Happy birthday to my father in law!!

Wow, two blog posts in less than 24 hours. :) Don't miss my Monday post from last night (below) but do read this one...right now. :)

Please join me in wishing my wonderful father in law, John, the happiest of happy 60th birthdays today! We were bummed to be unable to fly back for his surprise party this past weekend but sent our love with this cool pop up card:

I found the directions for this fisherman pop up card over on Etsy, but the maker has a separate site as well...with some very cool designs! I may have to try a few more out...

Also, (and, um, cooler than the card, if I do say so myself) the boys and I collaborated on this fun mini album documenting Time Well Spent...60 things (in honor of this 60th birthday) the boys would love to do with their grandpa. The brainstorming for this took some time and was (as is to be expected) rather off the wall at times. :) Truly, though, the boys came up with the list. Here's the cover:

I made the covers from chipboard cut to size and used my Bind it All for the punches along the side. Even though I didn't end up using the Bind it All coils (couldn't find one big enough...went with 7Gypsies binder rings instead) Nathan thought the rectangle punch look worked well with the theme...a time card feel. Speaking of time cards, the inner pages are on actual time cards:

I thought the time cards seemed fun...to emphasize the idea of how we spend our time and all that, plus they just made a nice sized page. :) Opposite each list item that the boys came up with, I put a little picture of the boys with their grandpa over the years. Some of them match up a bit, some really don't. Regardless, it was fun pulling 60 pictures of them together and makes me happy that we had way more than that many on hand.

Oh, and if you're wondering, the list itself included things like "go sledding more" and "climb the Statue of Liberty" and "look at Asher's superhero picture collection" (he just started a collection...I think it's up to three pictures he's colored...he gets the pages from the childcare at the gym) and "eat lots of ice cream"...yup, fun boy stuff! :)

So. Happy birthday, John!! I'm so blessed to have a father in law like you and so happy the boys have such a fabulous grandpa! We love you!

Monday ramblings...

Let's see what random thoughts are going on in my head, shall we?

1. To start with, just wanted to shout a gi-hugic (it's a word! I say so!) thanks to All Moments Remembered for an awesome guest designer experience! Not only are their kits fantastic, but I had a sincerely lovely time chatting with the ladies there on the message board and had the privilege of giving out one of the October kits, compliments of the store. Truly a class act, if you ask me. And the communication throughout the entire experience was top notch...very appreciated!

2. If you haven't already, join me in registering for this class by Jessica Sprague! I'll confess that I've not gotten around to taking any of her classes yet (though I've been wanting to!), but this one has me truly intrigued. I know Jessica to be a fabulous person so expect this to be terrific. Plus, it's free! Can't get much better than that. :) Honestly, though, what has me most excited is just the opportunity to be inspired! So, join in!

3. Thanks to all who left comments with ideas for boy gift ideas!! I'm making a list... ;) Oh, and for those who suggested legos...you're right on the money. Here's a layout I did more than 3 years ago about our lego obsession:

At the time (three years ago, mind you!), we tried to keep the pieces somewhat organized and had three or four of these containers. (Noah inherited Nathan's childhood lego collection.) We've now given up completely on organization and have two plastic drawer units full of them (by plastic drawer units, I mean those three or four drawer plastic containers that stand roughly 3 feet high and are a foot or so wide and 18-24 inches deep...sorry, too lazy to go measure...trust me, it's a freakin' lot of legos). Actually, the drawers aren't usually full, as the boys generally have fleets of vehicle creations (a couple dozen each) in progress and around the house. Oy. Oh, and this past August we added the Lego Mindstorm system. Yeah. Would probably have been a good Christmas gift, eh? Guess certain parental figures (not me, lol) were a wee bit impatient. ;)

4. This is the last week of soccer season!!!!!!!! Happy sigh. Whatever will I do with the extra three nights a week without soccer practice and three hours or so of soccer games on Saturdays? :) Can you sense my joy? I've been really giving it some thought lately...about how this will work next fall when Micah's old enough to be in soccer also (and so obviously wants to). I'm still debating whether it's better to have them all busy at the same time and be crazy busy for eight weeks twice a year or to try to convince one or two of them to try some different sport and then end up with stuff going on throughout the year. The bonus of being able to hand down equipment weighs in there, too. And just the whole knowing what you're getting into thing. Oh well. I don't really need to dwell on it yet so for now will just delight in being done with this season.

5. I have a cold. I hate colds. Fortunately, we're a fairly healthy household around here, so this is rare (knocking on wood!) and really not so bad...mostly just a stupid cough. Right now, though, methinks my brain would rather that I go lay down than sit here at the computer. ;) Night!

Drum roll please...

Sigh. I so wish I could just send you all a kit! Since, well, I'm not loaded like that, LOL...the winner (by random draw) is:

I have been reading your blog for awhile now after finding it through CK. Thanks so much for the Album in a Year project. I love it. Also really loving your layouts. Makes me miss being in the West seeing all of your wonderful pictures. Thanks for sharing!

October 18, 2008 |Jeanne Ann

Jeanne Ann, email me your mailing information! Thanks, everyone, for your comments!! And happy rest of the weekend to y'all!

All Moments Remembered layouts

Here are my three layouts using this month's All Moments Remembered kits!! You can check out the design team's awesome work here.

On this first one, I'd originally thought the title would end up being "Better Not Pout" but the picture of Micah smiling just beforehand was so dang cute I had to include it. :)

This next one is of me and my sisters taken this past August...the title is there in the upper right ("3 Sisters") though it's harder to see in this photograph. No, we don't look anything alike, LOL! (even when Cassy's hair is its natural color...bwahhaaahaa!)

And this last one is, I think, my favorite of the three. Love the woodgrain paper and the little chipboard owl and the felt gate design thing (very thick and sturdy IRL, btw) and the circle flower and the plastic tag (which was way easier to write on than I expected)...okay, just everything!

Now. If you like what you see and think this October AMR kit might just be for you...you're in luck! I just happen to have the privilege of giving one away!! Here's a pic of the main kit:

You can get more details at the AMR blog here. So. If you'd like to win one of the October main kits, post a comment here...you can just say hi or you could link me up to a cool gift idea for science and vehicle and construction minded boys (um, ages 3-7ish perhaps?). Yeah, I'm starting to think about Christmas already, LOL! :) I'll select a random winner at noon-ish tomorrow!

Sneaks of AMR kit reveal...

First of all, yes, I know I didn't take fall leaves pictures yesterday...the weather wasn't as cooperative (windy and often overcast), but I'm hoping to tackle that still this weekend.

Next, here are some sneaks of my layouts using the awesome October All Moments Remembered kits. I had such fun working with these...so, so much goodness to choose from! The full reveal will be tomorrow so be sure to check back. (Really, you'll want to check back...hee hee.)

Note, really there are just three layouts but I got a little camera happy with my close ups, LOL! Okay...off to feed boys and get a gift wrapped for the birthday party Asher was invited to this afternoon. :) Happy Friday to you!