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.


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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.




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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.

Oh my, they are starting to read.

I am sure you are as guilty of it as I am, if you have ever thought about it. The kids are around and you start to spell words you don't want them to understand. There is always a point when they figure things out, and I guess that point is going to be sooner than later with my last two "no so babies" anymore.

My kindergartener's are turning into READERS! Yes, I have been working with them and done some Hooked On Phonics to help them learn to read, but I wasn't really positive it was sinking in. It seemed like they would grasp bits and pieces of it and other times nothing.

Today they get home from school like any other day and the first thing we do is unpack and do homework, eat lunch, and then they either play on the computer, watch TV, go outside and play, or occasionally take a nap.

So today they get home, and it's the normal hustle and bustle of getting settled into our routine. We circled our words in our poem, and as usual I am telling them to pay attention to the first sounds of the words to help them find them in the poem. So Jordan and Jadan start pointing them out almost instantly. I think Ok....SO they have heard this poem several times and have it memorized. We get done finding our patterns, which is also part of the homework. Doors brown, walls white, doors brown, walls white...AB AB, etc. I pulled out their daily reader books that the school sends home and I notice as I read that they are saying the words the same time I am. ....

I finish the book and say ok, your turn. I hand each one the book and about fell off the couch when they read it back. I then thought, ok I just read that, lets try this again when Norm gets home and I won't read it first. So just before bedtime I call the boys and say, "Hey, bring me your reader books that you brought home from school today and show daddy how you can read." .....THEY did it. So Norm says, "Well lets see you read it back to front." Any other children would start with the first sentence on the last page, then the first sentence on the next to the last page and read on....not Jordan and Jadan....word for word, they read the sentences backwards as well.

Guess I won't be spelling things for Christmas this year. Hold up on the flash cards Santa! Color me happy, my guys can read! Now I guess I better hide my romance novels...they are still a little young for those...LOL.

Carving Pumpkins

We had a blast this weekend. All of our children got together, obviously including our our husbands (the biggest kids..LOL), and they carved pumpkins. It was fun to watch the kids faces as they each cleaned, or should we say attempted to clean out their pumpkins. Needless to say, I have roasted pumpkin seeds coming out of my ears now.

Best Friends

You hear the old cliche's : Two Peas in a Pod, Friends Are Relatives That You Pick."

Well, I have been gifted with such a friend. My best friend's name is Jamie. I met her while our husbands were Navy Recruiters. She and I have had so many life experiences that are alike, we sometimes swear we were twins seperated somehow by time at birth.

The funny part is she can finish my sentances, and most of the time knows what I am thinking. We are a constant source of laughter, and sometimes tears, fun and never mischevious (We are innocent until proven guilty.) But best of all I recently just moved across the river from her. We get together just about every weekend and have dinner, play cards, swim...or whatever else we find amusing.

She has two boys(Joey & Nick), and a husband named Stan. I was fortunate enough to be there when she gave birth to Nick, and I am his Aunt "Ella".

Jamie, I hope you know how much you mean to me...I love ya, doll.

This Week's Scrap Challenges

Happenings: This week Jadan lost his second tooth.
Click on the graphics to view larger


My children were playing hide-and-seek and Jadan hid in the closet. They searched the house over to find him, finally after a bit they told us they couldn't find him. We started looking, and calling him....and he was no where to be found...."GONE". We were scared to death, that he might have slipped out of the house and walked down the street, so we went searching. We searched, the house, the yard, everywhere we could think of....

He was no where to be found, until my daughter went to her closet to get her shoes...and there he was, under some blankets in the closet fast asleep. Age: 2 years

"Children sleep in the funniest places!"






This is my grandmother. She passed away kind of suddenly when I was seventeen. She was one of the best people I have ever met. She inspired me to be a "girl" after God's Heart, and to always take things in stride. She was constantly caring for her family: cooking, cleaning, mending, "being the glue that held things together". I have inherited those traits, and am thankful to have had her in my life.

This is a rather old picture that I touched up in Print Shop Pro. I am not sure how old she was in this picture, but I can certainly see my daughter in her features.

My Grandmother, my friend....You are loved, and missed.

Barcelona, Spain 2004

Norm was on the USS JFK, in the Persian Gulf back in 2004. These are some of the pictures he took on his bus tour in Barcelona, the last place they visited just before coming back home to their families and loved one's.

I finally did something with the pictures, and thanks to Scrapgirls.com and Lauren @ ThePolkadotPlum.blogspot.com for the freebies, and the Challenge - "Discovery"

Eternal Love & Eye Fascination

This layout was done to showcase the matching tattoo's my husband and I have. We have been married NINTEEN and a half years.


This picture was taken by our dear friend, a month or so ago in our pool.


Wording on page : With its three-lobbed yet singular design, The Trinity knot has arguably become the flagship of all Celtic knotwork. Used as a Christian symbol for over 150 years, the Trinity knot symbolizes three inseparable essences formed from a single strand weaving gracefully into and out of itself. The number three held a sacred meaning to the Celts, and the Trinity knot in its eloquent simplicity can be interpreted to symbolize many triumvirates- examples include Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, earth, air, and water, or past, present, and future. A seamless blend of Celtic and Christian heritage, this modest little knot has been found on carved stones in Northern Europe dating as early as the 8th century.





I have always been fascinated with the eyes. I wasn't sure wheather to call this one "The Eyes Have It" -or- "All Eyes Are Upon You"....

Breanna has beautiful blue eye's, just like her father. They are the windows to her soul. Looking into those eyes you can see the amazement, wonder, joy, and hopes for the future.


Not sure why this looks so distorted on the web, but for some reason it does. The quote says: "Window's to the Soul..." Live life to the fullest. Love with all your heart. Laugh often, and share your smile. You hold the key to the future.







This I created as a Challenge from Scrapgirls.com, using both B&W, and Sepia tones in a layout.





I couldn't resist this quick page I snagged on the web. It fit the pictures of Jordan and Jadan so well. My funny little guys were just adorable in these pictures, sorry I am a little biased.





Another quick page snagged on the web. This is my dog, Harley. He is just so darn cute!





Every Saturday we get together with our friends and usually cook out, swim in the summer and/or hang out together. I snapped this picture of the kids with some of the Halloween Decorations, that they couldn't wait to put out.





This was snapped back in the summer, on one of the rare occasions that Jadan fell asleep in my lap. At the age of five he's a big boy and loves to snuggle, but rarely falls asleep in my lap anymore...so this was a welcomed moment that I was able to capture on the camera and cherish.