Way Up High

This is a fun memory! I couldn't help snapping a ton of pictures from just this one ride. The boys screamed the whole time, "Hi Mommy! We're way up high!" Dave was just as big a kid.

I LOVE how this layout looks. Most of my layouts are based off of sketches designed by Allison Davis and Debbie Sanders from Scrapbook Generation, and I followed their sketch down to the last detail. Did I mention I love the results? 

I typically use neutral colored card stock for my background, but when I chose the yellow paper I thought I'd be daring and use a purple background. When the layout was done I noticed the purple brought out the color of the seats in the ride. That was not on purpose.

Photo Close Ups:

Who's the bigger kid?

Their faces say it all!

I love the laughing faces!

Never Take for Granted the Simple Things

I'll be honest . . . sometimes I look at this layout and think it's too busy, and other times I looks at it and love it. I guess it just depends on the day! It was important for me to scrapbook these photos. Caleb had only had his power wheel chair a couple of weeks, so his new found mobility and freedom were relatively new and it was so wonderful to see him able to move on his own!

We were in Cape Cod with my brother, Peter, and his family. Jess had hung beach towels on a clothes line and Caleb just had to run through them! He was being a typical four-year-old. It was so much fun to watch him. 

I love the expression on Caleb's face! He was pretending he was "racing" and was determined to win! It was so adorable to watch!

Scrapbooking Tip:

I scraplifted this idea - mix and matching different stickers to create a title. I knew my title was going to be longer so I looked for smaller stickers for most of the words, and then used the larger stickers for the words I wanted to emphasize.

Journaling Close Up:

Helping Daddy

As I was looking through a stack of pages that needed to be put in albums, I found this layout. The now familiar grief washed over me taking my breath away. Something as simple as seeing Dave doing normal everyday things with the boys reminds me all over again of the memories that won't be made. But as quickly as the grief hit, it went away and I smiled as I remembered this day. . . 

Dave had trimmed a tree branch that was close to our house and Zach had to rush outside to be part of the noise. Once Dave was done he began to drag the branch to our "brush pile" on the far side of the yard and Zach just had to help! A precious memory of a little boy wanting to be like his Daddy. 

Scrapbooking Tip:

Because the pictures were busy I wanted to keep the papers and embellishments simple. One of my favorite brands of paper is Echo Park and their camping collection seemed to be the best fit. I especially loved the wood grain paper and both the brown and orange papers matched Zach's outfit - he was getting lost in all the green. A few leave stickers and a simple journaling sticker adhered with foam tape completed the look I was trying to achieve.

Photo Close Up:

This was one of my favorite photos on the layout - it captures Zach's little personality. He was starting to go the opposite direction and had to get turned around. He caught on quick though - and he stayed with Dave until the job was done!

Travel Adventure

Dave loved creating adventures for our family. He loved to travel! In June of 2009 we went to Niagara Falls. It was a great trip, and I'm so glad that Dave took us. We made some awesome memories, and I'm so glad that Daddy was there to see the boys experience Niagara Falls for the first time.

Being the obsessive scrapbooker that I am, I had to take pictures of the boys strapped into their car seats on the way to Canada. In fact, we were on the bridge waiting to go through customs when I snapped these.

I love Caleb's expression! I was trying to get him to look out his window because the falls were RIGHT THERE!! He wasn't very impressed. On the other hand, Zach was getting excited because I was acting excited. He was smiling and laughing but not sure why.

What was Dave doing? Laughing at me! He always used to ask, "You have a layout in mind, don't you?" As I would snap away trying to get THE perfect shot, he would often say, "Boys, just do what Mommy says and she'll stop taking pictures."

As far as the design of this page, I used a sketch from Scrapbook Generation - my absolute favorite go-to for inspiration! Then all my papers, stickers and embellishments came from the same Simple Stories collection. It was a very simple page that came together quickly but I loved the finished result. But the most important aspect of this layout? It brings back some great memories.

Welcome to the World, Baby Zachary!

My scrapbooking style has evolved over the years, but this is the layout I did for the beginning of Zach's album. Again, I chose busy pattern paper for my background. Lately I tend to gravitate toward smaller patterns and also solid backgrounds. I also was in the phase where I was typing all my journaling because I didn't care for my handwriting. That has changed. Now I don't care what my handwriting looks like, what's more important to me is preserve my writing for the boys.

