OCTOBER!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE October!  Not to mention that my baby girl's birthday is in October and our Wedding Anniversary (3 years at the end of this month) but the leaves are changing, the air is crisp, and lots of FUN Fall Activities are planned! It's my favorite time of the year, that passes way too quickly..never to get everything I want accomplished actually accomplished. 

Baby Girl turned 2 last Thursday! We had her party the Sunday before...it was a wonderful celebration...full of DORA the Explorer...and TONS of Presents (this kid is so loved and blessed...she will never go without...).  Then I took Thursday and Friday off so we could really party...two year old style (lol)...so Wednesday night, Hubs picked up J from school and we took the kids to Texas Roadhouse. We had a nice dinner, complete with Baby Girl riding on the Saddle.  That was too funny.  I can't believe she is big enough to ride that thing!  And she loved it!  I almost want to cry because she is growing SO fast but it is also a good thing to see my Greatest Accomplishment growing into a little Toddler who can frustrate me like no one's business but in the next five seconds make me Grin from Ear to Ear with the things she comes up with!  She is funny, adorable, beautiful, trying at times, but seriously my life's greatest joy and the real reason I believe I was put here. If there is something I have to pinpoint the sole reason God put Tiny Little Me on this Earth, it was her. Motherhood is my greatest and most wonderful accomplishment. Every Day I get to spend with Baby Girl is so special and make me believe, at least there is one thing I am good at. haha. I love it more than I could have imagined. And even if I bug Hubs every day for another one, I am SO BLESSED to have had the pleasure of having Baby Girl First.  She is truly the light of our lives. 

So after all my raving...Thursday was her actual birthday...so we got up and dressed, her in her Birthday Outfit (of course), we opened up the gift we got her the night before, My Favorite Disney movie of all time..."Beauty and the Beast".  She LOVED it...and since then, has wanted to watch it CONSTANTLY. I know this is a Toddler thing...but as soon as she gets a new movie, she becomes obsessed! Not even Joking. I think we have seen "Snow White" a gazillion times since LAST YEAR. Like 3 times in one day. Not kidding. Anyhow, For awhile I am sure I will not get sick of Beauty and the Beast...so we watched...then Daddy went to get some new suits with Nana to look spiffy for Jobs and such...so Auntie K came over and the three of us went out for a Girls' Afternoon.  We took Baby Girl to lunch...then we visited "Build a Bear" where Baby Girl got "Princess Bella"..a dog with a Princess Shirt on..LOL...too funny. She had a great time..that is until she actually had to pick an outfit....that was a DISASTER! Too many choices for a 2 year old! We had to steer her in a direction...and then narrow it down...she still had a great time. She loved that she got to kiss the heart of the bear!  : ) It was too cute!  Next, we went to Target and got her 2 year pictures done...again, have I mentioned how hard it is to get her to LOOK at the camera, nevermind get a nice picture?!?  Well that was an adventure...we ended up getting about 10 good shots..and we called it quits. haha. Finally, we met back up with Daddy and Auntie M so we could all go to Dinner at Chili's...where she was sang "Happy Birthday" again. That girl is spoiled :)

The rest of the weekend was fun. Filled with WONDERFUL weather...perfect...along with visiting a few Fairs and spending time with our friends.  Who could ask for a better Columbus Day weekend?!?

Labor Day Weekend

So I took Friday off of work...and had Monday off...so I had a four day weekend and it still wasn't long enough!

Friday was when the Hurricane was supposed to come but that was a bust.  Nothin but a LITTLE bit of rain.  So we picked up our Jeep, after having to bring it to the shop for like 3 days due to an Electrical Problem where our whole dash was not working...and we couldn't tell how fast we were going, what our mileage was, nada.  Anyhow, we picked it up and Hubs went to pick up J while Baby Girl and I cleaned, which means going through TONS of boxes we had at other people's house while we have moved around for the past five years (LOL, we have ALOT of junk)!  Then Friday Night, I took the kids over to my friend's house where J experienced some of Titantic (edited for TV so no nudity..) for the first time...although we never finished it...

