Happy Halloween 2008

Journaling:
(on green background)
This year, as the past three, my kiddos took off to go Trick-or-Treat with their friends. They usually stop by at some point in their evening festivities (either before or after they've gotten loaded down with candy). I snapped a couple pics of them all dressed up and enjoying the night.

October 31, 2008

(on orange background below upper left picture)
Josh (a nerd), Rowdy (Flavor Flav), & Daniel (Um, a gangster?)
***striking a goofy pose***

(on orange background below lower right picture)
Bella (a gypsy), Tysha (Football fan), & Hannah (a little girl) ***grrr for the camera***

Bathing Beauty

Journaling: Two-year-old Tiffani decided one day to pass the time at Meme's house by searching her dresser drawers. Imagine her surprise when she found several of Meme's bathing suits fit her just perfectly!

I'm sure my niece will near die of embarrassment when she discovers these pictures are on the web!! hehe But I can't help it!! These are some of my all-time favorite pictures of her just being a kid! She looked SO adorable and was having so much fun modeling her fashionable creation!

A few poems

Years ago, when I was in high school and early college..I spent a lot of time writing poetry. So I decided to take some time and put these down on digital scrap pages. So here they are:

No one makes me feel
Quite the way I do
When I'm with no one else,
No one else, but you.

I pray this feeling lasts
Longer than they often say.
For I want to be with you,
And I want you to also want to stay.

You mean the world to me.
There's nothing I wouldn't do,
Nothing I wouldn't say,
To be wit no one else,

That is, no one else,
but you.

Few things can symbolize
The feelings that I have.
I can't really describe
Why these feelings are.

A dozen roses never say
As much as that one,
Single, solitary rose.
The feelings shared are special,
Feelings that come few times.

These are the feelings that I have for you.
Those of that one,
Single, solitary rose.
That will be the symbol of my undying love
For you, for always and forever!!

Jump!

Journaling: On a Summer day in Broken Arrow, the family all headed to the neighborhood pool. Hannah spent a lot of time splashing in the kiddie pool, while Kyle and Josh played in the big pool. I thought it was great to show each of them jumping in!!

Hair Color Obsession?

Journaling: Over the years I've had a love/hate relationship with my own hair color. I've been REALLY blonde, brunette, auburn, magenta. So many colors and so interesting to see how the change in hair color can bring out new and interesting personality traits.

I couldn't tell you where I got the paper and elements that I used in this page, because I'm not that good at organizing my scrappy stuff. But I can tell you they had the name "Claire-Stephens-SD" in them. So feel free to Google it and maybe you'll get lucky. The other day I was just thinking of all the many hair color choices I've made over the years. So I decided to put them together for all my friends to be able to see in one place. hehe

FYI, the picture from 1993 is PRE-any hair coloring!! So that's the real me! The 1999 picture is natural as well.

Stages of Me

Journaling:
1975:
humble beginnings

1982:
a day by the fountain

1994:
my loving family on my wedding day

I've seen several other people do projects where they chronicle sections of their life in scrapbook. This is my first attempt at something similar. Pink has always been my favorite color and I LOVE the way it combines with that certain shade of medium brown. Most of these pages I've made I have an idea in my head of what I want them to look like and how I want them arranged, not this time. I knew the colors I wanted to use, but I had several pictures to choose from and no clue as to their eventual orientation on the page. So whereas a lot of the previous pages have taken me 20 minutes at best, this one took the better part of an hour. Hope you all like how it came out in the end.

Easter 2004 in Clifton

Journaling (Clockwise from bottom left):
Betty taking pictures & me looking on

Papa & Bill enjoying the day

Memaw, Bill, Tom, Hannah, & Owen hunting eggs

Jamie, Zane, Hannah, Owen, & Josh

For Easter we all met up at Kyle's mother's home and had a lovely dinner followed by a fun Easter Egg hunt! All the kids had a great time and the weather couldn't have been better if we'd ordered it up!

My Graduation

Journaling:
Graduation Day 2007
After working diligently for 14 yrs, changing majors countless times, and attending a handful of different jr. colleges...I DID IT! I graduated from Collin County Community College in May 2007 with an Associates of Arts-Business degree! I was SO proud of myself. My kids, hubby, and parents attended the ceremonies.

