We interrupt the regularly scheduled "catching up"...

to post something from the present!

One of my good friends recently quit teaching to pursue her photography business. When she and I were teaching together, in 2002, I was one of her first paying customers. She has wanted to have a chance to do more recent pictures and we finally found the time to do it.

Please take a peek!


Renee Hindman Photography / Sneak Peek of our Family photos

Here is one shot from the shoot. This one captures the kids' personalities so well!

Guess what?

Chicken butt! Know why? Chicken thigh!

Ehhhh, the real surprise is that we had ANOTHER Student of the Month. Jacob Llewellyn Cooper was awarded Student of the Month for the month of January! Way to go, Baby Jake. I love you with all of my heart! (I know you hate for me to call you that, but you will always be my Baby Jake!)

*sigh* pretend this was posted December 2008

Why am I so horrible about posting? I guess it is good that I am busy living life and not so busy posting about it. (Nice justification, huh?)

Alright, well I am going to try to do some mad catching up for some of the biggies in our little family.

I will begin with the Student of the Month for the month of December. (Yes, 2008.)

It is the one and only Daniel Shea Ortega.
Congratulations, Shea-Shea! We love you so much!





He looks like he has a bit of stage-fright in the last photo. :)

Sonia's Mini-Me

Rene and I have always said that we think Cristina looks like Sonia (my mother-in-law). Well, I recently came upon this picture of Sonia that was taken in Colombia when she was maybe about 19. Wow, the likeness is uncanny. What do you think?

I present to you...Student of the Month

Cristina Ortega! Oops, did I mention it is from November 2008? Well, it is. Someone (me) is playing a little bit of catch-up on pictures.

San Diego Fair at Del Mar Fairgrounds

*ahem* Yes, these are from June 2008. Yes, I am just posting them. Yes, I am lame.










I had a little fun with the photoshop actions on these photos. :)

A moment in history...

When I look at this photo of students from my school watching the Inauguration of President Barack Obama, I am moved in more ways than I can attempt to express.

Christmas 2008

My cards are finally done. This year, I had my idea very early, but time to actually make the cards came later, as did the picture I used. I had planned on using some pictures that I took of the kids in their fancy duds. However, after I did the "elfyourself" with their cute little faces, I just had to use those pictures. So, a screenshot later, I had the photos for my cards!
The sentiment inside says: Have your ELVES a Merry Little Christmas!
With love and good cheer, Rene, Tiffany Michelle, Jake, Cristina, Daniel, and Gabriela

These elves can really shake it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what greeted me...

At 6:07am, Friday, November 21, 2008



I certified!

Thank you to all of you who supported me, proofread for me, hugged me, and tolerated me during this process.

xoxoxoxo

Why does this make me giggle?

I don't know, but it does.

Gettin', Gettin', Gettin' kind of sketchy...

Recently, because of the goings on of life, I have been unable to ponder layout ideas for massive amounts of time. (P.S. That is my normal M.O.) Therefore, I have been thankful for the thousands of sketches that people have created for inspiration.

Last May, while purusing a fabulous blog ( Blah, Blah, Blog! , I happened upon this fantastic sketch rolodex to organize your sketches (if you collect them).

Well, I didn't have a rolodex to alter but I did have this reproduction antique recipe box that I wasn't using.

So, sketches are glued onto the cranberry colored cardstock (ummm, don't look at the purple at the back that I had to use when I ran out of cranberry) and organized by number of photos used. The last group actually has 7+ photos, as there were only a few of those.

When you are using a sketch, you can slip it in the top holder for easy reference.

It is nowhere near as fabulous as CarrieB's, but I'm pretty happy with it.

:-)

What color are you?

Just a little fun thing, that I saw on this blog: Covered in Crafts

You Are a Red Crayon

Your world is colored with bright, vivid, wild colors. You have a deep, complex personality - and you are always expressing something about yourself. Bold and dominant, you are a natural leader. You have an energy that is intense... and sometimes overwhelming. Your reaction to everything tends to be strong. You are the master of love-hate relationships. Your color wheel opposite is green. Green people are way too mellow to understand what drives your energy.

What Color Crayon Are You?

Scrap Room Move and Makeover...

Well, I am finally finished with the big move. It took far longer than I expected, but isn't that always the way?

Just in case someone wants a reminder, here is a link to an online album with my old scraproom.

I figured the best way to show you the room (without a panoramic camera) would be just take pictures starting at one corner and swing around. So here goes.



Here is my paper storage and at the bottom (for easy access) are some of the kids books. That "thing" on the wall, is nine 12x12 corkboard squares that I covered with patterned paper to make a bulletin board. Rene is mitering some moulding for me to use as a frame around it. We'll hopefully get that done tomorrow.

This is the closet of the room. I took the sliding doors off of the frame and put in curtains.

Behind the curtains is a desk that holds the kids' computer and a television. The top of the closet is our games storage. In the middle of the room is a futon that the gives the kids and sometimes mami a place to chill-out.

So, there it is. I guess there are no more excuses. Now, I have to get scrappin'.

I knew on the day we got married...

...I married my best friend. Seriously, we were best friends that fell in love. No matter how hard we fought it, we were supposed to be together.

Here is the story of our wedding day.

Rene and I have always been "no-frills" kind of people. When we decided to get married, we did NOT want a huge elaborate affair that would set us back before we even started forward.

We decided to ask our dear friend Karol and her husband Tom if we could have the wedding in their backyard. What you have to understand here is that Karol is friends with both Rene and me. We have both taught with her. She, in essence, is the reason that we ended up together because she kept pushing us toward one another. So, her house (with its beautiful, spacious backyard) was perfect. Without hesitation, she said, "Yes!"

Since Rene and I taught at the same school, we decided to ask the principal if we could borrow some school chairs and long "banquet" tables.
Without hesitation, she said, "Yes!"

Here is a shot from the top of Karol's hill in her yard. (We ended up having roughly 200 people in attendance.) Ummm, excuse the "old-style" scrapbooking and especially the deco-scissors.


Ok, so I told my bridesmaids (BFFs Chris and Dianne) to wear any black dresses that they wanted to wear. I made our bouquets with roses from a flower farm in Carlsbad.


Rene told his groomsmen (Tim and Chris) to wear black suits and blue ties.


My sweet baby Jake (no longer a baby) was my "bubble blower". I didn't want a ring bearer, so he used a bubble gun and walked down the aisle, blowing bubbles. He, then promptly ran to the trampoline for the rest of the ceremony. :D


My dad walked me down the aisle. Love you, daddy.


Rene's cousin, John, married us.



Rene's tia, Olivia, made our cake and then I made the cake topper that was similar to our bouquets and decorated it with yellow daisies around the layers. Also, all the food in the buffet trays in the background of the picture was bought by me and then distributed to any guest that said, "Let me know if there is anything I can do to help." {insert maniacal laugh here} I'd say, "Oh, thank you. Could you cook this before the wedding and bring it with you?" I'm evil and crass, but hey we already knew that, didn't we?



We had the obligatory conga line....



Kids jumped on the trampoline...


I love you, baby! Thanks for your love and this beautiful family!