"Treasure Trunks"

Those who have known me for awhile know that I used to be a scrapbook fanatic…so much so that I used to be a Creative Memories Consultant. I kept up with it pretty well when Makenna was a baby and toddler. I had her baby book done by her first birthday and was working or the age 2-3 book when Jack came along.

Yeah.

So I have a baby book for Jack, and have scrapbooked it…I’m up to the day he was born.

He’s now 2.

I just don’t have the time at this point, and with the ages they are at, and I’ve made peace with that for now. I do have a birthday book for each of them, where both Jeff and I write them a letter on each of their birthdays, and I add a picture of them with their mommy, and a picture of them with their daddy. 2 pages a year are do-able for me right now.

But I do still want to hang on to and preserve all of their special moments and treasures as they grow…special drawings, crafts, certificates, etc.

So, a couple years ago I found these treasure boxes at "Michaels" and bought one for each of the kids.


I haven’t painted or stained them because I can’t decide how I want to finish them…once they are painted, it’s so…final. Then I can’t change them…so they will remain like this for awhile.

With the age Makenna is at, hers has much more in it at the moment, but Jack will starting adding to his very soon. In them I have their birthday notices from the local newspaper, special Mothers day and Fathers day crafts they have made, special cards they have received, drawings from friends, and other treasures. The other day I showed Makenna her “Treasure Trunk” and she took such pleasure looking through what was inside.

I have kept different drawings she has done over the last couple years, and she enjoyed seeing how she used to draw, compared to how she draws now.

A picture of herself holding balloons.

A picture of Mommy and Daddy getting married…with Makenna and Jack there.

A picture of Horton, from “Horton hears a Who”…she went through a Horton phase a year or two ago.

And a picture of Elmo, that she drew for Jack

The Victoria Public School newsletter from when she was in JK, that showcased a piece of her writing on the front page.

Different certificates she has received:

Different crafts from Jodi’s

The top one, in the second picture, is of her handprints from just after her first birthday.

This one is a bunch of “turkey feathers” and on each one she wrote something she was thankful for…including, of course….

A Valentines day card from daddy…

The button she received the day Jack was born…

And, my favourite, this picture:

That her friend Owen painted for her at a playgroup a couple years ago…at that time Owen was right into orange trucks and would often tell Makenna that “someday he would come pick her up in his orange truck”. When he gave this to her, I just had to keep it.

There's even a very special postcard she recieved addressed specifically to her, directly from Australia, a place she has never been to, and knows very little about, but is infatuated with.

I am a sentimental person. Just before I got married, my grandma handed me a pile of crafts, letters and other things I had made for her when I was little, that she had kept all those years. I still have them, up in my own Hope Chest. I think my kids will like to see their treasures, and hear the stories behind them as they grow. And filing them in a “Treasure Trunk” is much more manageable to me right now, than scrapbooking them.

:)