Halloween 2003

Halloween is kind of a big deal around our place. Kyle and I LOVE dressing up and going to friends' parties! We've gotten together with Chad and Lacey almost every year, even if just to hand out candy or let the kids trick-or-treat. In 2003, we went to their Halloween party out at their house and has a fantastic time!!

Here's the cast of characters:
Top left: Kyle and Dorsey as Beaker and Bunsen Honeydew (from the Muppets)

Middle: Hannah as a Cool Pink Lady

Top Right: Anjie and Alayna as a Cute Baby and a Ladybug

Lower left: Chad and Lacey as Neo and Trinity (from the Matrix)

Lake Somerville

May 2007 I graduated from college, (yeah!! finally got my associates degree!!) afterwords we headed to Lake Somerville for some fun with the family for Mother's Day weekend. Kyle, the kids and myself decided to stick around one day longer than most everyone else. So in the morning we hung out at the beachy section of our park and relaxed in the sun.

Journaling:
Josh and Hannah enjoying the sand

Me relaxing in the cool water

Me and Kyle...chillin'


This was quite possibly one of the best Saturdays ever!! A lot of us spent most of the day on the barge and just hangin' out. The kids actually taxied drinks from the shore out to us and giggled and had more fun, also.

Journaling:
Gary, Donald Ray, Glen, & some other guy

Everyone on the "Moyer Lake Barge"

Meghan, Matthew, and Josh

Pool Time 2003

Under pictures (clockwise from left):
Everyone enjoying the cool waters

A quick kiss for Papa Ralph

Meme, Karen, Papa Ralph, Jimmy, and Josh visiting

"Jump Tiffani!!!"

Journaling: A typical summer day at Meme and Papa Ralph's home is spent in the pool. Today the whole gang was there! Josh and Hannah had lots of fun playing with Meme, Papa, Karen, Jimmy, and Tiffani!

Freedom Day

Journaling: Through my husband's company they had a volunteer opportunity. Station #3 of the Dallas Fire & Rescue was in need of some repair. So these individuals took a day and gave back to these brave men and women. Kyle and his team built some shelving units, swept, cleaned, painted, repaired parts of the ceiling, landscaped, refinished a table, and more in the short time they had. It made my them all very happy to be giving of their time and abilities. There was a ceremony/party afterwords where many firefighters shared their own experiences with 9/11, many had gone to NY and ground zero. I get tearful thinking of these great men and of the time my husband gave to them this day.

10th Birthday

On May 27, 2007 I baked a cookie cake for my "little" girl's 10th birthday. Serenaded by her Daddy and brother she enjoyed the meal and relaxed for the day. She had some friends over that evening for a sleepover, popcorn, and movies.

I wanted to keep this layout simple, hoping to capture the innocence of my lovely daughter. SO glad I snapped the pictures of her before we sang and of my hubby and son singing to her.

Thanksgiving 2001

Clockwise from lower left:
Most Thanksgivings are spent with friends, family, great food, laughs, domino games, foorball games, and more. This fabulous Thursday was no exception!

Doris "Memaw" Moyer

Mother, Josh, Matthew, David, Hannah, & Kris

Matthew having a tea party

Dorsey, Tracy, Kyle, Mother, Hannah, David, Umbrella

Kyle & Dorsey

Aunt Shirley & Jeffrey

Believe

Never stop believing in dreaming and never stop dreaming of believing. This is what gives us hope and what keeps us alive.

I've been asked a lot of times if this picture is from a postcard. Nope! It's my son Joshua. I took this picture just moments after I took the picture from the "A Perfect Day" post. This is another one of my favorites. I loved the way there happened to be a sailboat going by as he ran through the gulls on the beach.

A Perfect Day

Sometimes a perfect day can be as simple as sitting on the beach relaxing in the sun. On a July afternoon in Corpus Christi, I happened upon a perfect opportunity. My son was laying in the surf, my daughter was looking at her brother. I called out to her and she turned. I snapped the picture immediately. She'd never looked so beautiful! The innocence of a 6-yr-old staring me in the eyes. What cares does this child have? Or is she just enjoying a wonderful summer day?

