pink nostalgia

a perfect moment

Last Friday, I came home for lunch with Jason and the boys.  It was Spring Break, so everyone but me was off.

Alex ran into the kitchen to tell me about their trip to Academy: "I looked at bikes for you, but guess what.  They did not have pink.  They did have purple, but you should probably see it first."

Jason said, "Hey babe, when you're through with that, I have a perfect moment to show you."

Okay...?

He took my hand and walked me into the pink room.  We stood facing the windows; he rotated my hips to point me towards my desk chair.  He held up his hands like a movie director framing the scene.

"I was in here a few minutes ago, thinking about you and waiting for you to get home, and I noticed how perfect this all looked together - the new perfect floors, the light streaming in, the pink wall, your chair...  It's a perfect moment.  I thought it would make a great picture, a perfect moment."

"Did you take a picture?"

 

Sigh.

And then what happened next, oh man...

california

[last night after shopping]

J: So what'd you get?

me: a pair of shoes, a shirt for work, and a t-shirt.  It's kind of crazy.  

J: Fashion show, let's see it!

me: Okay, but, the t-shirt is a little out there for me.  I don't know what you'll think.  Do you want to see it now, or do you want to be surprised for when I wear it tomorrow?

J: Uhhh...no...I'll be surprised tomorrow.

[tomorrow]

J: Oh!  The shirt!  Call...for...Nia.

me: Babe.

J:  Call for Nia??  Who's Nia??

This is what I have to put up with for 32 years.  : ) 

mini album: flag 2014

Alex's reaction when I showed him his finished football mini album was different than Ethen's reaction.  Ethen didn't know I was making them, and even though he knew I had been taking pictures at his games, it probably didn't occur to him that I would do anything with them. 

But Alex pops into the pink room after I've been missing for 15 minutes, and he doesn't just look to see where I am.  He stands next to me, he picks up photos, he asks me how a crop-a-dile works, then I find scrap paper to let him set eyelets...  So he knew it was coming.  But he had the same quiet smile.  : )

Click on any of the photos to enlarge.

I had a little more fun putting Alex's album together because the pictures are so much better!  Being on the sidelines instead of in bleachers, I was much closer to eye level and had fewer obstructions.  And since they don't wear helmets in flag, I got Alex's expressions.  They're too much!

The end until I print basketball season!

mini album: 8th grade football

Once I started taking sports photos of the boys, it took me about...mmmm...three minutes to decide what to do with them: open-face 4x6 mini albums for each sport for each season + scrap pages of a few of my favorites.

I did a few things to consolidate the process so that I'm not perpetually five years behind (although I am already two basketball seasons behind).

1. Make the album a 4x6.  This way, I didn't have to crop in Photoshop, and it's a really easy and cheap size to print.  It also helps patterned paper go farther since a 4x6 template will go into a 12x12 sheet of paper six times.  (Math!)

2. Pull a small set of supplies.  I went through my patterned paper scraps (the ones that Y always tells me to throw away because I'll never use them - booooo0yahhhhh!) and pulled just a few pieces.  Then I picked a sticker set to match, a thicker set to match, and 3 or 4 washi tape rolls.  That's it, that was all I was allowed to use.

3. Use a small set of designs.  I stuck with banners, flags, and labels stapled or taped or both.  Over and over again. 

J might have gotten misty-eyed when I showed him.

Ethen might have been overwhelmed when I showed him.  He was quiet and smiley, he looked through every page, then he looked at me, nodded, and said, "That's really cool."  It was a moment.  Of course, then I ran and told Jason about the whole exchange.

I can envision a whole library of these minis, and it makes me really happy.  : )

See Alex's football album tomorrow...