Be Grateful for the Little Things!

I am still working at getting my fall photos done! I think this *may* be my last one! I have lots of December things to work on, so I sure hope that I am done with fall! I would like to get a few Christmas layouts done before the New Year sneaks up on me! LOL

A Meeting with Santa

We were able to meet Santa when we were at Walt Disney World. The boys had a great time sitting with him and talking to him! It was pretty cute!

A Little Bit of Scrappy Catch Up!

I am trying to finish our fall photos before we move into winter! Here is one that I did of the boys on one of our beautiful fall days! They just love to play outside!

A Vacation to Remember!

Well, we are back from our vacation! It was a fabulous time! It has been a long time since we have vacationed and weren't tied to a dining schedule. This trip we decided not to go to any sit down meals, we would just plan our vacation as it came upon us! It was splendid! We had a very relaxing, but FUN time! This was the first trip that Carter really got super excited to go on rides and attractions! It was super fun to watch! Here is my first completed page!

Family is a Gift!

Winter is nearly here and I am getting in the scrappy mood! LOL I love winter because I don't feel like I have to be out enjoying the great outdoors! Here is a page that I did of one of our last good weather days!

Family Fun!

The boys love the Christmas Season. The decorations, the anticipation, the fun! We had a great time this weekend decorating our Christmas Tree and putting up some decorations. The boys love this time of year!

Piles of Memories!

We have had a great fall! The weather has been pretty good and we have had lots of fun times! The boys love to play in the leaves.... and I like leaves MUCH better than snow! We had a great Thanksgiving weekend! So much to be thankful for!

Cousins are a Wonderful Thing!

The boys are having an awesome time getting to know their cousins! My brother, his wife and their boys are here from California. We have been lucky enough to be able to spend some time with them! I know how important that my cousins were to me while I was growing up and I am glad that the boys are able to spend time with theirs, even if for a short time!

More Fall Fun!

It is really beginning to feel more like early winter than fall! UGH! But we are enjoying all the outside time when the weather allows! It is no secret that I love summer...... and it shouldn't be a secret that I can't stand winter! LOL Don't get me wrong (for those of you Southerners who *love* the idea of winter.... ) the first snowfall is gorgeous....it if the aftermath and the cleanup and the 12th storm of the season when you have no place left to put the white stuff that things really start to get old! So, until the white stuff really starts flying, we will enjoy any nice weather that we do get outside!

My Sweet Boy!

I have always called Carter my "sweet boy" and this page shows why! He is the sweetest little boy! He love to snuggle and can be so endearing! He is a lot of fun!

Play!

Max loves to go outside and play! Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall......it doesn't matter! He loves to be outside! I love it when I am able to capture great photos of him outside!

Snow FALL!

Well, I am here to tell you that it is October 30th! But I have photos from today that just might surprise you! We got a pretty big snowfall last night! UGH! Summer really is over! Here are some photos! The boys had a wonderful day playing in the snow!

Jacob Loves Bowling!

I had a chance to finish a page of Jacob bowling at Special Olympics. He had a great time!

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Today was a pretty cool day! Jacob turned 7 today! He had a great morning of Special Olympics Bowling. He bowled several great strings and got a ribbon for his awesome scores! This afternoon we spent lots of time outside and Jacob had a lot of fun climbing up in the old oak tree we have out front. My Mom (Grammy) came over and brought us pizza and we had a great time decorating a gingerbread haunted house! A special Diego cake and cupcakes ended the evening! A wonderful quiet night with family!

A Big Day!

Or should I say, "Big Night" in the Creedon Home! I am proud and pleased to say that all the Creedon Boys are now sleeping in their own big boy beds! On Sunday we decided that it was time for Carter to be moved to a "big boy bed". We dusted the toddler bed off and got it all set up for him. He was very excited when we were getting it ready during the day.....I didn't get too excited as it was still very light out! LOL He did awesome! He fell asleep all on his own in his bed and didn't wake up until 5:30. If the truth be told, I missed that little boy and was happy that he wanted to snuggle! He has successfully slept in his big boy bed every night since! While it is a bit sad, it is nice to see!

Baking with the Boys!

My boys love to help me bake! I have decided to try to document through photos when we bake and to create layouts using the recipe and the photos that I am able to get while I am up to my elbows in flour! LOL Here is my first attempt! I didn't get many photos because we were having such a good time creating! I was able to get a few so that I could create the layout! Hope you give this very yummy recipe a try!

Just Like Dad!

Carter is one of the funniest little boys I know! His imagination and sense of humor amaze me! He loves to play with Paul's stethoscope and knows how to use it. He isn't that impressed with the toy version, but uses it just the same!

