Your Future is Bright

Happy Sunday my friends!  Once again popping in with a card I made several weeks ago but have not yet shared.  I thought this fun rainbow card was perfect for the challenge over at CAS(E) this Sketch.  And the card was made with the thought that this spring I'll need lots of cards as Jonathon and his friends graduate from high school. He's received acceptance letters from two out of the three schools where he has applied and I have no doubt this year is going to fly by.  We had senior night for his cross country team on Friday night (in the pouring rain!)  Such exciting times for him and I love seeing him bloom.

The weekend was filled with lots of errands and an awesome halloween party celebrating a dear friend's 50th.  For those of you who are Fixer Upper fans I thought you'd appreciate our costumes.  Hope your weekend was filled with lots of fun and relaxation!

Happy birthday Jonathon!

Popping in with a birthday card to celebrate Jonathon's 17th birthday!  Hard to believe he is 17 and before I blink he'll be heading off to college.  He's out and about so often I find myself thinking this is what it will be like when two are out of the nest.  I am so proud of the young man he is becoming. He is hard working, fun loving and faith filled.  I adore him.  This picture below is from our summer vacation. Love how relaxed and happy he is.  

Happy Birthday Jonathon!

Popping in with a belated Happy Birthday Jonathon message!  He turned 16 today, but is off busy in the things he loves - youth group and robotics so we celebrated with dinner and new parts for his computer last night. 

Here's a picture of how we started the day.  He was so pleased to win this 5k  - a wonderful run raising money for lung cancer.  My dear friend, Katie, lost her mom to lung cancer 18 months ago and she and her sister sponsored the event.  It was crisp and cool, but a great day!

I love the young man Jonathon is becoming.  A hard worker, with such a kind, loving heart!  Love you tons Jonathon!

Happy Birthday Jonathon!

Popping in with a birthday card to celebrate Jonathon's 15th birthday.  He is growing into such a wonderful young man.  Here are a few highlights of this past year:

• He has past his older brother in height...and he is oh so close to passing Pat!
• He has found a love for building computers and computer programming.  At the beginning of the year, he decided to build his first computer.  He is addicted! He's built a computer and is continually taking it apart, buying different parts and building an even better one.  In school, he is taking his first programming class and loves that too.  I love seeing his eyes light up when he researches new parts for his computer or talks about what he is programming. He's also involved in a program at school related to programming.
• He has become involved with our church youth group.
• He has a heart that is a mile wild.  
• He is extremely helpful in the morning making lunch for all of his brothers.  
• He's learned to play base guitar and we can often hear him both playing and singing along in his room.

I love what a wonderful young man he is.  His smile and laugh light up the room.  Happy birthday my beautiful brown eyed boy.

With Deepest Sympathy {and Jonathon's Confirmation}

Popping in really quickly this morning to share a card for the current CAS(E) this Sketch. Unfortunately, I have two more sympathy cards to send this week.  Several of my friends have lost family members over the last couple of weeks. Long battles with cancer where it is so hard to lose their family member yet their is gratitude for their family member being out of pain.

On a much happier note, Jonathon was confirmed last Wednesday night.  Uncle Tim was his sponsor and Nana/PopPop, Nana and Uncle Neal/Aunt Cindy were there to support him.  He is absolutely blooming before our eyes.  I love watching him grow up and see where his passions take him. He surprised us by being one of the few students who popped up to answer the bishop's questions during mass.  He's just started track this year and received the news this week that he moved up from the B team to the A team. The most important part is he's so happy!  Very proud of him!

Happy Birthday Jonathon {one day early}

Tomorrow we're celebrating Jonathon's 14th birthday.  He's growing up before my eyes and becoming more and more outgoing as each day passes.  Over the last year he has grown a ton....and is about a 1/2 inch shorter than Ryan.  Jonathon has my dad's build (tall and lanky) and will soon pass up his older brother.  I'm not sure if he'll break the six foot mark like my dad and brothers, but he'll certainly be a tall Mangan!  I love to watch him grown into a wonderful young man.  He's trying new activities (thinking about track for the spring too) and making lots of new friends. I'm proud of the young man he is becoming.  His smile and laugh are certainly contagious!  Happy birthday my beautiful brown eyed boy.

His card is inspired by the repeating images on the current The Cutting Edge challenge.  Instead of repeating hearts I used stars for the birthday boy.

