5 for 5: Pictures

It is said that pictures speak a thousand words.  To me, they also speak a thousand memories.  One photo can unlock a whirlwind of memories, for the better or for the worse.

Last fall, after transferring all our photos to an external hard drive, our external hard drive crashed.  We tried everything to retrieve years worth of precious photos.  And yet, it still sits in our desk drawer, a prison with no key, holding captive a myriad of memories.

I called my husband in tears when it first gave me an error message.  He tried to assure me it wasn't a big deal, but to me, it was a huge deal.  Photos are my treasures, the one earthly possession I hold onto with a firm grasp, the reason I have an entire shelf of our bookshelf devoted to scrapbooks and several totes full of scrapbooking supplies.  

In our first year of marriage, my husband has teased me often.  "Why are you taking a picture of another person?  You already know what he/she looks like."  

I read this quote yesterday, "When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white you photograph their souls” (Ted Grant).

Pictures are a mirror to a person's soul.  I capture moment after moment of the same people, because they are the souls most precious to me.   And I want to remember these moments with them, because each picture tells a different story, unraveling a lifetime of memories.

A few photo treasures of mine...

Walt Disney World, January 1998: This photo tells so many stories.  The one in the wheelchair is me with my youngest brother on my lap.  My heart surgery was a few months away yet and my energy level was so low I couldn't walk through the park.  The guy waving at the camera is my friend's dad, who works at the park and was nicknamed "Mr. Disney" by my youngest brother and sister.  This is one of our most memorable family road trips, because on the drive there, in our 11 passenger van, half of us got the flu, making for a long and stinky drive...but one we will never forget. 

 Upper Peninsula Michigan, Hanes family vacation, 2010:  This photo doesn't exactly tell a story, but it still speaks a thousand words.  My son is 10 months here and almost ready to walk.  During the day he was a happy, easygoing little guy, but the moment the sun set he became a teething nightmare.  I was completely exhausted from lack of sleep and my undiagnosed struggles with depression and anxiety the entire week and even had a meltdown in front of my husband's entire family...a shame I still struggle with.

 Klein Winter Family Day, 2008:  My grandparents loved the outdoors, especially my grandma who grew up in the big woods of northern Wisconsin.   Our family started a winter tradition years ago of gathering at my aunt and uncle's home in early February to celebrate grandpa's birth and enjoy skiing and sledding on their land.  This photo is bittersweet as I miss these two deeply, but it also reminds me of two people who loved and lived life well. 

 4th of July, 2006: Every year, my dad's family gathers in the small town he grew up in for a 4th of July parade, complete with farm machinery, square dancing, and llamas.  As kids we loved collecting bags full of candy from the people throwing it out during the parade and as adults we now enjoy making "bets" on how many tractors or horses we'll see in the parade.  This photo was taken one month before I married my best friend and the smile on my face reminds me of the excitement and anticipation of that big day.

NICU, July 2008: Our journey into parenthood began with one of the scariest experiences of my life.  Our sweet pea started having seizures less than 12 hours after her birth.  This is one of the first photos of her after she was airlifted by helicopter to the nearest NICU and reminds me of those trying days of praying and waiting for her to be well again. 

 

Project Life 2011: Week 5

Guess what arrived in the mail today??? Thanks to some birthday money from my brother and inlaws as well as some Swagbucks gift cards I had saved up, I was able to purchase my first Project Life with the recent Amazon shipment. It was scheduled to arrive today and I was anxiously listening for the UPS truck all day. Almanzo thought it was pretty exciting too - LOL!

Valerie LOVES building towers. She could build towers ALL DAY LONG. She gets very possessive about the blocks though and gets really mad if her brother gets too close to her building projects. She barricades her blocks with her body and yells "Mommy! No!" when he gets too close.

Since I am usually the one behind the camera, I rarely get photos of me with the kids. I decided that needs to change and I just love how this picture turned out.

My sister, Kelly, came to visit today to help me out while I recover from sinus surgery. The kids were so attentive while she read to them. They just loved having her visit.

We had a winter day at my uncle Mark and aunt Ellen's house yesterday. My aunt Ellen owns a bookstore and had a pile of advanced reader copies of books to share with us. I found my grandma sitting by the pile just grinning, because she felt like "a kid in a candy store". I just LOVE her!