Journaling Close Up

I added white mats behind the photos to make them stand out from the background. I wasn't into inking my edges then - and that would have made them stand out even more . . . . Hmmmmm. . . . . it might be worth going back to do that. . . .

I love this picture - even though you don't see Dave's face you can tell that he's smiling. Smiling at his little boy. . .  and falling in love with Zachary Robert!

Daddy & Zachary

Zachary just celebrated his sixth birthday - and his first without Daddy. Other than our first Christmas without Dave, just five days after his funeral, the boys' birthdays have been the hardest "firsts" for me. I always think back to the day they were born, and it was just Dave and I in the delivery room. Dave held both boys before I did. It was Dave up with me in the middle of the nights. And it was Dave the boys first fell in love with!

These pictures were taken in the first few months of Zachary's life. He was such a fussy baby - especially those first few months. Lots of holding, burping, and letting him fall asleep up on our shoulder so he'd keep his last meal down.

As far as the scrapbook layout, I kept it simple because of the busy pattern paper I wanted to use. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have used light blue stickers directly on the pictures because they blend into the colors of the photos on the right page. But it looked good at the time I was scrapping - and I was most likely sleep deprived because I had a fussy four month old!

Photo Close Ups:

I took this picture at 1:00am Zachary's first night home from the hospital. That was a miserable night with both Dave and I trying to calm Zach down. Daddy had the magic touch! We waited until Zach was in a deep sleep before we tried laying him down and going back to bed.

Daddy and his little man! Zach was about two months old when this was photo was taken. Dave absolutely loved being a daddy - and Zach adored his "Dayee".

I should do a layout of all the pictures of Dave asleep with the boys! As any new parents, we slept when we could - and with Zach we never knew when the next nap might be. If Zach was sleeping it seemed either Dave or I was sleeping too - and obviously Dave didn't waste anytime moving to the couch or bedroom!

I know that Zach's memories of Dave will be few and far between. That is so painful to me. Zach had the world's best daddy and he won't remember. He'll have to be told what Dave was like and how much Daddy loved him. But, you know what they say . . . a picture's worth a thousand words.

Shamu Stadium

Ahh. . . . Shamu Stadium. . . the last stop in Sea World. We walked past a vendor selling fish puppets and both boys went nuts. Caleb picked out a dolphin and Zach wanted the Orca Whale. This was perfect because we made it to the stadium early, and the boys entertained themselves for the longest time! Of course Daddy joined in on the fun and put on a puppet show like only Daddy could do - complete with silly songs and voices. We still have those puppets, and occasionally Zach will play with them, acting out his own silly plays, just like his Daddy.

Scrapbooking Tip:

I am particularly proud of this page for a unique technique I used. I was having trouble getting a picture of the whales jumping out of the water. If my picture was clear, I only could see the tips of the whales' tails. The pictures with the whales in perfect position were blurry. I was just about to go without the picture when inspiration struck!

I grabbed one of my blurry pictures out of the garbage and cut out the whales. I then used foam adhesive to attach the whales to one of the clear photos of the stadium.

I was very pleased with the result! At a distance you can't really tell that I merged two pictures. I know some scrapbookers would have used Photoshop, but (confession time), I really don't like using the computer to scrapbook! Occasionally I will type out some of my journaling, but I like to see my handwriting on my layouts. 

Here's my argument for using handwriting over computer journaling. Ever since Dave died anytime I find something in his handwriting, even a grocery list, I save it. I love seeing his small, all caps print. Dave didn't write as much as I do, so what I find is very precious. I also want the boys to know that little tid bit about him. What I have a lot of in Dave's handwriting are the love letters he wrote to me while we were dating, some after we were married, then a lot when he was going through the Police Academy. But most of those "handwriting samples" are for my eyes only, and while I will share some with the boys as they get older to show them how much their Daddy loved Mommy and later them, they are not scrapbook material. To collect things to show the boys is so important for me. Anything that can give them glimpses of their Daddy is worth saving.

I hope that my boys would feel the same way if anything ever happened to me. My handwriting is all over the scrapbooks. Notes to them telling stories, telling them I love them. They will never have to wonder how Daddy and Mommy felt about them.

So that's way I'm going to continue to handwrite my journaling, and I don't see this ever changing! A computer might make the printing perfect and spacing even, but it can't add the personal touch handwriting can.