Happy Birthday Darnell! {and Oliver previews}

Hello friends. I'm thrilled to be popping in to wish the amazing Darnell a fabulous birthday!  Ardyth is hosting a birthday party for Darnell (if you haven't already...pop on over and link up a birthday wish for Darnell). Darnell is one of the kindest bloggers in blog land.  Everytime I visit her blog I leave with a smile on my face.  She's a positive, fun loving soul and oh how I appreciate her.  Darnell, wishing you the very best of birthdays.  You brighten my days.

I played along with the Runway Inspired challenge for Darnell's birthday. The father's day card she made for her son with her grandson reminded me of the butterflies she used on her card.

I also thought I'd share a couple of pictures of Jonathon and Marcel. They are in Oliver next week and I snapped a few pictures at their dress rehearsal last night. Seriously...they are so cute and talented :)!

Happy Birthday {and show choir pics}

I loved the color combo at CASE Study this week...and yummo...the inspiration photo was fabulous.  I had these glitter snowflakes sitting on my craft desk so this was a super quick card to make.  I love easy CAS cards that have a touch of bling!

As I mentioned yesterday, Saturday night Ryan and Jonathon had a show choir fundraiser.  No pictures of the boys on stage, but we did get some pictures with our family who were there to support them.  It was so awesome to have Pat's mom there.  She has been sick since before Thanksgiving so it has been way too long since we've all been together.  Her smiles in the pictures below say it all.  Madeleine is home from her internship in New York.  We're so happy to have her home too!  And I really don't know what my brother, Neal, is doing in the bottom two pictures...just being himself! It's going to be an awesome year of show choir with both boys competing. I can't wait...

 

  

A Plaid Hello

Hi there.  I am in love with the color combo at the MUSE Challenge this week so I decided I needed to play along again!  I am also inspired by Laura's fabulous plaid cards so I gave plaid a go myself last night.  I used the PTI Super Stripes set paired with the diamonds from the The Craft's Meow Retro Christmas set. They work fabulously together to create this card.

Before I go, I have to brag about Jonathon.  Wednesday was his last day of school and awards day for the sixth grade class.  We received a letter a few weeks ago that Jonathon won the My Voice, My Choice award for his class.  When he received his earlier award for high honors, he looked over surprised to see us there.  At the end of the assembly the principal announced if the children were wondering why it their parents were there it was because they had won the award.  The award is given to students demonstrating respect, responsibility and caring towards their classmates.  Each homeroom teacher choose a boy and girl from their class.  A very big honor...his smile says it all and we were certainly smiling from ear to ear!

 

Happy Birthday Jonathon!

Today is my beautiful brown eyed boys 12th birthday!  We celebrated a few days early with his friends over the weekend.  Kept it simple with pizza, ice cream cake and a sleepover.  Thankfully it was a nice weekend so the boys had fun running around outside.  Oh how I love my Jonathon - he was my quickest delivery - 10 days early and a very fast arrival.  My water broke at 9 pm and he was born by 10:30...my only natural delivery!  I love the beautiful, sensitive young man that he is growing into each year.

 

Tonight, we'll celebrate again with his grandparents too.  A very easy dinner at Skyline Chili - his choice!  And...he'll be extra happy to have a five day weekend to follow.

His birthday card is inspired by this week's CASE study challenge.  I loved the simple design and the grid background.   I'm using Karen Baker's fabulous stamps for this card and the similar Christmas card below. 

Summer Nights

 

Hi there, I thought I'd pop in and share another fun summer photo with you. Jonathon's friend, Cam, stopped by on Monday night with his tandem bike.  Reminds me of when I was a little girl and my parents had a tandem bike.  I would ride in the baby seat behind my mum.  My mum didn't know how to ride a bike so it was the perfect way to take a ride with both my parents.  Cam's dad bought the bike from Craig's List and they really cleaned it up nicely.  Jonathon loved riding on it with him!

 

Now onto my card for today.  I've never bought PTI Soft Stone paper but have admired it on Moe's cards for quite some time.   I thought I'd entered this card over in the Passion for PaperTrey Challenge.  The theme is summer...love all the beautiful summer blooms that happen this time of year.

And...here's a sweet little thank you card made by Collin.  We had a great time crafting together!  It's the middle of the week...hope it is a great one for you!  

 

Happy Birthday Jonathon!