Today, we put on our green and gold (and pink too) to cheer on the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl. I'm not a huge football fan, but I was born and raised a Packer fan. It was an exciting game to watch and even more exciting when the Packers WON! Valerie even learned to say "Go Pack Go!"

Ted LOVES when I make pies and I just happened to have all the ingredients to make a delicious pumpkin pie this weekend. Of course, we waited until the kids were in bed and enjoyed our pie with hot chocolate while cuddled up on the couch watching tv.

Another Blogging Award

Another sweet blogging friend, Terri, just gave me my second blogging award: Queen of All Things Awesome. I guess I'm supposed to blog about 7 reasons I'm awesome...I honestly feel a little weird talking about myself so much, but here goes...

I am awesome, because...

7. I have been married to my sweetheart for 2 1/2 years and am more in love with him every day. He continues to encourage me as a stay-at-home mom and brings out the best in me (when I'm not being stubborn...)

6. I have a beautiful nine month old daughter who fills my world with laughter, smiles, and happiness. I absolutely LOVE being a mom and wouldn't trade my job for anything.

5. I am going to be mommy to another sweet little one in October. God has blessed me beyond measure!

4. I LOVE to find ways to be an organic mommy too, by cloth diapering, making our own household cleaners, and growing a garden (which is really a miracle in and of itself, because I don't have a green thumb...).

3. I sew cute baby items and sell them in my Etsy shop, Sew Inspired By Baby.

2. I am determined to chronicle my daughter's life and the lives of our future children through scrapbooking and my blog so they can look back on all the ways God has blessed them and know that He was always in control.

And...the NUMBER one reason I am awesome is because...

1. I serve a GOD who is great and mighty. He has saved me from my sins, cleansed me and made me new...without Him I really wouldn't be all that awesome.

I'm also supposed to give the award to 7 other bloggers I think are awesome:

1. Veronica @ The Veronica Blog

2. Kristin @ These Little Girls of Mine

3. Amanda @ proud mommy of four

4. Angela @ Angela's Blog

5. Joye @ The Joyeful Journey

6. Karabeth @ On A High Hill

7. Teresa @ Grammy Girlfriend

Baby Scrapbooking 101

Have I mentioned before that I LOVE to scrapbook? It's possible, because I haven't scrapbooked since my Sweet Pea was born...until this past week. I started a baby scrapbook for Valerie before she was born with the hopes of adding to it each month after she was born until she was a year old. Then, my goal is to make another scrapbook for her from 1 year until high school graduation. (Yikes, that's a scary thought!) Needless to say, I had gotten VERY behind. I just couldn't figure out how to fit scrapbooking into my day of being a mommy. Last week, my mom invited me over to her house to scrapbook, because she also loves scrapbooking and has a Cricut machine that I could use. So, Tuesday I packed up my scrapbooking supplies and my baby scrapbook and spent the day scrapbooking with my mom. My mom was SO wonderful, because she entertained Valerie all day long and let me spend all day getting caught up on Valerie's baby scrapbook. I am caught up to 7 months, because I didn't have any more pictures printed.



I decided while I was pregnant with Valerie that I wanted to make a scrapbook of her first year. I knew I could easily become overwhelmed, so I decided to keep it simple, knowing that I would also be keeping track of her growth and milestones on my blog. My first step was to add a few pages of ultrasound pictures and baby belly photos. We were blessed to be able to see our daughter THREE times on an ultrasound - once around 10 weeks to double check my due date, once about a week later when the doctor had trouble listening to the heartbeat, and once around 20 weeks for the most extensive look at our daughter. I also took a few baby belly photos throughout my pregnancy and then was blessed by my cousin's wife, Alissa, to have a photo shoot with my husband a few weeks before our daughter was born. Here are two of the pages I scrapbooked before she was born:

My next goal, was to make a page from the day she was born and a page from the day we went home from the hospital. If you know our story, our days in the hospital were much longer than expected, so I added a few pages from our days in the NICU. Here are two of those pages:

Finally, I decided to scrapbook a page or two for each month. Some months I did my own little photo shoots, so I had some really cute pictures to scrapbook. Here are my two favorite pages:

My next step is to add pages for 8 months - 1 year and possibly a few fun pages for bath time, outings, visitors, etc. I can hardly believe my daughter will be one in three months...where does the time go?