Christmas Tradition

Probably my favorite thing about Christmas is decorating the tree with the kids. This year was Brittany's turn to put the star on. Very scary... She had to stand on top of the ladder and she is like me, does not like ladders. It did not help of course that Glen kept shaking the ladder!! The rest of the ornaments and ribbon went on in lightening speed. We were trying to get done in time to watch my other favorite Christmas tradition, the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.  I love the sweet spirit these men have and love to hear the choir sing Christmas songs. We ended the evening with hot chocolate, yes another favorite of mine! A wonderful evening!

Give Thanks

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with the Guerrette's (Dennis and Lisa).  The day started with a Turkey bowl in which the young men overtook the old men easily.  Then, they came back to the house for a nap while the turkey cooked.  Dinner was wonderful, the food was good, and everyone chipped in picking up.  Then the adults and Brittany went off for another viewing of Twilight (the highlight of my day).  Don't forget the pie! The chocolate creme was gone first, we also had apple, pumpkin and banana creme.  All very yummy! We had a great day.

Glen's baptism

I love this picture of him with all the Priesthood who stood in the circle. He looks so little next them

Our last one is baptized! If you could all have witnessed just how excited he was for this day to come. He was floating all day. He even thanked his Dad for baptizing as soon as it was over with. We were glad that so many attended his baptism and showed their support to him. We also thank Aunt Lisa and Willie 3 for preparing and giving such wonderful talks. We are so proud of Glen and his big decision to get baptized just like his older brother and sisters and all of his cousins have!

My baby is 8!

He is all smiles! Glen has been excited all month about his birthday! He says his favorite month is September. So cute, I can't get over that he is 8. His big thing that he wanted was a bike with a kick stand. His old one came with training wheels, but no kick stand and this was very important to him. As you can imagine he was so happy to see his wish come true. The next event in his life will be his baptism in a few days. He got new scriptures too, so he is all ready!

Apple Picking

We headed out to Kents Hill Apple Orchard last Saturday to check out the fire trucks, take a tractor ride and of course, pick apples. I only had my two youngest with me this day and we had a great time. We got to do everything we wanted. We had lunch outside, it was a beautiful day for it. We rode the tractor to tour the orchard grounds and got to pull apples right off the trees as we drove by. We looked at all the fire trucks and then headed out to pick some apples! In no time we had picked ten pounds of apples. Our last stop was the apple shed bakery (my favorite place) to pick up some treats to eat at the football game! I got a rasberry turnover, Lucy picked a huge brownie and Glen got a whoopie pie! Yummy!!

Are you ready for some Football!!

One of my favorite fall activities... Watching my son play football. Here he is on the Maranacook JV team. He played center and nose guard in this game. It was a tough game, we ended up tied... not an ending anyone wanted, but Brandon played well. Of course I would say that!

Field Hockey

Doesn't she look tough? Yeah that's my girl alright. A new found love in field hockey. They work so hard running back and forth trying to get that infamous goal. She is a good runner and has gotten more aggressive this year. This game did not go so well for them, they lost to Winthrop 6-0. They had a game on Monday that went much better, they won against Lisbon 3-0. Brittany scored one of the goals, she was so excited about it. Her first score of the year. Then we have our cute spectators, Lucy and Glen playing with their friends on the fence. I don't think they actually watched any of the game, but they were showing support by being there. One of my favorite things about fall, all the sports and good weather.

Creative Escape Fun!

No rest for the weary! We were up at six am, at breakfast by seven and to our first class at eight. Then off to the races as we try to finish the project in the hour and forty-five minute time allotted. Only two projects actually got finished in class. We hurried to the next class with a potty break and more water. An hour for lunch is all we need to get ready for the afternoon schedule. The food was provided and wonderful. We even got one of the hotel staff to make us Chocolate milk special! We were so spoiled. This was a really great weekend. The only bad thing about it is it went way to fast for me. I am now having the after-Christmas blues and missing my friends already. What will our next adventure be?

Creative Escape, class time!

The last class of the convention was one of my favorites. It was designed and taught by Heidi Swapp. She is one of my favorite people in the scrapbooking industry. We made a perpetual calendar and actually finished the entire project (with the exception of pictures) in class! This class has inspired me to want to make others like it and maybe give away for gifts this Christmas season. She really has an inspiring story and a wonderful family.













Here we are in one of my other favorite classes taught by an inspiring scrapbooker with an inspiring story. Kolette and her husband have overcome challenges that most of us can't imagine. We worked on a gratitude journal and I cannot wait to finish it and get writing. There are so many things that I am grateful for and they change monthly. Now I can look back and see all the small things I am grateful for throughout the year.

Creative Escapes Bazzill Bus Tour!

The first day of our Creative Escape experience took us to Bazzill Basics Paper. We got to go to a place where my favorite paper was prepared. We watched stacks of paper get cut, sorted, and packaged. It was so cool! With Mr. Bazzill as our tour guide we got to learn the ins and outs of this paper-making processes and see all the happenings of our most treasured scrapbook supply as it makes it way into our scrapbook pages. We were all given pizza boxes and could fill them for as little as .17 cents per sheet! What a great deal! Our next stop was Scrapbooks Etc. my absolutely favorite scrapbook store of all. We spent about 2 hours shopping, then were brought back to the hotel loaded down with packages. What a great day!

Back to School!

Here they all are, ready for the first day of school. Summer has flown by, but they are ready to get back into it again, sports, friends, homework (okay, maybe not homework!). Brandon is now 16 and in the 10th grade. He is playing football right now on both varsity and jv teams. Brittany is 13 and in the 8th grade. She is playing field hockey. Lucy is 10 and in 5th grade. She is still doing gymnastics. Glen is going to be eight soon and is in the 2nd grade. He plays piano and loves to ride his bike!