I have a handful of favorite pictures that I've taken. This is one of them. The Reflections picture is another one of them. I always seems those shots you just stumble upon make the best pictures. This is another one of my pictures that friends have urged me to enter into contests. I wanted to make this scrapbook page as simple as possible, but still elegant. I think I succeeded. What do you think?

Mother's Day 2001

A collection of photos from my Mother's family's annual trip to Lake Somerville. Whoever CAN go usually goes and camps for the weekend. Meemaw, my grandmother, is no longer with us, but seeing her in these pictures brings a smile to my face and a lil' tear to my eye. We all miss her every day. In a way, I feel like every time we go down there to camp its honoring her. Love you and miss you, Meemaw!

Christmas 2003

We spent the holidays in a couple of places this year. We were at Meemaw's with Mother's family and also at my sister's home. Everyone had SO much fun and I just LOVE being with family!

Looking at these pictures just warms my heart! I have such fond memories of being with family. We really don't get the opportunity to spend as much time with my Mother's family as I'd like. I DO plan on changing that this year, however. Since I'm no longer in college, and not currently working, we should be able to make it to more family affairs this year.

For Meme

I put this together for my mother. I have already printed off two of them and today I'll go get some frames and put them in the mail to both my mother and dad. I know she'll just adore them. I printed off two so that both Mother and Dad can have their own copies and don't have to argue over who gets to take it to work with them. hehehe

Reflections

On a quiet summer day, a friend and I decided to meet at a local fountain and let the kids play. At one point the girls sat down and just watched the boys play. It was such a tranquil moment that I couldn't resist snapping a picture.

I took this picture in 2002 of my daughter and a friend's daughter (Carrie Kaschmitter). It has remained one of my favorite pictures ever since.

For Daddy

These are just a few of the projects that I've done in the past couple of days as a request for my hubby. He wanted me to go through our pictures and find ones of the kiddos together (and happy). I found all of these, and a few more, and made these. The last two I printed off to put in frames so that he can take them to work. They're all 8 x 10 so they'll fit easily in a standard picture frame.

Bubbles and Bikes

A sweet summer day at Meme and Papa's house. What more could a kid want than bubbles and a trike? - Summer 2001

I've always LOVED these pictures and I could think of no better way to showcase my sweeties. Joshua was 6 yrs old, Hannah was 4 yrs old. They had more fun playing in the front yard that day!! Hannah had just gotten a "Bubbles" Powerpuff Girls umbrella, Joshua a cool bubble machine and they played for hours with their new toys! Dad found a red trike in the garage and then it was rides up and down the sidewalk until time to come in the house.

Halloween 2002

We had a great time at the Karstens' Halloween Party! Kyle went in drag, Hannah as a beauty queen, and Joshua as an agent for MIB.

This was a really fun scrap page to put together. I had a few pictures to choose from and had never done anything to display them before. I recently found some great free Halloween scrap items and thought this would be a FANTASTIC use for them.

Army Brat

Written on the paper in the left corner: On a blistery January afternoon, you went to Ft. Hood to visit your Uncle Brian. I don't think I've ever seen you so proud.

Joshua actually got to play "hooky" from school this day to go with his dad to visit his Uncle Brian at work. He's an officer in the Army, so his work is at an Army base. Joshua has long been enamored with all things military. I figure he'll end up joining the military one day for sure. A few years earlier when they did a "hero project" for school each child had to name who their hero was, and Joshua said his Uncle Brian. It brought tears to both mine and hubby's eyes. e

I've been wanting to do something with these pictures for some time now. When my son returned from his field trip he had me upload the pictures and put them on a CD so he could take them to school and share them with all his classmates.

I think I'm Getting the Hang of This

This is one I got the idea for while looking through several other people's scrap pages. I thought it would be neat to include pictures of me as a child, my kiddos, and something associated with the hubby (Texas A & M).

I'll probably hit up Fry's today and see if they have some digital scrapbooking swag that I can pick up while I'm getting Kyle's birthday presents.

New to the process

Ok, for all you veteran Digital Scrapbookers out there, please bear with me. This is my first foray into this world. Anywho...here's my first page I created.


So how'd I do?