A baby naming for Risa

This past weekend we celebrated the baby naming of our niece Risa. Oh my, I can not express what a darling Risa is! She is such a beautiful addition to our already lovely family! She is cute, pretty, beautiful and has this smile that makes your heart melt! She babbles and tells you stories already at 4 months old!

Her parents, our brother, Kevin and sister, Aliza hosted her baby naming at their home. IT was such a lovely celebration with so many of Risa's family and friends present. The ceremony was beautiful...and a few of us had tears in our eyes! Risa's mother made the most amazing and warm speech about her new daughter...more tears fell! 

Dave & I were asked to be her godparents! What an absolute honor! Although we follow different religions, we are thrilled to spiritually guide her through her growing years and watch her grow into what we already know will be a brilliant and beautiful woman! 

The other night was my Sarah's spring chorus concert. My in-laws were sitting a few rows back and Andy wanted to walk back and fouth from me to them a few times during the show. At the end, I let him wander over to them so I could pack up my camera gear and diaper bag. as I looked up to make sure he was still behaving, I saw this. I turned on my camera on so fast...did not change any settings (hence the terrible quality) and shot this! Changed the color tone a bit just to enhance (hide) the dark grainy image quality, but you can tell...this is the "Papa" that our kids adore! He is an awesome man...and an even more awesome Papa!!!!
I did not see this picture until I was searching for some good images to print to take up to our cabin this weekend for his b-day...I totally forgot about this! I have to remember to ask him what exactly was going on or what they were talking about!

Bye Bye little duckies...

Sad to say...and happy to say.....the ducks have been brought to their new home! They are as happy as can be to have more room then the little kiddie pool to swim in, and I am sure they are super excited not to have our cat Josie & Josie's cat friend Milkyway stalking them anymore!

So their new owner built a beautiful pond with a filtration system, bridge, waterfalls a few years ago and has wanted ducks since! He has 2 turtles ans some fish. We put the ducks into their new pond and a few minutes later they were swimming, splashing and drinking from the waterfall! It was super cute...they were like little kids at a waterpark! Their new sent me an email 2 days later saying that they are really happy in their new home. So am I! :)

yeah...I coupon...

Me...on Sunday morning...

I do, I coupon. I've heard it and often, I have thought it: "but it takes so much time and effort just to save a few dollars...isn't my time worth more than that?

My take on the time and effort and what my time is worth:
I could totally be doing something more fun with the few hours it takes me weekly to accomplish real couponing ( this process is taking less and less time each week as I become that coupon diva (LOL)).  But, I do have 4 little ones, and we generally eat a pretty healthy diet including fruits, veggies, dairy and meats; foods that are pretty damn expensive. I always compare my cart full of fruits, veggies, dairy & meats at the grocery checkout line with the customer in front of me, who walks away with a cart full of prepackaged possibly unhealthier meals...and their total is half of mine...and it looks like they got double the amount of stuff...get what I am saying? It is expensive to eat healthy!
So...our healthy foods cost a lot...and that's ok, because we save big time on things like health and beauty supplies, household items, pet items, cereals, etc!

This weekend, I really planned out my grocery and home shopping taking full advantage of coupon and sale stacking... Over $480 worth of stuff for about $150. Did not purchase anything that I did not need in the home...well except for a bunch of formula, which I got all free and donated, some to the church, and a few to a customer in the isle that was purchasing the same brand!!!! :)
Here are a few pics, this was from 3 stores, but in the end, I did visit 5...just did not take pics of them.

(Stores shown above: Pathmark, Waldbaums & Rite-aide. Stores not shown; Target & King Kullen.)

Also...I am no pro like those crazy coupon people on TV, I have a coupon binder, and go through a few circlulars, but I would never buy 100 bottles of mustard, I would get only 1 or 2...only what we need! You will not see me buying 150 butterfinger candybars or 50 boxes of pasta... I would get 5!  :)

Are you a couponer? Share your thoughts or deals  or tricks with me!!!!!

 

And....We still have ducks....

Winn-Dixie @ 3 weeks old.

So...basically, this guy, we will call him Tom, has just wasted my time over the last 2 weeks and they are now not going to live with him on Lake Ronkonkoma.

He contacted me via email 2 week ago with a pic of the lake and "his" other adopted ducks. Perfect, I thought. He will continually feed them, but they also have the lake as a source of food, and they will live with other ducks and have a great big lake to enjoy!

