SCRAPT

Here are a few layouts I was able to put together this last week while Paul was gone in Kentucky. I suppose this is all that gets accomplished when left to my own devices. (Note: The children were not harmed nor neglected in the making of these pages.) But all is well now that Daddy is home. We love you all... and baby Mark sends his coo's and ahhh's.

SCRAPT

Here are a few more tidbits to add to our family story. This first layout is from the infamous Neewollah festivities that our town has put on for 100 years now. Neewollah is Halloween spelled backwards, and it began in order to keep the misfits from tearing this town apart. It is complete with onion blossoms, fried turkey legs, and a personal favorite fried candy bars... not to discount the classic cotton candy and candied apple lovers. The parade is like the cherry on top to the food, music, plays, contests and fair complete with ferris wheel... and all this just two blocks from our house. Paul was lucky enough to join other Amazon.com associates on the float for the parade. Here you can see Hannah with Daddy waving to mommy... well Hannah saw her friends before she ever saw mommy (and the camera.) To this day, she still says I saw Abbie and Carter... mommy where were you. Well as you can see I was amongst the crowd clamoring to get a picture of Hannah's day with Daddy and Amazon.com. The second layout here is baby Mark's new fan club of grandma's. My mother and Grandma (and Grandpa) were lucky enough to make it here to visit Mark. We celebrated with the telling of my favorite stories... Great-Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma Hawkins (my mom) reliving their childhoods for us with some classic tales. I will never get my fill of old family stories!!

Thanks for visiting us here ya'll!

Hannah SCRAPT

This is a layout that came together easily this Sunday afternoon. I already had the pages pieced together, it was simply a matter of plugging in the pictures. I did this while watching the movie 'Bella', which was quite good, a simple sort of good. Now, I am off to make this baby boy sparkle in a bath of bubbles. More soon!

ME Scrapt

I have never ventured to create a layout of myself. I am feeling a bit sheepish for doing it. So have mercy!! But with having a baby recently, being married almost ten years (more like 8 years), and almost 30 years old (more like 28)... I have felt like our lives and our family have turned a big corner in the last year. And I do feel it is so very vital that our children know and remember us, not just when their grown and we're past our prime. But for them to look back and remember us as women, friends, and sister and daughters ourselves. Because in 20 or 30 years honey, I ain't gonna look like this no more! (If you want to enlarge the layout, click on the layout, it will open up in a new window.)

As a bonus, I got the inspiration for this layout from two sources. The Memory Makers cover layout for August 2008, and my dear friend Brook Stewart with her 'Summer Hair' layout. Thanks love!!

Well now, its a Sunday afternoon and my dear Paul has flown the coup to Kentucky to help at another Amazon.com facility. We are so proud of all the work he does, but it makes us a bit teary eyed here at home to let him venture so far from us. We love you Daddy!! Come home soon!

Thanks for visiting us here ya'll!!

SCRAPT

I got some layouts finished Sunday evening, though not before Paul and I had to keep handing off baby Mark back and forth to keep him content. This first layout is Mark's first week home. He had jaundice, so we kept him in the sunlight. Plus, our doctor recommended giving formula for 24 hours to help bring down the billirubin count faster. So the girls and Paul got to enjoy feeding him as well. Now we make it a daily ritual... I am able to pump milk to give them the chance to feed him. The second layout is from last summer when we went home to Cali to visit our families. Pictured in the layout is my mother and I, and my girls. The title 'Mothers & Daughters' wasn't quite appropriate since my mother takes being a grandma very seriously. So the note on the right page says... 'Mothers and daughters... make amazing grandmas.' Really, that is my limit to journaling for the time being. I consider this blog my main journaling spot. Hope that counts!


Miss you MOM!!

Party Like a Blog Star!!

Serendipity Blog Party!! Oh YEE-AH! Okay so some are off having block parties this summer, well some others of us are having a BLOG party!! Head over to Serendipity Scrapbooks to get in on the party challenges or check out the links on my sidebar to catch up on some of the Serendipity girls and other news on the boards at Serendipity. There's plenty of eye candy in the gallery to check out and some great girls to chat with... and the best news of all... this party is going on the whole month of July!! Oh YEE-AH!! See ya there!

Keep out of the heat... come party like a BLOG star!!

Remembering Cali

It has been a year now since our last visit to California. Hannah was born there, though we moved to Kansas when she was three. While Sara Kate had never been there, or even seen some of our family. It was a blast to have us all there together. Now I am not particularly fond of water, but the beach was always a signature Cali stop-off point with friends and family. Despite the thought of ocean waves making my stomach churn... it is magical to see the awe and wonder in the faces of our girls playing with the sand and the water. On this one particular day, after going to the Costa Mesa Marketplace with my mom, buying bikes for the girls, and eating fresh churros and fresh kettle corn... it was a welcome stop off at the beach to watch the girls eyeing the waves, back and forth, like the childhood game of tickle monster played at home... i.e. Daddy. The layout I did today is a glimpse of some of those memories. I included a great family shot we had taken by my mother, and then there are my favorite keepsake pictures of Paul with the girls playing at his feet. And if you are wondering... the hot chick with Sara Kate, highlighted by the pink circle... that is my mommy!! Hasn't she grown up to be a pretty girl... too bad I don't take after her more... hmmph.

