toot! toot! here comes the SBG blog train!

{chugga-chugga-chugga-toot-toot}

Finally, it's the day for SBG's "Santa Brings Goodies" Blog Train to stop on my blog. You should be arriving here from the blog of Doodelle Designs, or if you just happened upon this post, go back and check out the wonderful goodies she has to share with you!

I've been having a little trouble finding my Christmas spirit this year, but my boys have plenty, and I have to say... it is kind of contagious! This may be the last year my younger two actually believe in Santa Claus. They are 8 and 7 years old and in the 3rd and 2nd grades. Needless to say, plenty of their classmates are all too eager to tell them that Santa isn't real. But both Jace and Joey claim to still believe in him though, and while there are lots of questions and comments that make me think they are starting to doubt Santa's existence, it is also obvious that both of them still really want to believe regardless of what their common sense (and those obnoxious kids) is telling them. Sometimes I think it'd be easier if they knew the whole truth, but I don't want to spoil the fun for them just yet! Here's a quickie layout I created using a couple of photos from yesterday.

 
Credits: Santa Brings Goodies Blog Train Freebies by myself, Charlize Creations, Em-Ka Designs, and Flergs

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And here is what I know you've come here for, my GOODIE for the blog train...

 

download via 4shared
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download via mediafire

Hope you enjoy!

The next stop on the blog train is Anna's blog...

If you get lost, just go back to the Blog Train Stops posted on the SBG blog!

Hope you all enjoy the "Santa Brings Goodies" goodies, and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!!!

scrappers give thanks

I just read about this project on a fellow CT member's blog and thought I'd share because it seems to be for a wonderful cause, and I definitely plan to contribute some pages. I hope you all will join in, too!  

From the Scrappers Give Thanks website:

The 2010 Project

The 2nd annual Scrappers Give Thanks project has a goal of assembling 2000 participant-created 4×6 pages into 100 ten page (double-sided) mini albums to be delivered to 10 children’s hospitals across the country. Submitted pages should be scrapbook-style mini artworks containing positive words, happy images, jokes etc. and may be in digital or tangible formats.

Specifications

The Scrappers Give Thanks mini albums will be assembled with 4×6 page protectors and o-rings. To ensure a consistent look and feel, participants must adhere to the following specifications:

• Single-sided 4×6 pages
• Vertical orientation only (4″ wide by 6″ tall)
• Include age-appropriate positive messages and/or images
• No glitter, embellishments greater than 1/4″ thick or copyrighted images

Examples

Visit the Scrappers Give Thanks Flickr group to view great examples from our creative team and fellow participants. The following digital submission is an excellent example of a fun page designed to bring cheer to kids:

Submission

Digital contributions should be emailed to jennifer@scrappersgivethanks.org as attachments. (Please do not zip.) All digital submissions will be printed by Scrappers Give Thanks through our printing partner, Persnickety Prints, and thus should be created at 300ppi and saved as a high resolution JPEG.

Paper submissions should be mailed to the following address no later than November 20, 2010 and MUST include an email address. Entries must be received by Wednesday, November 24 to be eligible for the giveaway.

the pumpkin patch

I have been so very busy the past few weeks, so I am relieved that Halloween is over and done with. Costumes were made (more on that later) and trick-or-treating has been done. Now I really don't have too much to stress out about, other than the general day to day stuff, until it's time to think about Christmas gifts. And since we only have one more weekend of Fall Ball, I'm looking forward to sleeping in on Saturdays again. Now to enjoy the remainder of fall with no more stress... I hope!

Sadly, we only made one trip to the pumpkin patch this year. It is one of my favorite fall activities and at least two trips are usually necessary for me to feel content. For this trip, originally I was just going to take the boys by myself and had been trying to talk my oldest into going along, as well, without much luck. But the day got away from us so I ended up calling Jason/Daddy to see if he wanted to go along, too. Fortunately, he was up for it and was planning on closing up the shop an hour early. We still had to wait a while for him to get home, showered, and dressed so by the time we got to the pumpkin patch, the sun was starting to set and my photo op options were few. It doesn't help that my boys don't have a lot of patience for my picture taking like they used to, so calling them back to pose by a scarecrow or a pile of pumpkins just doesn't work like it did several years ago. It really makes me sad that they're growing up so fast. Time to have another baby I guess! (hahaha....NOT!)

Here they are looking ever so excited in front of a field of cotton. This was taken as they were running to climb aboard the hay ride that was about to take off. I literally had to yell "STOP!!!" to get their attention and take a picture. 

 

Joey has his wallet. I just noticed that. If I had to guess, I'd say that he wanted to purchase a pumpkin as soon as we walked through the gate. He's been intent on spending his birthday money and is always offering to give it to me or Jason/Daddy or to buy one of us something or to give it to us for groceries or gas (LOL), but we refuse. Despite trying to rid himself of the huge responsibility of saving money he has been very responsible. He's kept up with his $55 for over a month now.

By the time the hay ride was over the sun had set and my photo op's were just about nil - sometimes I forget that my camera even has a flash, I use it so rarely... but even then, in low light, the camera (maybe it's a lens issues) has a hard time focusing - so even with the flash up, I hardly captured any usable shots. I can't believe I was ever worried that the younger two boys would be scared to be at the pumpkin patch at night. They had so much fun climbing up the tower of tractor tires, as well as sliding down the huge slide on potato sacks. The photo used in the layout below was the best shot I could get of them all after dark.  

 
Everything used is by Dianne Rigdon at TwoPeas. Click the layout for full credits.

That's all for now. After three days without a drop of coffee - the first two days I was too busy to notice, but today I found myself stranded at home with a sick kiddo (yes...again with the germs!) and then almost passed out when I went to make myself a pot and realized I'd never replenished my supply - needless to say, I am in somewhat of a forced caffeine-withdrawal-mode with the aches and pounding headache, so putting together anymore coherent thoughts in one day may cause my head to explode.  

I will be back soon with another post-Halloween blog post.