Over the past 2 weeks there were emails trying to find a time when we could arrange the "adoption". I finally asked him for his number so I could call him. I did call and a few messages back and fourth to find that obviously his schedule was just as busy as my mom-with-4-kids-schedule is! Then...this past week, he would leave messages for me saying, I could meet you at costco at 3:30 today to get the ducks. Well, that does not work into my get the kids from school at 3;45 schedule, really, I will just bring them to you any evening after work. I don't mind driving. He reply was, I am just sooo busy and am always all over the place. Then he called and said that he was going away for the weekend; we could meet on Monday at 3 at costco. I hesitantly said yes, wondering why it is that I can not just stand up for myself and say, listen, we really want to see where the ducks will be released too...you  know, make sure they will not be Christmas dinner.

Here is how our "texting" from this morning went:

@ 4 weeks old and over a foot long!

T~Good Morning Melissa, Good news for you, I am not going away this weekend and can swing by your house this morning to pick up the ducks up....
Me~ Thom, I am sorry, but I have commitments this morning, then a following commitment early this evening. Can I bring them to you tonight or tomorrow? MY girls & I have become a bit attached to them and would really like to see them being released into their new home.
T~Oh....well, that will not work for a few reasons; first they will not be released into the pond for a week because they have to be acclimated to the pond and secondly, I do not do adoptions with strings like visitations.
Me~ Oh, we do not want visitations, just wanted to see where they will be released...we will not contact you in the future.
T~I can understand hat, however I prefer not to disclose my location for privacy reasons, the best I can offer you is to pick up the ducks and send you pictures of them . If this is not ok, this will not work out.
M~ Disclose your location? Interesting since I would be having you come to my "location" where I love with my 4 children. Honestly this seems shady. I have others who are interested in the ducks, so I guess you are right, this will not work out...thanks for wasting my time....2 weeks of it.

So, off I go to the feed store for more food and hay...great!

Meet Flip..or Flipey as the kids call him...

Wow...did I get lucky when a little girl passed this cute little pug puppy to me in a pet store in Port Jeff Village 13 years ago! She was holding him when her mom called her, and just asked me to hold him. Well, he snorted in my ear...and I ran for my checkbook! Took him to the vet the next day for the whole, check out my new puppy checkup, and I was told that he was not fit for sale. This means, that I was charged for a pure breed dog but shouldn't have been. Flip is a pure breed black Chinese pug, but he was the runt of the litter, no double twirl in the tail, eyes were crooked and he had too many teeth, so I could never show him or breed him. She gave me a letter stating he was not fit for the sale price. I went back, thinking I would be refunded some of the $850 I spent on him...nope, they told me to pick out a new dog. Ok...as if within 3 days I had not truly fallen in love with him! I kept him.
Well, 13 years later, I can tell you...Flip is the sweetest, calmest BEST family dog ever! Sure, he smells now that he is old, and he has hardly any teeth, but he has never been anything but the best pet a family with 4 kids could ask for!
Flip is aging so much now, he can no longer walk around our block with us, we have to put him in a wagon 1/2 way around if we take him, he no longer sleeps upstairs with us since he can no longer go up nor down the stairs without us carrying him. He sleeps almost all day and night.
Here he is straight from the groomer this week...when the groomer told me...hands down, best pets (Josie the cat was being groomed, too) he has ever groomed!!! Dave & I take credit for that! LOL

He could never ever be replaced...he is Flip!

Mothers Day

You have to love Mothers Day when you have 4 kids!! You have to...it's the only day you have an all day excuse for your kids to be totally pleasant all day, and do as you say or ask! Sounds pretty selfish...right? 

Also...it is probably the only day where you get to do what you want to do...still sounds selfish! LOL Who cares, I will take it!
Every year, the kids make me stay in bed (whoo-hoo...slept in!) Hotel Ellenwood (Sarah) calls to tell me what they have available for breakfast (what Dave has written down on the ellenwood hotel check). I place my order (this year

was a turkey BLT on whole wheat with fresh fruit, V8 and coffee). I read the paper (yup the whole paper while in bed!). They all bring breakfast up on a tray with all the little gifts and cards that they have made. This is absolutely the best part of the day (not selfish, see?). The kids are always proud of what they have made and love to see me loving it!


So this year, I had wanted to venture to Martha Clara for my free glass of wine...but honestly...woke up that morning not wanting to be in a crowd. So, we headed out in the yard for a little, while I cleaned and fed the ducks, and Dave helped me set up a new hose and sprinkler in the front garden. We put all the new mothers day plants there, but I will plant later during Andy's nap).