A Great Day to Play!

The past few days have been rainy, but earlier in the week it was beautiful! We had a chance to get out and enjoy the fall weather! Jacob let me get a few good photos of him, so I jumped at the chance.

Sometimes My Kids Do The Funniest Things!

My children seem to have the most vivid and imaginative minds! Yesterday while we were playing outside they seemed to make me laugh non-stop! While I was a bit disappointed that I didn't have my camera with me and it just wasn't safe to leave them outside while I went inside to get it, I remembered that I had my phone on me! This was the funny photo that I happened to catch! It was really hilarious!

October Fun!

October is here..... and that means Halloween is close by! We decided to start to get into the Halloween festivities by doing a bit of decorating! We had a great time!

Warm Weather Returns!

What a crazy fall we have had! Last week we had lows in the 30s and this weekend we broke record high temperatures 3 days in a ROW! WOW! What an awesome holiday weekend! This nice weather has made me dig out more of my summer photos that need to be scrapped! Can't stay long....I am off to enjoy this summer weather we are having!

Always *LOVE* a Pink Kit!

I always love when I stumble upon a pink kit! Pink *IS* my favorite color! The only bad part about all of it is that I have 3 boys..... 3 boys that don't look good in pink! I saw this kit and knew I had to have it! Here is what I came up with.... I dug a photo out from 1976 of me!

Bushels of Fun!

It is very cold out..... this morning it was 30 degrees! I am getting adjusting to this weather by digging out my crock pot to make chicken & dumplings and scrapping fall pages!

Apple Picking!

We love apple picking! The more apples the better! LOL This trip we picked 19 pounds of apples! The boys had a great time and were very excited to try the apples.....like they had never eaten an apple before! We had a great time!

Fall Fun!

Fall is in full swing...... which means some fun! Apple picking and picking the perfect pumpkin are among our favorites! Max loves to visit the orchard and pick out the perfect pumpkins!

Two of My favorite Things!

At the risk of sounding very redundant....I love Summer.....I also love apple picking with my family! The other day, I got to enjoy BOTH of those things on the same day! LOL It was 82 degrees in Maine (you read correctly, that was 82 degrees in Maine on September 27th). It was awesome! We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head out to the apple orchard after Jacob got home from school. One of our very favorite things about living where we used to live was the the BEST orchard in existence was right down the road from us. Moving away from Doles Orchard was hard..... we live close to an orchard now....but it doesn't come close to comparing to Doles Orchard! We are getting used to the "new" orchard, but the boys still miss and talk about Doles! We had a great time picking apples in the heat! We had a great time!

Summer is Back!

I am one happy girl! Today was 82 degrees! LOL You know how much I *LOVE* summer! So, I had to take the opportunity to scrap another page from this summer! It is supposed to be 70+ degrees for most of this week! I am super excited! The longer this warm weather sticks around, the longer it will be until we have to think about firing up our woodstove for the first time this season! Don't get me wrong, I love my woodstove, but I love warm weather even more! Warm weather is much cheaper in Maine than cold weather is! LOL So, here's to one more page from summer......I hope that this warm weather inspires me to do more!

Soccer in the Rain......

Today was week 2 of soccer for us! It rained all night and was raining this morning. Who knew that they played soccer for 4 and 6 year olds in the rain! LOL I guess my suspicion that I am not a good soccer Mom was confirmed this morning when I didn't have an umbrella and cool rain boots to wear while I watched the game! Instead, Carter and I sat in the rain and I tried to hide my camera.....because of that I didn't get any photos. But I do have some photos from last week that I just finished up! Here is a layout from Jacob's 1st game! Today's games were great! Jacob has a super time and Max is really learning the game and enjoying himself!

Let Soccer Season Begin!

Soccer season has officially started! I learned a few things this week! I am no soccer mom and this is going to take a bit of getting used to! LOL WOW! What a crazy group! The boys did have fun at their first practices and first games! It was a good time!

Let the Apple Picking Being!

I know that I mention WAY TOO MUCH that I love Summer, so hopefully this is the last time you will hear it from me for a while, because let's admit.....Summer in Maine is OVER! The good news is: Apple Picking Season is HERE! Max and I were lucky enough to go apple picking last weekend with my Mom (Max's Grammy) and my Aunt Elaine and our friend Randy. It was my Aunt Elaine and Uncle Jimmy's last day in Maine, so we had to send them off in true Maine style! We had a great time picking apples and checking out the pumpkins! We had a great time with Aunt Elaine and Uncle Jimmy this summer and were sad to see them go!

Back Into a School Routine.....

