Aiden the 3rd Grader!

 My blue eyed boy is officially

A 3rd grader!!!

Liam's Nursery

It's FINISHED!!!  Well......close to finished! All that needs done is his curtains and a few little finishing touches but other than that; it is baby ready!!

 The inspiration for the room. I LOVE how this turned out!

 Close up on the Thomas Kinkade painting

 Peter Pan Portal. It is so neat!

Beautiful handmade sign above his closet.

So we've got to make a trip to the Disney Store and see if we can find little Peter Pan things for finishing touches. I need to wash all Liam's clothes. Mom is making his curtain and baby blanket (pictures to follow). So yeah, we're pretty much ready for the little guy!

Hear that Liam??  TIME TO COME OUT!!!!

Liam's Room

With 6 weeks (or less!!) until Liam's arrival, things are finally coming together for his nursery!

I finally settled on a theme; it's going to be based around Thomas Kinkade's Peter Pan from the Disney Series. I found a beautiful (knock off) picture on ebay, along with some fun wall quotes, a beautiful wooden sign saying "second star to the right and straight on till morning." and other fun things on ebay (pictures to follow as we get them in the mail.) I'm super excited! It's something subtle, that matches the existing paint in his room and something he can grow up with for several years.

A few weeks ago I bought a crib off craigslist. It's a $180 crib I got for $50. The downside is the previous occupant was part beaver! I never knew a child could chew down to the wood on a crib before!! But I sanded and painted and glosses and sanded and painted and glossed and now it looks (almost) brand new! I'm very happy with it. Mom and I set it up today, with the crib set we got on sale for $35 due to a small imperfection. I LOVE it!!

My mom and my sister also found a beautiful changing table for sale at Target!

I am anxious to get everything finished in his room. So far, all that's left is washing clothes and putting up the decorations. Plus I need to buy all the little things; small baby essentials, diapers, formula etc etc.

Liam is my little garage sale baby. Almost everything I've gotten for him has either been off craigslist, garage sales or on sale at stores. We found almost all his clothes at garage sales (and my sister found some amazing deals in North Carolina.), his cribs from craigslist, dresser was my husbands, a nearly new sit and stand stroller from garage sale. Anything we've gotten from the store has been on sale.  I'm very proud of how "little" I've spent and the quality of items we've gotten.

More photos to follow as we finish up the decorations!

Ghosts of Gettysburg

Ok- I know I promised this post after our trip last month but time has really gotten away from me! I can't believe we're into august already!!  But anyways.....here's the promised post :-)

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There's something about Gettysburg. It is hallowed ground. So many young men died such violent deaths. Some quickly took from this world; others left to suffer for hours or days on end. Just walking the grounds of Gettysburg, you can feel it in the air. This beautiful place is so thick with sorrow. The ground that I walked was once stained red. The rivers were crimson. Bodies littered fields to the point where no grass was visible. I can't even imagine the smell or the sounds as the wounded lay, frightened and dying.

With so much violence and pain; not all that died found a peaceful path to the "other side".  There are many ways that ghosts make their presence known. Most often, it is through "orbs", which can not be seen by the naked eye but through photography. They look like circles of light, big and small. Sometimes appearing just a few at a time; other times (as you'll see, in HUGE clusters).  Sometime ghosts can take on their human shape, again mostly through photography, but sometimes appearing to a person as well.

My husband and brothers loved going out at night Ghost hunting. Most of these photos are taken at "The Grove" near the  high school. A very bloody battle was fought at The Grove. The ground was so saturated with blood that it squished red when walked upon, if a spot could be found between the hundreds of fallen soldiers.

My brother, Devon; you can see a few small orbs in front of him.

 Nice bright orb hanging over the wooded path.

 My husband Brett and brother Trevor; Trevor is looking right up at a faint orb.

 Orb cluster

 The orb in the right corner is a great example; very bright and zooming in you can see the "sparkles" on the edges.

 HUGE orb cluster

 Brett being followed down the path.

 He says he felt "cold" walking back-often a sign of a ghost. Well yea....he has orbs surrounding him!

 One step later and they are gone.

This is my favorite one. In the center of the orb cluster, you can see the shadow/outline of a person. There was no one there when this photo was taken.

Well, no one alive that is.