Saturday, we woke to a BEAUTIFUL day...so we decided we would take a trip to Acton to the Discovery Museums (there is a Children's Museum and, on the same property, a Science Museum)...Might I add, it was part of the FREE Friday thing the State worked out with various locations....Although, it was the last week of the Freebies, so they decided to do a wrap up with Saturday also.  The Discovery Museums were one of 10 places that were free around the state, although if you were there with me...you would have thought the Museum was the only place open.  IT WAS INSANE.  We never even made it inside...as the Children's portion was on number 140-ish, our ticket read 238 (they told us we probably won't even make it in)...and our Science ticket was like 138, they were only at 35 and both were only open another 2-2 1/2 hours.  Needless to say, it was so beautiful outside and they had a few outdoor things (bubbles, a sand box)...we check those out and then went back on our hour car ride home. That was a wasted day, at least the scenery of the trip was beautiful. Someday, maybe on a discounted day, I would love to go back (I could never do both on the same day at the prices they charge). 

Sunday, we spent some cleaning/some visiting family.

Monday, More Cleaning (and you think we would be done now...I dread going home from work this afternoon, that's for sure) and then Cookout over our friend's house. Baby Girl was super cranky from no nap...so when we got home around 5:30 she crashed for about an 1 1/2-2 hrs...and then was up til like 11:30.  Not a great idea on my part.  Nice cookout though  : )

Today (tuesday)...Back to the grindstone....

Currently,  I'm reading this really funny book written by Chelsea Handler...its her new one "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang"...as vulgar as she is sometimes, she is freakin hilarious!  I was laughing so much at lunch, my co-workers sarcastically asked me to keep it down. 

Back Then...

Here are some pictures of when Baby Girl was first Born...

After 38 hours of LABOR, B finally decided to grace us with her presence! ALOT of people were waiting to meet her, ESPECIALLY Her MOMMY AND DADDY! That was a longggg day...even with an hour of pushing, which felt like 5 hours!!!  She was worth every minute though! (I just hope the next child comes ALOT quicker!)

Meeting her big brother, J, for the first time!  He was excited...although he did wish she was a boy....But I wouldn't have had it any other way!


Her First Halloween...

Waking up from her FIRST HALLOWEEN!!!  She even was graced with 2 different costumes!!

With Daddy...

Her 2nd Costume, Tinkerbelle, with Mommy!

And then onto her First Halloween....

Daddy, that is NO turkey!!

B and her cousin, M (5 months older than her)

A Few More Pictures of when she was first born...

Kids Say the Darnest Things...

Baby Girl is 2 going on 12...she is so smart (not just bragging because she is my child)...for a child that doesn't attend daycare or anything (as I read children in daycare usually talk and are more socially developed before those that do not go), she is talking up a blue streak. And its not just a word here or there....its FULL SENTENCES....with ATTITUDE even (in some)....She continually amazes me with all the words/phrases she comes up with. 

Example 1---Baby Girl wanted something soooo bad....she grabbed it and said "Give me That, Give me That!" So, my Aunt K turns to her and says something to the effect of, that is not how you say that...what do you say? She turns to her and says "PLEASEEEE give me that"....How can you resist that??

Example 2--Her friend, G, was eating a Strawberry while we were visiting her after her birthday party (G's). She started to cough a little, B ran right over and rubbed her back, saying to her "You ok, Baby?"...That melted my heart! I asked her if she was going to be a good big sister someday, she looked at me and yelled "YES!"  (too funny)  Then, she got G's baby doll and started automatically feeding it with the pretend, where did the milk go bottle....I asked her what she was doing and she replied "I feedin the baby MILK!"  (Like DUH, MOM!)

Example 3--We were visiting my Grandparents, her Mem (or whatever she feels like calling her that day) and her Papa (she has 3...and calls other peoples' Papas her Papa too...lol), and we had to go home. I was joking and said "B, say Goodbye to the Old Folks"..she turns, waves, and says "BYE FOLKS". 

She is just too cute. 


On another note, I feel SUPER old. My stepson is turning 9 next week. I met him before he turned 4! I can't believe this Little Man is half way done with Elementary School!  I feel OLD!   With that, as fast as he is growing up, I can't believe B is going to be 2 next month! Feels like just yesterday, we were bringing her home from the hospital, then bringing right back two days later and staying at the hospital for another night...due to severe Jaundice. Seriously! Where does the time go???

Storm's a brewin...