The Creedon Home is trying to get back into a school routine! We are adjusting, but here are some of the things we don't like:

a. having to go to bed at 8:00pm
b. having to wear socks and shoes instead of sandals
c. having to get up at 7:00am (I finally had them trained to sleep beyond 7:00)

There are many more things that we don't like about summer ending, but we are adjusting to the fall routine! We are enjoying freshly picked apples from the local orchard and going out to play with very few bugs trying to bite us!

Here's to a fun and fabulous fall!

September is here already?

How did that happen? I am not ready for Summer to be over! We had a great summer! We made lots of trips to the beach and had a great time! I must say, I love fall! What I don't like about it is that winter follows it! I am excited about some trips to the orchard to pick apples! The boys love the orchard and we have gotten some of our best photos there! I hate for summer to end, but am already looking forward to next summer!

Be Happy Now!

I don't often have the chance to get photos of my husband and I to create layouts, but occasionally I do! Here is a photo of Paul and me that I wanted to get scrapped! It is just a photo that I took with my cheapy camera, but I like the way it came out! I have had a bit of a scrappin' slump the last couple of weeks, but had a vision of this layout in my head and was happy the way it came out! I hope I am out of my slump! Happy Scrappin' everyone!

August is in Full Swing!

Where does the time go? I can't believe that August is nearly half over! August hasn't given us beach weather, but it has given us some good weather! Nice days and cool nights! Great for sleeping! I haven't had the chance to do as much scrappin' in the last couple of weeks! Things seem to be a bit more hectic! I am trying to enjoy every minute of what is left of summer before I will be sending Jacob back to school! Enjoy the rest of your summer!

I am Slowly Catching Up!

I am slowly catching up with scrappin' my June photos. Carter turned 2 in June and I am just now getting around to scrappin' them! Oh my! Can't chat long, off to scrap some more!

Lots of Fun at Home!

The weather continues to be good, there hasn't been as much beach weather, but really nice Maine summer weather. So, we have been riding our bikes (when I say "we", I mean the kids and Paul!) LOL I follow along helping Carter with his bike! Jacob's last day of summer school was yesterday! We are taking today as a "rest" day just hanging around the house and hope to have some great weather next week to do some fun stuff!

Lovin' the Beach!

Let it be heard here that The Creedon Family LOVES the beach! We love the ocean beach and we love the lake beach! We have had a fabulous summer where the weather has been perfect to really enjoy the beach! I hope that August brings us as much beautiful weather as July did!

Say Cheese!

Max loves the camera! He will often ask me to take pictures of him and his toys! It is quite funny and endearing! I love that little boy!

An Ordinary Day!

We have lots of ordinary days...... and our ordinary days can be a lot of fun! We have an awesome swing (which I happen to have created) in a big oak tree in our yard! Max loves this swing! I love it when I can get good pictures of him on it, because he loves to swing!

My Little Monkey

I couldn't resist creating this layout for these photos! Carter has such a sense of humor and loves it when he makes people laugh!

Giving Traditional Scrappin' Another Try!

I have been a scrapper' for a very long time! I remember back in 1997 making a scrapbook from Paul's and my first trip to Walt Disney World. While it is nothing that I showcase in my home, I do treasure it because it was my first "real" scrapbook. From the completion of that scrapbook, I was hooked! I loved everything about traditional scrapbooking: I loved the stickers, the edging scissors, the punches, the shape cutters......you name it, I owned it! I probably should have been a Creative Memories consultant, because I owned more Creative Memories than most consultants. I was obsessed! But sadly, in the 12 years that I traditionally scrapbooked, I completed a pathetic 2 albums.......I have many albums partially completed, but have yet to finish them.

When I was introduced to digital scrappin' 2 years ago, initially it was a hard sell.....my first thought.....why would I spend $39.99 on a computer program.....that is too much money (apparently, forgetting the thousands of $$ spend on traditional scrappin')! Then, Lisa J. from My Memories Suite did a layout for me of my newborn son and my husband.....I was hooked! I immediately got it and began creating awesome layouts!

Recently, I have found an awesome system that compliments My Memories Suite perfectly..... it is a system called We R Memory Keepers. I get mine from The Memory Boutique and have been so happy with them! I chose an 8x8 black leather album and it looks SO professional and classy! I love this system for many reasons, but one the things that I especially love about this system is that I don't have to have all the layouts that I want included in the album done at once. I can order 10 here and 15 here or just 1 or 2 at a time. I don't have to feel overwhelmed by a deadline to get a certain number done to finish a book. Currently, I am working on our 2011 Family Album! I love it because I have been printing my layouts at the end of the month. This is nice because I won't be overwhelmed at the end of the year! You can get your layouts printed through The Memory Boutique printing service with amazing quality! You can get the 8x8 prints for as low as 99 cents each!

