End of School Year Craziness

One of the other moms in Jeremy's class compared May to Christmas - tons of running around, shopping, and trips to school for all the end of year activities: teacher appreciation week, recitals, field trips, learning who the next year's teachers will be, etc.  Combining that with several work deadlines in the last 2 weeks has made me look like the proverbial chicken with it's head cut off.

I have managed to get a few digital pages done.  This first one is of Jeremy, the weekend he got to bring his violin home and give us concerts. He was just beaming with pride each time he picked it up.  (All images are clickable for greater detail.)

Weekend Concert. Digital Supplies: Paper: Flying South by Jesse Edwards, 

Simple Classics No. 2 by Katie Pertiet, Flowers and Pinstripes by Jesse Edwards, 

Journaling spot: The Good Earth by Zoe Pearn, Calendar: Pick-nics Lil Detail Card 

by Jenn Wilson Designs, Staple: Staple Its by Pattie Knox, Brush: Date Strip Stamps 

No. 2 by Katie Pertiet, Fonts: CK Ali's Writing, Elephant.

Journaling: Bringing home the violin is an exicting time for a Ravenscroft kindergarten student. Jeremy was thrilled to play concerts for us every day and show us what he's learned from Ms. Hitchcock. His favorite song is "See the Little Monkey" and his favorite note is C-sharp.

His class recital was on Monday the 17th.  After the recital, there was a reception in his classroom.  I made this layout to give to his teacher, who does a remarkable job with all these little ones.

Play. Supplies: Paper: Letter Box by Katie Pertiet, Sweet Mystery by Melgen 

Designs, Little Creepers by Mindy Teresawa, Vintage Linens by Shabby Miss 

Jenn Designs, Celebrate Paper Pack 4 by Baers Garden Designs, Frames: Classic 

Curled Photo Frames No. 1 by Katie Pertiet, Swirled edge: Colorful Edgers 

No. 2 by Katie Pertiet, Brush: Musical by Jesse Edwards, Alpha (recolored): 

Katie's Jewels by Pattie Knox, Stitches: Double Straight Stitches by Tia Bennett.

And finally, a layout for/about Ryan.  He's like me, and rarely in pictures.  He prefers to be behind the video camera instead of in front of it. Baseball is his passion, and I think that this page captures it well.

Lifelong Romance.  Paper: Peeking Baseball kit by Ronnie McCray, Take Me Out to 

the Ballgame kit by Dana Zarling; Alphabet: White Felt Alpha with Red Stitching by Amy 

Bleser; Frames: Stuffed Edge Frames and Journalers No. 1 by Katie Pertiet, Basic Bare 

Chipboard Frames by Katie Pertiet, Border: Stuffed Edge Documents No. 1 by Katie Pertiet, 

Journal Spots: Basic Journal Spots by Katie Pertiet, Ticket, Shoe Lacing: Peeking Baseball 

kit by Ronnie McCray, Tab: Cardstock Tabs by Katie Pertiet, Tape: My Family Genealogy 

Clippings by Katie Pertiet, Label: My Family Genealogy Flashcards by Katie Pertiet, 

Software: Lightroom and Photoshop Elements 8.0 (both by Adobe), 

Font: Plantagenet Cherokee.

Journaling: Do you see that glove sitting on the bench? It belongs to my husband, Ryan. It tells the story of his love of all things baseball. It bears the scars of a quarter-century of use. It holds the dreams and excitement of the teen-aged ballplayer. It has been and continues to go to ballgames, in case there is a foul ball to be caught. It is treated with love and respect. It is well cared for, soft from decades of use, but still strong and functional. It now accompanies us to little league games. It helps Ryan share his love of all things baseball with a new group of children, eager to learn. It sits on the bench, after the on-field practice, but before the game, holding one used and one new game ball, ready for the first pitch. It holds the dreams and excitement of the father teaching his sons about the game.

Teacher Appreciation Quilt

We have been blessed this year to have wonderful teachers for both of our boys.  I'm a room mom for Jeremy's kindergarten class, which means I've spent a lot of time with the class and with the teacher.  She's become a friend, and I greatly enjoy talking with her.

After New Year's, my co-room mom and I began discussing Teacher Appreciation week.  I volunteered to make a "crayon quilt", where each of the kids in the class would color anything of their choice on a piece of fabric.  I would then make it into a quilt in time for the end of Teacher Appreciation week.

The kids colored their blocks in February.  We asked them to keep it a secret.

Teacher Appreciation week was this week.  We gave little gifts (flowers, chocolate, home made cards) during the week.  This morning, the kids put on their Mother's Day program (more on that tomorrow).  Afterwards, the moms returned to the classroom to watch the kids give their teacher the quilt.

EVERYONE helped deliver the gift to her.  She's sitting on a chair way on the left of the picture.  I was a little afraid the kids would knock her over in their zeal.

Then she opened it (and luckily, loved it).  And was mobbed again by the kids, all shouting at the same time "That one's mine!" and "I made this one!".  It was adorable to see how excited they were to share it with her.

I think it will be well loved.

Toothless and a Freebie

Another one of my templates is up for grabs on the ScrapStreet blog today.  I used to to make this layout about Matthew losing his top teeth.  He's lost a good 8 teeth in total now, and has had a pretty much continual gap since these pictures were taken last summer.  Jeremy's not been so lucky.  He turned 6 a month ago and doesn't even have one wiggling yet.  It looks like he'll be the only kid in his class to leave kindergarten without having lost a tooth.

Toothless. Digital Supplies:  Template: Framework No. 2 by 4Two2 Frameworks, Paper: Hugs and Artfully Intense by Lynn Grievson, Work Hard Playhard by Anna Aspnes, Other: tooth cartoon downloaded from the internet, Fonts: Jefferson, Georgia.

Journaling: Matthew had already lost both bottom teeth, but he didn’t have a “gap” for more than a few days, as the new teeth were in a big hurry to fill the empty space.  Now, however, he’s lost a top tooth, and he’s got a nice gap.  He’s had an ear-to-ear smile since losing it.

ScrapStreet's May edition is out!

Have you checked out the May edition of ScrapStreet.com Magazine yet? It's filled with lots of inspiration.

I've got 4 items in the Cuttlebug article: Hello card, Play layout, Beauty card, and a Thank You card. 

The free kit this month is Hop and Skip - bright colors, balloons, jumpropes and paint splats - perfect for kids playing and birthdays!  I did a layout about my guys hamming it up at the photo spots on Castaway Cay.

Check out the calls here.