Riley creating a masterpiece

This is Riley at her creative best.

Strawberries. . . YUM!!!

For playgroup this week we went to Gregs U-Pick Farm to pick strawberries. Oh my, what fun we had. Riley picked most of the strawberries herself. We had so much fun that we are going to go back next week to take Valen. If you have good strawberry recipes, let me know, I'm going to need them!!

www.gregsupick.com

We're Going to Get the Bunny

This is Valen at her first grade production of "We're Going to Get the Bunny." Her class wrote the story and came up with the music, with the help of their music teacher. At first she was very dissapionted that she didn't have a speaking part, but after watching this I think you'll agree that she had fun with her part.

New York Weather

We have been having crazy weather lately. I think we are getting all the leftover weather from the rest of the country. One minute it will be hot and humid, the next this:



Our front yard after the first storm.


The most beautiful one we could find.


At least they come in different sizes and shapes.


It hailed so hard that we actually got dents in our car. They are tiny so we couldn't take pictures of them, but I think that is the first time in my life I was worried about my car during a hail storm.
We have also been experiencing some crazy thunder storms. They have been so loud and intense that they have been scaring me. There was one clap of thunder that was so loud that I screamed, which made Justin come running downstairs asking me if I was alright and what the loud crash was. I told him it was the thunder, he thought it was me dropping the cookie sheet.

Deal of the Day

I couldn't resist posting today. I have nothing really great to say, but considering the day, I thought it approriate.

So my new favorite site in the world is freecycle.org. If you haven't been there you should. It is great. Not only can post things you want to get rid of, you can get free stuff and request things that you need. I put a playpen on there and within an hour someone emailed me about it. I've seen some amazing things on there--a moped even, althought I responded too late for that one. But if you have some time check it out.

http://www.freecycle.org/

While I am on the subject of being cheap--I was talking to a friend the other day about all of the great websites out there that help you save a few pennies here and there. Here are some of my favorite sites that help me out a bit--

http://www.mommysavers.com/ --this one posts finds on the internet for sales, discounts, free items and great household tips that help you save. I highly recommend this one.

http://www.sundaysaver.com/ --this one hooks you up with all of the local store ads each week. It also gives you printable coupons and other great deals.

http://www.couponsurfer.com/ --this one has free printable coupons.

While I am talking about free things--each state has a free fishing day. Check out your local/state game and fish department, it should be able to tell you when it is.

Blogging

I have decided to use my blog like blogs are supposed to be used, for me it will be almost journal like. For today I want to list my favorite moments of the day.

We moved Riley out of her crib into the bottom bunk. She was very excited. She got to choose the sheets she wanted on her bed and she took several "rest" times on there--we have given up on naps--her choice, not ours. We will see if she actually sleeps.

I didn't have to cook dinner tonight. We had a community BBQ. And to top it off they had veggie burgers.

I found organic crunchy taco shells at the store tonight.

Today, I got to wash the new clothes I bought yesterday so that I can wear them tomorrow.

I also found out that King Arthur whole wheat flour is cheaper at Wegmans than at Tops, by over a dollar.

It was cool enough today that we didn't have to run the air conditioner, we got to have the windows open.

Our Newest Pets

During the spring Justin and Valen came home one day telling me that they had found some tadpoles in a small pond. Each week since then we have been checking up on "our" tadpoles. Today when they went to check on them they couldn't find them and thought the worst. At closer inspection they found this:

Those are Valen's hands.









I think this one is Victor.