Memory Board?

A couple of peeps have asked me ...

Wait ... side note here.  My funny son really has a tough time not saying "aks" in the sacrament prayer every Sunday. It always makes me smile during the prayer, which is not entirely appropriate, but I think it's cute. He has a mental block about it, 'cause it happened once, so he says that one word, "ask" just slightly slower than the rest of the prayer. I'm sure no one else notices it at all, but like I said, I always smile.
As I write this, we are listening to the commentators talk about the Laker/Celtic game and we are coming up with other words that they can't say. "Ask, both, length," have turned into "Aks, bofe, lenth." I guess it is the Ebonics thing, and Michael, in making fun of the interviewers a few years ago, started saying "aks." He really never says it in actual conversation anymore, but because he messed it up once in the sacrament prayer, it makes him nervous. Kinda cute?

Okay, back to my original topic.

At Los Gatos High School, the seniors parents put on a big, fancy "Grad Night" the night the kids graduate. We have planning meetings for at least 6 months before the event and there are numerous committees to sign yourself up for to help in carrying out the biggest party any of us has ever seen.
I am in charge of the "Midnight BBQ" this year. It isn't a very big job, but at least I'm helping out some. In past graduations I have been the treasurer for the whole event, involved in decorating bathrooms, outside venues, and the salon.  There is a casino, a stage where a magician and bands play, a beach side fire pit, bumper cars, blow up games, etc. It is truly an overwhelmingly amazing night for the kids. The Hubby and I have always run a shift during the all night party and sometimes have stayed all night, depending on our commitment.
The event is being set up all this week for the Friday night deadline, and so I thought I'd talk a little about it here.
One room that we let the kids into during the week prior looks like it is nearing completion.

As you enter the small gym, there are moms working on the wallpaper of pictures that go all the way around the entire room.  I turned in about 40 old pictures, blown up to 8.5 x 11, and so did many other parents. These picture the wallpaper is made up of,  have to include more than one senior and can be taken from their early childhood up to current photos. There are many pictures of birthday parties, grade school field trips, just playmates, etc lining the room.

Then, in the center of the room are about 300 "Memory Boards." One is made for each child, usually by their mother, and it tells the story of the young life.  It is truly amazing to me that you get nearly every parent participating in this endeavor. It literally takes me hours to accumulate the pictures I want on my board, then copy them, then plan how I want to place them on the board.
Some are more simple, some are done professionally, but it is still a time sucker, and I think it's pretty cool that we have so many participants.
In the picture above, you can see one with a theatre curtain. This girl is in drama, and it is showcased along with her family, friends, and other interests. You also see one with a "path" through the child's life. People come up with all sorts of unique boards.

Here is Michael's board.  I put a few basketball pictures in the center, but all around the edges there are over 100 small thumbnail pictures of his play. That way I could reserve most of the center for family, trips, friends, school, and other activities. I got it into the room early enough that I got a good eye level spot for displaying it. Kinda out of the main stream of walking around, so as not to be too in your face,
but still a great spot.
He went into the room yesterday with several friends after school. He really liked it.

It is my very super favorite room at the grad night.

With our first couple of graduates, the room wasn't opened until the grad night itself, but there is so much to see, and so many other things to do that night, that someone decided to have it open to viewing during the work week. I think it is a great idea.
The surrounding pictures in the room all get taken down in 5 x 5 foot sections and saved for later use in reunions and the like. The individuals boards get sent home with the graduate, on the morning after grad night.

My Stephanie still has hers prominently displayed in her apartment bedroom. I think it tells her that her mom loves her whenever she turns around. She sent me a picture the other day, and it doesn't do it justice, but here it is.

And here is Kathryn's, a little worse for the wear.

I just found David's and I Jonathan's in the spare bedroom under the bed. I knew they were around here somewhere, and looked under my bed to no avail.  Then when I went into the front bedroom to wash sheets for Stephanie's visit home this weekend, I spotted something that looked familiar under there. My clean home?  You get the picture. (teehee)

Looks like someone took off a couple of pictures that were too cute to miss.  These last two were done on regular poster board, before the committee's were telling us just how things worked best.

This first attempt was even done in the direction of a portrait instead of a landscape. I'm sure we didn't have specific directions. (or I didn't follow them very well)  The really obvious thing about this one is that I literally copied pictures from J's photo album onto regular copy paper. They are flimsy and don't hold the color very well at all. I'm sure it looked fine at the time.
Memory Boards at LG have really progressed over the past 12 years since I started working on these grad nights.
Just wait a few days and I'll show you the night itself.

So this is one thing I've been working on for this special son of mine.
More later.