We then headed out east to the Elizabeth Morton bird sanctuary. We walked, and talked, we met a couple walking with their cockatoos, fed some birds and even some chipmunks. We picnicked an early dinner then hiked our way back snapping a few great family pictures (my ultimate gift...4 kids all smiling!). We stopped for an ice cream cone, then got home at bedtime! It was perfect! It felt like the first non-rushing and running around day that we have had in a long time!


PS...did I mention that I did absolutely no cleaning on this day (well, unless you count the duck pen...LOL)!

Happy Mothers Day to you! Hope it was as great as mine!

My dear friend....

Irene and her totally supportive hubby.

I have this friend, she is absolutely amazing! I adore her...for her humor, her sensibility, her kindness and her strength. See, this friend has been battling cancer since she was 28 when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer and had to undergo a mastectomy. A young mother with 2 children...a young healthy woman. Her life drastically changed from that moment (I will not personal too many details here).

A few years later, when expecting her 3rd child, she found out that her cancer had returned, immediate surgery was necessary, which meant an 11 week preterm delivery of her baby. (The baby was luckily born healthy and is now a beautiful 4 year old!)

Irene has continued to battle cancer for the last 4 years, having the cancer relapse over and over in different parts of her body. She fights this disease every single day, with daily trips to the doctors and repeat treatments of radiation and chemotherapy.

Irene with just some of us ladies who adore her!

Many of you, my friends and family do not know her personally, but believe me, she is an absolutely beautiful person. She is realistic about the disease and knows  the hardships she has had to overcome and the hardships that still lie ahead, yet she continues every day to fight this disease. She does not use the disease as an excuse for anything, she continues to live her life to the fullest (with many medical limitations due to her disease) and also continues to be a lovely wife and mother for her family.

She recently was a guest speaker for Mather Hospital's Victory Day, please see the Video here. Tomorrow morning she is walking with Mather for Families Walk for Hope with her daughters!

If you are reading this, I BEG of you to click this link, and pledge just $5 or $10 for her cause. If I have just 20 readers donate $10 (the price you will pay for your Starbucks coffee & bagel on your way to work), then we will have helped to raise $200...just like that!

A little laugh for you...

Tonight Aunt Kerry came for a quick visit. She just returned from a solo trip to Barcelona! She brought the girls little mini flamenco dresses. Rachel immediately put hers on and asked me to take a quick pic:
Then she said "Mom, you know what tomorrow is?" "What Rachel?"
"Cinco Tomorrow! So, this dress is super perfect, should I wear it on my field trip to the dinosaur museum?"  

Then, at swim lessons tonight, we unfortunately had to pass an elderly woman (about 75) showering, except unlike everyone else who showers in their swimsuits, she was bare....
Sarah...a bit shocked asked me "Is that legal?!!"


Hope this little post gave you a laugh!

Giggle.

Oh my...when uninterrupted, these 3 are so funny together...and all you hear are silly sounds and giggles!!!

LOVE !!!!

Josie...

This is the kitty we adopted 1 year ago...she totally picked us at the kitty shelter. The only cat that the hubby is not allergic to...so we all know she was just meant to be a part of this family! She is silly when she plays, sweet wen she is cuddling. Oh...and we know how much she loves is, becuase she leaves little rodents at the front and back doors a few times a week...sometimes we are so loved by her, that she leaves them indoors for us!

We spent the entire weekend outdoors...

It was an absolutely beautiful weekend...and I wish I could be writing to say that we took the kids to a park for a bike ride and picnic or something really fun...but I am not writing that. Instead, we spent the entire weekend in our yard, front and back catching up on spring yard work. The grass, bamboo and weeds have been growing like crazy!!!!! Our youngest is 2, and for the first time...there is no "baby"; in 9.5 years there has always been a baby to keep me from a full days work. I just may get some real work done this year!!!


Anyway...if I get any "me free time" in the beginning of the spring summer or fall seasons, you will find me squeezing in time to garden or weed in my fav gardening clogs shoes and a pair of garden gloves. 

I do not mind the actual labor of yrad work, I actually enjoy it a bit...I love leaving the house, then coming back and noticing all of our hard work. We unfortunately bought our home where the prior owners did not upkeep on anything, and it seems that everything needed work...slowly, with 4 kids, we are chipping away at each task! And one day, when we actually hire someone else to do it for us...maybe I will even miss it, Dave will not!!! :)


PS~ The kids had a great weekend, they played with the ducks and filled the pool for them, they jumped, jumped and jumped even more on the trampoline, they helped garden, weed & mow the yards, they rode bikes and ended the evenings with an outdoor fire and marshmallows!