(Incidentally, I find this task annoying. ;) Not the addressing holiday cards part...the always having to verify addresses. I'm in favor of a system where mail is simply delivered based on your social security number or something similar...where I get to always use the same address for a person and it's just that person's responsibility to keep his/her address up to date with the powers that be. So there.)

Anyhoo...my layouts are the "featured" ones today. Here's what I had to say:

My dad loved food...loved it. It honestly didn't matter what it was, he just loved to eat it. :) This challenge, then, came fairly easily. In my head, I'd already been making a list of the foods that especially make me think of him...foods that bring up images of him whenever I see them or my boys ask for them.

Even though this layout doesn't particularly tell a story, I love that I have this list all in one place...just like I'm thrilled when seeing or eating one of these foods leads to discussions with my boys about what else their Papa loved. ;)

After I'd finished the layout above, though, I still had food on the brain. As so often happens, I started thinking about things I want to make sure my boys know about their Papa. Thus, this layout:

 
Yup, just silly little bits that I wanted to share. I'm actually thinking now that I want to do a little album just about foods I associate with specific people (both living and not)...could be a fun Thanksgiving afternoon project, don't you think? ;)

1. If you haven't already, be sure to check out Cathy Z's giveaway post today! That 25 Days of Templates class looks awesome (and I don't just say that because Tiffany rocks)! I hate to admit it, but digital scrapbooking has really started drawing me in lately (not that I've done much, but I'm becoming more and more aware of the ease of it all, and that appeals to me). 

2. Micah went to a birthday party last night and promptly declared it "the best thing I've ever done in my whole life!" Yup, that's 4 year old enthusiasm for you. :) To be fair, it really was a fun party...14 mostly four or five year old boys playing in a giant ball pit, running obstacle courses and playing running games and then getting pizza, cake and ice cream. Doesn't get much better. The boy didn't stop smiling all night and woke up today still talking about it. (Meanwhile, Noah and Asher got to go to a friend's house for a play date and had a blast, themselves. So fortunate to have good friends like that!)

3. I don't think I've yet documented the power of the purple lego cone. For some unknown reason, the boys have developed their own little hierarchy of the relative "power" of different lego pieces. Purple cones are the most powerful. Probably because they're the most rare...haven't been able to find them by the piece (like many of the other legos) but they're available in kits like this one (photo courtesy of the Lego website):

Yup, the boys covet those transparent purple cone pieces. Makes me laugh. ;) Oh, I just asked Noah and he says it has something to do with ultraviolet rays and the power of light. (He explained it better, obviously.) If, by any chance, you come across any stray purple cones that need a home, I find myself now on the lookout for some. ;)

4. I've been noticing a bunch of people documenting things they're thankful for daily this month. Just wanted to chime in that I don't do this daily but have, in fact, documented 30 things I'm thankful for right now (beyond the obvious):

Yes, I'm still doing my weekly Lists of Me album. Yes, I'm embarrassingly behind on sharing those here. I'll work on it...promise! In the meantime, be happy that I'm remembering to share this one (which is for the most recently completed week). :) (By the way, I also happen to have done this layout using the November Paper Posies kit and am hosting their challenge this week...check it out!)

5. I'm so excited about scrapping with some friends tomorrow at the fabulous Treasure Box scrapbooking store, just minutes from my home. It's gonna be awesome! Just me, an entire store full of supplies to oogle, and good friends to share it all with! Hoping to get a jump on some holiday projects...wish me luck!

Okay, that's five. ;) I'll stop for now. 

Are you looking for fantastic, inexpensive gifts to get your favorite scrapbooker this year?
Do you need to stock up on your favorite Card Stock?
Does your husband never know what to get you - and you have to buy your own gifts anyway?

Here is your chance!

You are invited to attend the Prism Black Friday Sales Event!
(before the actual shopping day)

DiscountCardstock.com is having a promotion to keep you all stocked up for the holidays on your FAV Prismatics Cardstock!  View all of your 27 pack options here.  

Starting Friday Nov 13th thru Sunday Nov 15 (pssst! That's THIS weekend!) you can buy the Prismatics Multipacks for only $5.00!!!  Typical pack price retails at $7.99!  In each pack you will get 12, 12x12 sheets total!  4 sheets of each of the 3 colors (light, medium, and dark shade).  $5.00 per pack = $0.42/sheet in 12x12!

This deal expires at 11:59pm MST on Sunday Nov 15.  Some quantities are limited - so please order quickly!

Please email Jamie (jamie@prismpapers.com) if you have any questions regarding the sale!

Usually between 6:30 and 7:30, then off and on most of the day. Glad you're back.
November 9, 2009 | packrat

Congrats! Email me your mailing info and I'll get this out to you, okay? Thanks all!

Oh! And, also, my layout is up over on the Good Grief Blog today. Check it out please. :)

Recap of the tournament this weekend: Saturday...Noah's first game at 9:30 am (they won 2-0)...Asher's first game at 10:30 am (fortunately on the adjacent field, so we just scooted) (they tied 1-1)...a brief respite as we simply stayed put and snacked on the stuff we'd packed in the cooler...Noah's second game at 12:30 pm (at the same field Asher had been at...a tough one, indeed, against a team that's historically been aggressive and tough, with poor refereeing on top of all that...we lost 1-2, I believe).

After this, we lugged everything back to the car (a lengthy trek for Micah's short legs plus Nathan and I pulling a cooler and a wagon full of chairs, blankets, soccer gear, water bottles and the like) and headed for home, stopping for some more substantial food on the way. Note, we had pretty nice weather...60s and sunny...definitely better than the snow covered fields of the week before, lol. Of course, this also meant we got more sun than we'd thought about, which added to our fatigue after the fact. (Well, it added fatigue for Nathan and me, the boys apparently have endless energy and came home only to go out in the front yard and play more soccer.) Also, Noah's team, because of the rescheduling of the tournament, had no substitute players, which wore them out. So proud of them all for hanging in there. 

Sunday...Asher's first game at 9:30 am (they tied 1-1 and it was hard fought...gusting winds made it difficult all around)...switched sides of the field for Noah's game at 10:30 am (better officiating but very skilled team...we lost 1-2...dang cold wind in our face the whole time)...again hung out rather than heading out and back (given how long it took us to lug all our stuff from the parking lot and that the nearest stuff is at least 15-20 minutes from the soccer complex and that finding a parking spot in the first place wasn't easy) but were too cold to really eat much.

Insert note here. Folks, Nathan and I were huddling under a blanket while laying on the ground behind the cooler and wagon (acting as make-shift wind block) to try to stay warm. We both had on three layers already. Yes. That cold. (Boys, though, seemed impervious to the cold and kept refusing extra layers that I offered and delighting in the fact that the wind kept trying to blow our blanket away.) Marti, I'm totally blaming Wyoming for the wind, LOL!

Anyhow, Asher's last game was at 12:30 pm (they lost 2-5), during which the sun finally started to come out and the wind started to let up and by the end we were actually happy. :) 

We then headed for home by way of a warm meal and drink to celebrate the end of the season. Hooray!!

So. In thanks for reading all that and listening to my soccer woes and stories all fall and because somehow it's already a week into November and I'm starting to panic about all the holiday projects on my list, lol, I'm offering up a little giveaway. I happen to have an extra Becky Higgins Holiday Card kit (from the Creating Keepsakes Kit of the Month last year). You can read more about it here. (Sorry, I didn't take it all out of the box to photograph in more detail so you'll have to rely on the official spiel.) Post here and tell me what time of day you're most often online. I'll pick a random winner on Tuesday night (let's say midnight MST). Yay!

See you over there! :)