Wordless Wednesday

Last Friday Lily insisted her on wearing her cowboy boots...

Happy Wordless Wednesday!!

Take Me Back Tuesday

May 30, 2005

While working at a hotel I received a free pass to Fort Niagara. On Memorial Day my family and 2 co-workers (one of which is my friend whom got married over the weekend) went to Fort Niagara. Then after we went to what I like to call the rocky beach and had a picnic. The beach is located in the State Park where Fort Niagara is. I liked to take Ian there because he could throw rocks without getting in trouble.

You can participate and/or check out other Take Me Back Tuesday posts at A Giveaway Addicted Mommy.

Sunday Citar

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. ~Irish Proverb

I took these photos at the wedding yesterday. I have many more to share, but I am off to go take the kids to my parents for the week. Must go pack. =D

Welcome to Sunday Citar! This blog quote meme was created by Fresh Mommy. You can stop by her blog to see the quotes and photos that she and everyone else is loving right now.

Berry Fun!

While I am waiting to go get my hair done for the wedding, I thought I would share some photos from last weekend when we went berry picking at Watt Farms. We had never been berry picking here. We have been going apple picking here for the past 4 years. When we went they had u-pick peaches, apricots, cherries & raspberries. We just did raspberries & cherries.

I just have to share...my husband rocks! Last night he went into the basement and grabbed our monitor from our PC and brought it upstairs and plugged my laptop into it. YAY, I can get to my photos (yes, I need to buy an external hard drive). So while I wait for the box to mail my laptop to hp, I can use it. YAY!!! Doing a little happy dance!

Update and Giveaways...

I am having a technical difficulty. The backlight on my good laptop doesn't seem to be working. We will be mailing it back to hp within the next few days. So right now I am on the ancient laptop that is slooooowwww. We have a few busy days coming up. I am in a wedding on Saturday and on Sunday I am dropping my kids at Nana & Papa's in PA for the week. My husband & I are having a staycation without the kids. While the kids are gone I am going to paint my son's room with the free paint I received from glidden.

Here are a couple of great giveaways I found this week...

Mommy and Beyond is giving away two sets of notecards from agoodsigndesign. (ends 7/26)

Bit of Whimsy Designs is having Christmas in July giveaways on her blog. (all ending 7/24)

Wordless Wednesday

I took this photo when we went to the zoo a few weeks ago.
Happy Wordless Wednesday!

I entered this photo of my daughter in a contest. Please go on over here and vote for me, Whimsical Creations. Thanks a bunch!

Take Me Back Tuesday

July 18-28th, 2001

My son was born 5 weeks early 8 years ago. Ian knew he needed to be here. He knew that if he got much bigger in my belly he might not have made it. After I gave birth we found out there not 1, but 2 true KNOTS in the umbilical cord. We were very lucky parents. He was 6lbs 8oz. They let me see & hold him briefly after he was born, but then whisked him away to the NICU. I must say this now, he never had a problem breathing, never needed any meds and was the largest baby in the NICU. But to be on the safe side they wanted to monitor him. I was good with that...until the nightmare began...

(just a warning, I try and keep my blog light and airy...but I also feel the need to share the story behind these photos and how they make me feel.)

First off they never gave me, my family or my son's pediatrician a straight answer on why he was in the NICU or how long we could expect him to be there. Typically a Dr. from the pediatrician's office you choose comes into the hospital in the morning after you give birth. Well, mine never came because he was never called...yes I gave them all the info and they lied and told me they called him when they did not. A nurse (who also takes her children to his office) called his office after I inquired about it. When the pediatrician came to see me, he asked me what was wrong with Ian because there was nothing in his chart and after looking at him he could not find anything wrong. So for 10 days we trekked to the hospital to see Ian. They kept telling us he was having apnea and bradycardia spells. These spells never lasted, never needed intervention, nor did they happen often, nor did I or my family ever witness one. And yes, I was there alot! Not sure if you can see, but there is a tube in my son's nose in a few of the above photos. It was a feeding tube. They said he was eating to slowly (they were timing him) and was tiring himself out. Um....I have had 2 babies and have watched MANY more. I had seen quick eaters, slow eaters and frequent eaters. My son happened to be a slow eater when it came to bottles (I pumped and brought in milk...I happened to have tons of milk). Yep, could have feed 8 babies...found out that from a lactation consultant in the pediatricians office weeks later. Ok, didn't mind the tube so much...but what bothered me is that when I fed him they then pulled the contents up through that tube, measured it and then pushed it back into his tummy. I am not going to go into details about the nurses. There were a couple there that should not be able to speak to people. I do understand that they see mainly really sick babies, they should really learn how to talk to people especially new parents. I am also not going to share my experience with breastfeeding and how they (ppl at the hospital) were not very supportive.
In order to take our son home, my husband, myself and my son had to spend the night in the hospital in a room that looked like a hotel room. My son would be coming home on a breathing monitor that he would stay on 24/7 for at least a month. My mother & I met with the breathing monitor company's rep and they showed us how to put on the monitor. We then watched as they placed the monitor on my son 24 hours before he left the hospital. It would have been fine if they would have put the leads on correctly. They put them on across from each other instead of staggered. NO ONE noticed that it was on INCORRECT. My son was seen by more than one DR. and lots of nurses within that 24hr period. So what happens when you put the leads across from each other?...TONS of false spells!! The first few nights at home with my son were a nightmare. The machine went off all the time and I thought there was really something drastically wrong with my child. I got no sleep and my son got no sleep because I kept waking him up when it would go off. I turned into a fruit cake, thinking my son was going to die. A rep from the monitor company came out and took one look at the leads and knew what was wrong. Within a few days of that, no spells, talking to my pediatrician and a lactation consultant...I called the monitor company and told them to come and pick up the monitor. There was no way I was going to pay money (it was alot, too) to have them read that damn thing....especially after the rep told me the information on it was useless. While I can understand erring on the side of caution...what happened in this hospital was totally uncalled for and left a bad taste in my mouth. Also, I picked my OBGYN because I wanted to deliver my child at that hospital and I also had 2 previous surgeries at that hospital. While I LOVED my OB, she did not deliver anywhere but there. So when I got pregnant with my daughter I found a new OBGYN and gave birth at a different hospital, which was a much better experience.