So Tomorrow begins my long weekend....supposed to go to Maine, but that was scratched bc hubs couldn't get the time off. So we decided to stay home and participate in a big end of summer to do. Every Friday this summer, they have been celebrating with free admission to one chosen park/museum/attraction each week. For the big finale, they are offering free admission to about 8 different places on Friday, as well as 8 different places on Saturday. We figured this is right in our budget...FREE....so we decided on one place for Friday (outdoors) and another for Saturday. Well, now that this HUMUNGOUS storm might be coming...the hubs and I joke that it probably be super sunny  or start snowing..ya never know in New England.  So our plans might be scrapped for Friday.  I'm sure (ehmm...cleaning...ehmmm) we will find something to do but it would have been a nice way to say Goodbye to summer, as well as get the kids out of the house for a bit. Oh well....what can you do?  We live in New England.... 

Only time will tell, I guess. 

Why am I here?

I really wanted to start a blog, not only to share about my life, family, and things I normally wouldn't say outloud/or in front of other people.  I also wanted to start a review of places and products in the area. It's really fun having a family. What's even better is finding places to take my family for cheap, EVEN BETTER IS FREE.  Since we need alot of free things to do, or nearly free things, I often search the net and my favorite websites/blogs to find new ideas. Nearly every weekend, I tell my husband we are going to do X, Y, and Z and this cost this and that costs that. And he pretty much looks at me like I'm crazy..and then says ok. At the end of the weekend, we nearly always have some crazy story or adventure to something we have gone in done.

Needless to say, there are times I have said...why the HECK did we go there?  Why didn't anyone tell us? But then there are times that I say, WOW that was so much fun...what took us so long to get here?  Well, this is it...I really want to try to do my own reviews and see what other people think as well...so onto this crazy journey we go...Hopefully it will be helpful to some and others will give me reviews as well.


Along with reviewing, I LOVE to Bake. Ask any of my friends. I'm always baking. But mostly, I'm baking the same things. Well after about 5 years of annoying my husband with ripped out pages of magazines and massive, and I mean MASSIVE, print outs from the computer. I would like to start baking more creatively and publish the recipes along with reviews as well.


Onto our journey then.......

My Life in a Nutshell

Well if you read my profile, it pretty much spells it out for you.  I am in my mid- (some could say late?? but I don't buy it yet...) 20's, Born and Raised in Massachusetts. I met my husband and stepson 5 years ago, we will be married for 3 in October. A few months after we were married, we decided let's try for another...as soon as we decided, we were blessed with Baby Girl. The month after Baby Girl was born, my husband lost his job so needless to say, sadly going back part time was not happening...our initial plan was scrapped (sadly, I had been waiting all my life --LOL such a long time at that-- for this Baby and all this time we would spend together) and back to full time I went. In December 2008, I sadly kissed Baby Girl goodbye and off to work I went. It was rough but nearly two years later, I have made it.  In the meantime, hubs has still not found his perfect job, moonlighting in fast food is not his cup of tea but its whats getting us through right now. The job market has been just terrible to us. Every time life seems to be turning the corner for good, another something KNOCKS us down and our noses back to the grindstone we go. In the meantime, we also lost our home to foreclosure, a deal for buying it fell through about two weeks before our date for final foreclosure (and that process was LONG, drawn out, difficult, and upsetting..nevermind the stress it put on me, my husband, AND our marriage..yet we survived) and moved around about 3 different times.

Finally we are somewhat settled, at least as settled as we can be until we have another little one (then two bedrooms will definitely be too tight for 5..) I'm hoping the next few months brings new opportunities. Maybe some new jobs? Maybe my new home based businesses will take off (I'm really hoping...anyone want to have a party? LOL!!)...  Hoping for a new job, a new baby (not right now...just in the somewhat near..somewhat distant..future), and a new lease on life.  Only time will tell, I guess......

In the beginning....

For awhile, I have been tinkering with making a blog. But every time I think about it, I have a million other things to do. Instead, last night, My Aunt was talking about her blog and how there is this great new thing you can do....companies will take your blog and print it out for you. I thought to myself, that's pretty great because I don't have time to write all my thoughts down but now I can just jot it down online...and some day print it out for my kids to see.  So alas, here I am. New to the blogging world. Haven't really figured out how to put these super cool backgrounds on or anything but I'm sure I'll get there.