Good morning!  I'm popping into to wish my beautiful brown eyed boy, Jonathon, a happy 11th birthday!  He arrived the Monday before Thanksgiving about 10 days early.  Since the very early days he has been a happy guy...with those intense brown eyes that show how he is feeling. He's my loving soul making sure everyone is taken care of. He's a hard worker excelling in school and at karate.  He's my only real cuddler.  Still willing to cuddle with me on the couch and always scooting closer when we're sitting next to each other. Happy birthday my sweet Jonathon.  I love you so much and am proud of what a nice young man you are!
The picture above is his birthday celebration.  He invited a few friends to go the Cincinnati Cyclones hockey game Friday night!  Perfect timing that they had a home game!
And below is his birthday card playing along with this week's ColourQ challenge.

Nothing is Impossible

Jonathon is growing up before my eyes and I love to watch him challenge himself.  He moved to a new school this year.  He's now the youngest grade on the bus versus the oldest and with the move to fifth grade comes new opportunities.  Opportunities to try new actitivies, opportunities to excel in school, opportunities to make new friends...so many wonderful opportunities.  And he's taking advantage of them.

This year he set a goal for himself that he wants to get into advanced placement math and thankfully we live in a school district that has the resources to provide him with extra work to reach this goal.  In addition to challenging himself at school, he's trying so many other new things:  runner's club, student council and a babysitting course (he realizes he can make money babysitting :)!)  I am so proud of all that he is trying both academically and socially and I want him to know "Nothing is Impossible".   Most of all I'm proud that he is such a kind, hard working , loving boy.  So this little note will be tucked in his backpack this week letting him know just how I feel.  My beautiful boy.

His First Time On the Mound

Hi there...lots of pictures this week, and I'm sure there will be lots more with Easter being this weekend.  The "Pittsburgh Mangans" will be in town which means five cousins visiting and lots of fun time with our "Pittsburgh" and local cousins.  I'll be sure to share the pictures next week.

Today, I'm sharing pictures of Jonathon's game from Monday night.   It was his first time ever pitching.  He did pretty well.  He walked quite a few, but also had a strike out.  It is simply great to see their confidence grow as they try new positions.  So here he is!  I have to say I am thrilled with the new zoom lens I have for my camera.  I shot these pictures from left field and am pleased with the clarity!

I also have a new card to share using some new Verve goodies from their April release.  I have to say I love Verve...and yes I know I say this everytime I get something from them, but wow!  They process their orders quickly, always add an extra thank you stamp and their dies come with the perfect packaging so that they are easy to keep track off!  So...here's my card inspired by the Mojo Monday sketch.  It's a little hard to read the sentiment, "My love for you only deepens through the years."  Have a wonderful Good Friday!  I hope you have a wonderful start to the holiday weekend!

Ingredients:  My Mind's Eye DSP; SU Tangerine Tango and Whisper White Paper, Tangerine Tango, Old Olive and Sunshine Yellow Ink, Creative Inspirations Thin Wood Birch Paper; PTI Kraft Paper; Verve Stamps

Spring Music Concert

Hello there, we're finishing up our concert tour for the school spring concerts.  Jonathon's concert was last night.  In addition to the singing, his class did a song with all different types of drums.  They had to dance/play at the same time...pretty amazing!

 The concert was for a portion of third graders and fourth graders.  An extra treat that my adorable niece, Olivia, had her class performing on the same night.  There were four different performances to accomodate all of the classes.  I imagine our music teacher will sleep well this weekend...very thankful for all the hard work she puts into the concerts!  And...look how beautiful Olivia is! (no bias here :)!)

 Jonathon took us all to his classroom to meet his teacher. Showing off Nana and Mr. Hank to his teacher.  Look at Marcel's eyes..think he is up to something?!

 Not the best shot of Jonathon/Marcel, but I had to capture Jonathon's skinny legs...he is so skinny and I love these "skinny jean" corduroys on him...a little too short, but he looks so handsome!

 Two handsome brothers...Ryan and Collin stayed home...sometimes two is easier than four when in a crowded school concert!

After the concert, we went to the cafeteria for the art show.  I love Jonathon's turtle...and the peace signs on the turtle shell.

I decided to make a card inpsired by his painting.  I loved the bright colors and the peaces signs...see how I used his artwork for the inspiration for the card?  And how fun that the colors were the same as the colors for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge.  Hope you like this fun, cheery card!