Long Awaited Update

Today was Thanksgiving, which means Christmas is getting closer and closer!!! I've been wrapping for the past two Sundays and I'm happy to say I've got everything wrapped that has been purchased so far!  I'm done with about 75 percent of the people I buy for!   I found a great deal on personalized memory boxes and have designed A TON of them!  Federal Express Ground has visited our house many times in the past two weeks!  I even designed one for myself:

Most of the ones I designed for my friends/teachers look like this:

My mom and brother have had me design some for them to give as gifts also:

I finished Ryan’s ornament for this Christmas.  Each year he gets a new ornament that coincides with what he was doing that year.  I actually ended up making three different ornaments!  First, I figured I would make something to do with Jewel, since it is his first job.  So I asked him to get an extra name tag and I thought I’d make something out of it.  On the back I put a picture of him and the associate of the month sign.  But I wasn’t really “thrilled” with it.

So, then I found this boy sitting at a desk with a computer when I was looking online - and thought I could make something like a “cashier” out of it:

BEFORE:

I painted the shirt – purchased some doll house groceries, and made a mini name badge – then handmade a paper bag  from scrapbook paper that I printed with the Jewel logo. After hot gluing all the grocery items, this is how it turned out:

After purchasing the groceries off of ebay – I received some that were way too big in comparison to the size of the counter and the boy, so instead of throwing them away, I made another grocery bag – bigger -  and put my “extra” groceries in it. When printing on the paper I was using to make the bag, I but “associate of the month “ .

So, now he has THREE FIRST JOB ornaments to hang on the tree:

I hope Ryan likes them as much as the people who I have shared them with!

We tried taking a family picture today - to throw into our Christmas cards ( since a couple people mentioned we have a family picture ALSO)  – but I’m not too happy with how they turned out:

So I am going with the one we took over the fourth of July:

This is one of our Christmas Cards this year:  (Folding Card)

Front:  

                                 Right Inside                                  

The other version is a flat card:

I’ve been busy making A LOT of gifts for people – I made Ryan his Varsity Football book.

There's a player whose parents are unable to attend any of the games – We give him a ride sometimes and I make sure to take “extra” pictures of him – so I made him a book too.

I made my brother a book of his Racecar Experience:

On Wednesday, Ryan has his football banquet – I was asked by the coach, to create a DVD of the pictures I took throughout the season.  I took 10,000 pictures – so I went through and picked out the best of the best and burned EIGHTY copies for each of the players. There should be over 400 people watching it prior to the presentation!!!!!

I’ve uploaded it to YouTube and Vimeo – but haven’t released it to the players until after the ceremony.  I had to break it up into five parts because it was a huge file to upload! Take a peek and look for number 64!!!!

PART ONE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QzLoaSHjS0

PART TWO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beqtfE-Fi-0

PART THREE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8Ui-21XBcQ

PART FOUR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZNequWxGZU

PART FIVE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBZjszdETqQ

That's it for now!  Happy Holidays!!!

Lisa

Fall Fun!

This weekend was "homecoming".  (actually Ryan's school does not have homecoming yet - because there are no alumni due to the fact it is a new school!)  We met up at the Riverwalk to take pictures. 

Look at my handsome boy!

Notice his bootineer!

Ryan and Raymond have been friends for over 8 years! He lives directly across the street from us!  Cassidy is Ryan's "new" girlfriend and Gina is Cassidy's best friend - who went with Raymond as a friend.  After pictures were taken, the four went to Giordano's for dinner, then to school for the dance.

Ryan and Cassidy. We didn't do too bad matching his tie! (We only knew that the dress was green and black!)  Ryan purchased the corsage on his own! There were rhinestones inside the flower arrangement.

This was my weekend project.  These cute little ghost cover a Renuzit Air Freshner! They are so adorabale!  It takes about an hour to make ONE - so it was quite an ordeal making so many!  I will be giving them as a fall gift to friends at school.

CLOSE UP!

Last weekend, we celebrated my Dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Dad!

We are in our last week of Football.  I've been taking over 1000 pictures between the Varsity and Jr. Varsity Teams. It's been fun capturing all the excitement! 

Molly Shannon visted Brookdale last month.  She wrote a book and came to do a presentation for the kids.  She's been in a lot of movies and was on Saturday Night Live for many years! 

Tomorrow we have a field trip in Kindergarten! It's going to be a brisk day at the Pumpkin Farm!

Until Next Time

September Update

Hard to believe that September is almost over.  The weeks are flying by.  We spend Friday nights and Saturday mornings on the football field. It's been a lot of fun being on the field taking pictures of the boys.  I average close to 1000 pictures per weekend. (I'm sure about 10% of them are of Ryan!) .  Most of the weekend I spend uploading, editing, and sharing links to the pictures.  It's worth the time, I've received so many emails from parents thanking me.

I've been busy creating things for school.  Posters, signs, book covers, and math munipulatives.  It's been crazy busy, but I enjoy it!  I'll have to be sure to share some photos once I take some! 

Once again, Ryan was recognized by Jewel and was offered a promotion to cashier!

 It was a big decision because it involves a week of intense training that must be completed within a 4 day period.  Unfortunately, he will be ineligible to play football this weekend since he has had to miss all the practices. His teachers were understanding and gave him his homework early, so he'd have time to complete it over the weekend.  After this week, his hours should go back to his normal "school hours"!  He was extremely happy that he will not have to do carts in the winter!

Not too much more going on.  This week I am helping host a baby shower at school - for the teacher I worked with last year.  I'll update again soon!