When I got my album in the mail, I was surprised that it came with some photo sleeves. They come with 10 sleeves (one page protector and 9 photo sleeves that hold 2 4x6 photos each). I purchased an additional package of page protectors. I had no clue what I would do with the 9 photo sleeves, but tucked them in the back of my album. I recently decided that I have to put those photo sleeves to use! I decided to do some traditional scrappin' with them! I had some paper and embellishments from the We R Memory Keepers Family Keepsake Collection. I gathered some photos that I already had printed and laid all the "stuff" I had to complete my little project on my dining room table. I had to dig out some of my scrappin' supplies to help me complete my pages (which did take me quite a while to locate them). I must admit, I did surprise my husband when he walked in and saw all the "stuff" scattered all over my table! LOL That was a sight that he hasn't seen in years! LOL It was a lot of fun to do this little traditional scrappin' project! The pages look great in my album with my digitally scrapped layouts! I think that I may be doing some traditional stuff more often!

If you are interested in giving digital scrappin' a try so you can see just how great the layout look printed from The Memory Boutique. Use the code STMMMS38029 to get $10 off the purchase of My Memories Suite program. In addition to the $10 off, you will get a coupon for $10 toward the store to buy some kits to use in your program! It is a great deal!

Don't delay........you can combine digital and traditional scrappin' in a beautiful and tasteful way by using the We R Memory Keepers albums and supplies, My Memories Suite for your digital program, and The Memory Boutique printing! You will not be disappointed!

(The layout above is a digitally scrapbook page of photos of my traditionally scrapbooked layouts in the We R Memory Keepers photo sleeves)

Another HOT day in Maine!

Well, it was another HOT day today........the local weather report is that it reached 104 degrees here today........we decided to hit the beach to get through the heat.....it worked! The kids had a great day at the beach! We decided to take my niece, Cordelia with us! The boys had such a great time with her! It was the perfect day to be at the beach! Here is another layout of Jacob's surf lesson! He had such a great time that this photo was just screaming to be scrapped!

More Surfing........

The temperature in Maine has been very high......I must admit, I do love it! I have been scrappin' a lot of Jacob's surf photos! I got some great ones! It is such a fun thing to scrap! He had such a great time that it makes scrappin' them even more fun!

A Great Night for Surfing!

Tonight was a wonderful night! Jacob has the awesome opportunity to have a surf lesson! Aquaholics Surf Shop has several nights each summer that they have kiddos with Autism out to the beach for a surf lesson! It was amazing! He had such a great time! He was shivering but didn't want to stop! I took 401 photos in 90 minutes! It was so cool watching all the kiddos having such a great time!

Memories......

I love spending time with my family......I will admit, the older my boys get, the easier it is to really enjoy any outings we have. I have always enjoyed them, but it has always been a bit more work than fun.....things are changing and it is becoming more fun than work. Don't get me wrong, there is still a lot of work involved, but every year it is getting to be less and less work! One place that we enjoy going is Smiling Hill Farm. It is a real working dairy farm with an area for children to play and visit animals. We have lots of fun there!

A Mermaid of a Great Time!

Imagine our surprise when we were walking down Ferry Beach and found this beautiful mermaid in the sand! It was so beautifully created! The boys thought is was lots of fun to lay down with her and pretend they were mermaids, too!

Good Weather + A Fun Time = Lots of Scrappin' Pages

I am having such a great time scrappin' our memories this summer! I am lucky that I have some awesome photos to work with......and it's only the middle of July! Today we had some great weather....about 76 all day and we stacked wood all day! It really made me realize that winter will be here before we know it.......4 cords of wood should get us through most of the winter! I am not looking forward to winter, nor am I rushing summer, but I really do love a wood stove! But I love the sunshine WAY more! Here's to an awesome summer!

More Wonderful Days.......

I have gotten some of the nicest photos this summer! This one is no exception! This is my little Carter with my Mom. They took a nap for a couple of hours on the beach on the 4th of July! A great place to take a nap! We have such good times at Range Pond State Park. We are very lucky to have such a nice place for us to go!

Summer Fun!

I know you are probably sick of hearing me say what a great summer we are having......but I must say it again! So far, the weather has been awesome! Lots of outside time......which translates to lots of dirty feet! But we are loving every minute!

Another Awesome Day!

Today was another beautiful day! Temperatures reached 90 today.......which if you have ever been to Maine, you know that is a very warm day! LOL Monday is our regular day to grocery shop, so we left right after putting Jacob on the school bus in order to get it done and over with! We love days like this!