We really enjoyed those two weeks with family and friends. With trips to San Diego, Disneyland, and Los Angeles and here at the beach... we couldn't have asked for a better time together. Now I will have to scrap some of Hannah's beach pictures from this same trip . She was quiet the explorer of shells. But more of that soon... enjoy!!

A new venture with "Round Maps"

I love perusing Becky Fleck's newlsetter each month with some great inspiration and ideas for scrapbook pages... and I veered off from my usual two-page layouts to try a round page. Becky Fleck's site http://www.pagemaps.com/ offers some great sketches, or maps I should say, and each month her newsletter comes out with new ideas. Here is my first round page with Paul and Sara Kate at the park... I think I will be doing a sister page to this one with Hannah and Paul at the park as well. Gotta say, I love these maps...!

National Scrapbook Weekend RESULTS

Here are some of my favorite pages from scrapping at the CROP last weekend for the National Scrapbook Day celebration. It was great getting free stuff and spending time with the girls. I am most thankful though that I was actually able to get something done. Thanks for stopping by!!

Me and the girls at the duck pond at the park.

Pumpkin patch in Springfield Missouri fall of 2007.
The girls playing outside at home last fall.
Pumkin patch with some friends fall of 2006.

Trunk or treating with friends at church, fall 2006.

The following posts include more of the pages from last weeks CROP.

More layouts...

Here are a few of my National Scrapbook Weekend stash-of-pages.... These are pages I am trying to catch up on for Sara Kate. She is definitely a cheese for the camera... which makes me a happy mama when I need a photog-fix.

While Hannah took horseback riding lessons... this was the only way to keep Sara Kate from the horses. It worked for a short time... then we played with the donkey.


This is Sara Kate's 3rd birthday last October. I lifted this page idea from a dear friend Brook Stewart on the Scrapbook Nook site. They definitely aren't the pages you would choose for a child's page, must less a child's birthday... but it reflects... mama's kinda taste.


These shots were taken at the Brown Mansion in Coffeyville, Kansas... which has been my favorite place for picnics and photo-ops since our move here in Nov 05. (Summer 07)


Once again this is the Brown Mansion, although these were taken a year before the above shots. As you can tell... this place lends itself to some pretty serene shots. (Spring 06)
More to come!!

Nesting away... with more layouts!

Okay... so nesting may simply apply to the need to prepare the nest for a welcomed new one. And while the nest has been tweaked, twigged and feathered I have felt the need to tend to my creativity and the forgotten memories of our two little girls as well. I have heard it said that the oldest child often gets a large portion of many things, and I must say, this is true of our family scrapbook pages. So I have decided to revisit the stash of pictures that has accumulated over the past three years and highlight a bit more of Sara Kate's childhood. Here is a few of Sara Kate's pages that I was able to finish at the National Scrapbook Weekend CROP.

Sara Kate and mama last spring (2007) Just hamming it up!!

The infamous Spidergirl sleeping (Fall 07) Always a classic!

Sara Kate at 13 months while visiting Hannah's preschool class (Nov 05) This would be a precursor to the loving and nurturing quality she inherited from her Daddy.

Sara Kate's visit to the sunflowers (Aug 07) Kansas offers these beautiful flower patches alongside any highway, though the best are often hidden away.

What can I say...? Its Sara Kate pouting... always a bittersweet moment.... (Fall 07)

I was so excited to bring some of these papers together in our family scrapbook. And interestingly I altered the pictures to black and white so to have free rane with the colors and patterns of these papers. But I found myself also choosing the main colors to match what color would have been seen in the original picture. It's maddening all the way around... but it's my preferred form of madness!!
Thanks so much for stopping by to look!!

Sneak Peek

Here is a quick sneak peek at some of the pages I got done this last weekend. I have 32 pages I was able to finish over the National Scrapbook Weekend (May 2-4). I am so thrilled that I was able to get something productive done. As a bonus, Paul is going on the Father & Sons campout so I will have Friday night and Saturday to get some more done!! Woo Hoo!

This picture was taken at the park near the duck pond.

This is the girls near the duck pond and Sara Kate on the swing. She has an electric quality towards swings!

These are snapshots of Sara Kate from Nov 2005. Each time we picked Hannah up from preschool she found the baby doll! She is now our family's baby doll!!

More soon!!!

National Scrapbook Weekend!! WOO HOO!!

