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.

Coolest Night EVER!

This past weekend was the Cleveland Cultural Irish Festival in Berea, Ohio.  Being big into our Irish heritage, we love going to Irish Festivals and this one is always a lot of fun!

It's always great when our favorite bands play as well; Scythian and Seven Nations!!

Scythian played first and Aiden and Devon went into the pit to watch. Dan, the guitarist/accordian/singer, noticed Aiden right away (he had on a bagpipe shirt of course!) and grinned at him. Now Scythian is a very very very high energy concert. There is a lot of bouncing, dancing and clapping. It is one of the funnest concerts I have ever been to. I LOVE seeing them live. The energy they have while playing fiddle and guitar is just insane. How anyone can bounce like that AND carry a tune is amazing!  Aiden and my brother Devon stayed in the pit most of the show; Grady and I joined them for some dancing later. Grady enjoyed flirting with the girls in the crowd by lifting his shirt and showing off his belly. He's a goof!

After the show, Aiden and I went to the merchandise tent to buy a few CD's and the guys came over after they finished cleaning up. Aiden went up to meet the guys and get his CD signed and Dan recognized him as says

"Hey! It's the piper!"  So they chatted about music a bit, signed Aiden's CD and took a few pictures. It was great. Super, Super nice guys. Can't wait to see them next weekend when we go to the Dublin Irish Festival!

Then the next concert was Seven Nations. They have a song Grady LOVES called "All the People." Grady loves singing it and when we saw them friday night, they didn't sing it because they had a short set due to rain. My mom had an idea to make a sign and Devon made one saying "Please play All the People for my Little Brother Grady."  Aiden held it up while they were in the pit during the show.  The guys from Seven Nations brought AIDEN on stage to hold his sign to the crowd.....then asked if HE wanted to sing the song with them!! It was SO cool seeing Aiden onstage with the band and he sang the whole thing! Grady was in the corner dancing, and holding his sign so after the song, Kirk (the lead singer) brings Grady over, picks him up and Grady grabs the mic and yells "HI!"  The crowd loved it so he did it again! It was too cute!  Such an amazing memory for my boys and I think the guys in Seven Nations enjoyed it as well.

The whole way out of the festival that night, people kept coming up and giving the boys high fives and telling them they did an awesome job. It was so great. Aiden kept saying...."I'm famous now Mom!"

Sadly- I didn't get any pics. I will have to steal some from my mom so I can post and share because they are SO cute!! All in all, it was an amazing night!

Hershey Park

 Aiden's in heaven!

 "I eat it now?"

 A pregnant woman's favorite place

 Can you tell he's excited?

 My baby going on a big ride with Daddy

 Yup....he's up there. I was down here; freaking out. I couldn't watch!

 Clear the road!!! Grady's driving!

 Aiden was very excited to finally see the Hershey Kiss lights

 A tired little boy with his reese man

And my brothers bought 10 lbs of Jolly Ranchers......each.

Gettysburg

My family and I took a little break from reality and escaped to Gettysburg, PA for a long weekend. We had an wonderful time. I have always loved the Civil War and Battle of Gettysburg but hadn't been to Gettysburg for many years. Aiden has been developing a love for the Civil War and Gettysburg and I couldn't wait to share this beautiful, hallowed place with him.

Grady exploring Sachs Bridge. The bridge has been rebuilt since the war due to a flood but almost all the original materials were used in the rebuilding. This bridge was used as a coming and going of both armies and story has it, deserters were hung from its rafters

 Gettysburg is one of the most beautiful areas I have ever been to.

 Aiden exploring the nooks and crannies of Devils Den

 Scene of one of the most famous Gettysburg "body" pictures; the dead sharpshooter propped against the wall.

 The boys loved exploring and climbing.

 The Irish Brigade Monument. (At the foot lies an Irish Wolfhound)

One of my favorite monuments- the detail is just AMAZING. From the stitching on the pants, to the holes in the coat, it is just a beautiful, beautiful monument in the Gettysburg National Cemetary Annex. 

 My brothers and sons at the National Cemetary.

 Over 700 markers, just labeled by a number marking where unknown soldiers lie.

This is one of my favorite stories. Evergreen Cemetery is in Gettysburg and the family who ran it consisted on a Mr. Thorn, Mrs Thorn and 3 young boys. The father went to war, as many did. Mrs Thorn, who was 6 months pregnant, was left with 3 boys, ages 7, 5 and 3 when the Battle of Gettysburg began. When the 3 day battle was over, Gettysburg was littered with bodies. Mrs Thorn and her 3 young boys buried over 100 soldiers, union and confederate in Evergreen Cemetery on their own. 

The grave of Jennie Wade, the only civilian killed during the battle. Jennie was baking bread for the soldiers when a bullet came through her kitchen door. 

 Johnny Reb and Billy Yank

 The kitchen Door at Jennie Wade house where the bullet entered that killed Jennie.

 Outside Jennie Wade house.

 Grady loved the cannons! He would yell "Ok? OK? OK?! BOOM!!"

 This is Sally (and Grady of course.) Sally followed the 11th PA INF everywhere, including into battle. She would stand guard over the bodies of her soldiers when they fell in the field. She survived Gettysburg only to be killed later in the war.

 We left a few doggie treats for Sally

 Grady was super excited!

 General Lee looking across Picketts Charge

 The story of Chamberlain and the 20th Maine and how they held the line on Little Round Top is my favorite. This is the first time I've seen the monument and to see this, covered in stones and notes of thanks was very moving.

 Some of the stones, flags and notes left around the 20th Maine Monument.

 View of the Slaughter Pit and Devils Den from Little Round Top

 Aiden, Grady and our friend Josiah found a union soldier waiting on the hill

 Pennsylvania Monument

 Grady at the High Water Mark

 My handsome Aiden growing up so fast

 Grady found a walking stick

 This gentleman survived the battle and later came back to carve his name into the rock where he was stationed. It's still there almost 150 years later

 The rocks where the name can be found- it's a bit of a treasure hunt.

Grady at the top of the observation tower on Culp's Hill.

I have MANY more pictures to share! We also spent a day at Hershey Park and did a bit of ghost hunting around Gettysburg at night. Wait until you see those pictures! I will have those blogs up very soon!