand to protect her from this world.
Protect my little angel; protect my baby girl.

You & Me

Every once in awhile it is great to sit and look back at the past and acknowledge your accomplishments, and those who helped you get there.

Today a simple scrap challenge helped me do just that. We were challenged to just use one very simple graphic called "You and Me." (see above)...I thought about it and started going through my wedding pics and found the perfect picture to use. As I sat and scrapped, I realized that a lifetime has pretty much passed since then.

I can recall the butterflies of new love, and how the first kiss just left me giddy. Almost twenty years later, here I sit and still smile when I think about the beginning, the past, the current, and the future of sharing my life with someone who loves me. Maybe his love is not always the way I want it to be....but he sure does seem to always help me see the brighter side of life.

Marriage - Take a little. Give a lot, and compromise as much as possible.

Happy Birthday/Anniversary Scrap Girls

This has been a long weekend! My favorite Scrapbooking site had it's THIRD Birthday/Anniversary celebration. They gave us many challenges, and I was able to complete a few of them. I still have a bunch that I am challenging myself to catch up on as the week passes and I have time. They partied from 10AM until MIDNIGHT Friday and Saturday Night. Lots of fun was had by all. Many online games were played and prizes given. I wasn't one of the lucky winners, but I sure did get some inspiration for some layouts....as follows:

Random Challenge Layout - Mess or Masterpiece
Half the fun of this challenge is seeing what supplies you would end up using. It’s a surprise to everyone to see how you can make it work. In this scrap we were challenged to open our folders and count the files and use certain files to make a layout. I was lucky mine fit together pretty well.

Ingredients for this layout: Paper - #13 (Halloween Black)/Embellishments - #23,#33,#43(Brads, Staples, Wanted Poster)/Alpha - #3 (Moody Blues)/Photo -#53 (My son Samuel)





Round Robin Challenge
For this layout, again we were given certain ingredients to use and this is how mine came together.


Ingredients for this layout: Paper - Patterned, Green & Plain paper Gold / Embellishment: Buttons, Flowers/Font: Script, Grungy/Brush: Swirls/Three Photo's




Ice Cream Sundae Scrap
For this scrap we were given Ice Cream Sundae Ingredients, and we had to choose how we built our sundae. Well each item we chose for our sundae, went with an ingredient for our layouts. I can't remember now what all I chose, but here is what I come up with.