What goes better with scrapbooking than an iPOD? Well a room full of equally delirious girls ready to scrap their lives in a public forum!! I am ready for it all... a weekend of scrapping, friends and delirious music tunes to keep me going... what do you say... pick your tunes?! Mine for the evening will be Eminem to get me started... with some Fergie and a mix of Black Eyed Peas, some Gwen Gwen, and possibly Marilyn Mansion and oh some Nickelback for sure!!!

I am so thrilled for the National Scrapbook Weekend to start... in a few hours I will be up to my neck in layouts... well scrapbook layouts THAT I NEED TO FINISH!! I have about 60 layouts... which makes 120 pages I need create to make a dent in my backlog of photos. Sara Kate really doesn't have as many pages as Hannah. Which may be expected but it drives me to the challenge. The only way for me to stay focused is to create some sort of SPECIFIC To-Do List of layouts. Sooo, letting the planner in me run wild has been my greatest tool to form a list. When there is much to be done... planning it out, is the only way...

Pictures chosen CHECK
Pictures grouped for individual layouts CHECK
Pictures altered to black and white for quicker coordination to papers CHECK
Title or subject for each layout written CHECK
Color coded 1st (yellow), 2nd (green)and 3rd (blue) priority layouts CHECK
Printed 1st and 2nd priority pictures CHECK
Files of sketches and pagemaps organized CHECK
Packed up with cardstock, patterned paper, adhesive tape, staples and trinkets CHECK
Camera loaded... ahhh can't resist the need to remember this weekend CHECK

iPOD charged! CHECK

I am looking forward to creating some round pages this time... with the aid of Becky Fleck's round page maps... also on her website http://www.pagemaps.com/. The events I am planning to scrap are from the last 2 1/2 years. Including last years a trip to California, the infamous Neewollah Parade, pumpkin patches, sunflower patches, the Brown Mansion photo shoots, birthdays, horseback riding, park pictures and the wildly famous... Spiderman sleeping. These are just to name a few... so stay tuned for the posting of these layouts and MORE!!

What would you title this?

My muscles, originally uploaded by Shoupfam2000.

Okay this is the funniest picture of I have taken of Hannah yet! I have a series of photos of her swinging here but this was priceless. And before you ask, NO! she did not learn that from us. She is always one to say hey look at me watch me do this, but it has never come to this display of hilarity. This page will be the utlimate laughs when we look back at her scrapbook, but for now, I am stumped on what title to give this picture in the scrapbook. I am dying to get started on this page, so if anyone can inspire the title... I would love to hear what you think...

If happiness were ice cream... our flavor would be Goofy!

Well I posted some pictures of Paul and Hannah playing goofy(see post: Its Hannah... pint-sized!)... so I thought I would share some of my own lessons in goofiness. I have to say our family brings out the most splendid goofiness in us all. Hannah is the Queen of goof with her off-the-wall humor, Sara Kate is the Princess up for promotion with her class (clown) act, Paul is the King of Goof and I am an ameteur among the greatest tradesmen. It's an education... but I couldn't ask for a better trade...

SCRAPT!

There are so many memories we have, yet it's not until we see them again... that we are reminded of the wealth of our treasures of memories that are left untold. Isn't that a line somewhere...? Either way, the girls are surely growing and these scrapbook pages are but a few of our memories from the summer of 2007. These are some of the latest scrapbook pages I have done. And when I have a good pile done it pleases me to say... they're SCRAPT!

Labor Day in Missouri riding the ponies


At Disneyland May of 2007

What fun memories to share... the warm weather, those happy places, now we just need a picture of a pool and summer will be on its way!!

Its Hannah... pint-sized!

Oh my goodness these were the funniest days. Truly to experience the laughter of your first child is like rediscovering your own youth. As you can tell Paul has rediscovered his just the same... he is such an example to me... a true example of youthful happiness. Some call it plain goofy, but if happiness were a flavor... I would be eating Goofy every day! And Hannah has found her share of it too... I am so thankful to have such examples of innocence and splendid goofiness all around.

Summer of 2002 at home at Grandpa Mark's


Hannah's first road trip to Adam-Ondi-Ahman


Hannah's first school lessons...
All these memories and more remind me of the miracles that life creates-physically, spiritually and emotionally. I am thankful for these lessons and to experience them each day through our growing family.

Remember me?... It's baby Sara Kate!

With the new baby making itself known from the inside-out... I have to say it makes me reflect on when the girls were babies. It really wasn't long ago that Sara Kate was a baby... though she may think she has been around just as long as the wisest among us. She is 3 1/2 now and is looking forward to taking care of the baby. While we wait for what may come... I wanted to share some of our memories of Sara Kate with you.

Adam-Ondi-Ahman trip in Missouri


Some of the simpliest pictures preserve the sweetest memories...


There is more to come...