In the past 8 years my son has meet all of his milestones and has never had any sign of being a preemie. We have joked since then that "I just cook them faster than other people." My daughter was 3 weeks and 1 day early and weighed 7lb 4oz.

If you are still reading, thank you for stopping by this installment of Take Me Back Tuesday. I promise next week will be lighter. =P

I entered this photo in a contest. Please go on over here and vote for me, Whimsical Creations. Thanks a bunch!

You can participate and/or check out other Take Me Back Tuesday posts at A Giveaway Addicted Mommy.

MckLinky's Weekly Blog Hop - wk4

Welcome to MckLinky's Weekly Blog Hop!!

This week the theme is Favorite Recipe or Dish. I have a couple I would like to share...

Baked Potato Soup
I originally shared this here.

Here is how I make my Baked Potato Soup.

• 4 large baking potatoes
• 6 c milk
• 4 green onions (sliced)
• 2/3 c flour
• 2 c cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2/3 c butter
• 12 or so slices bacon, cooked & crumbled
• salt & pepper to taste

Bake potatoes and cool. Peel off skins and dice. Melt butter in heavy saucepan. Add about 2 cups milk to saucepan. Combine half of the flour and 1 cup of milk in shaker. Shake and slowly add to pan. Do the same to the rest of the flour and milk, until all combined. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Make sure to keep stirring so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Add potatoes, onions, cheese, bacon, salt & pepper; cook until thoroughly heated.

Somewhere in the original recipe there was sour cream. The person who gave this to me doesn't like sour cream so she deleted it. It's tasty without it, but feel free to add it if you like.

When I made this for my vegetarian mother I deleted the bacon and then just added it to each individual bowl after dished up. You can also do that with the green onion. This recipe is also very good with ham instead of bacon or add broccoli instead of any meat.

Chicken Wing Dip
I originally shared this here.

4c chopped chicken
12 oz red hot sauce (we love Franks here in Buffalo, it's sooooo yummy)
2- 8oz cream cheese
1c ranch dressing
1c chopped celery
1c monterey jack cheese (put on top...I personally have been mixing it with the rest of the ingredients so there is yummy cheese throughout)

mix all ingredients and bake 30 min on 350.

(photo was taken of a 1/2 batch prior to baking)

I usually make a 1/2 batch for small gatherings. Beware, I made a 1/2 a patch and brought it to a cookout a few years ago (thinking that there would be lots of dips because it was bring a dish to pass thing) and it was gone in 15min.

**I usually serve this with tortilla chips.**

Thanks for hopping by! I love comments, I would love for you to leave a comment so I can check out your blog, too.

I entered this photo in a contest. Please go on over here and vote for me, Whimsical Creations.

Not My Child! Monday

I interrupt the regularly scheduled weekly Not Me! Monday post briefly to bring you Not My Child! Monday...

My daughter would not make a sand cake and then decide to try it. Ummmm...nope! She did not later that night tell me that "sand cakes are NOT yummy!"

My son did not look like a crack addict spaz when he kept asking for tokens at Charles E. Cheddar. (what my husband calls chuck e cheese)

My son did not tell everyone in our neighborhood that it was his birthday. He did not come into the house to show me the card the neighbor a few houses down gave him with $5.00 in it. Nope my kid would not do that!

While raspberry & cherry picking on Sunday my son did not sit in raspberries and end up with red stains on his shorts. He also did not ask me to pit his cherry for him. Ahem. I am not a mommy bird sweetie, you are 8 spit the pit out.
My daughter did not "collect" raspberries and cherries in her bucket...she does not like to "collect" things lately. She did not refuse to eat them.
Thanks for stopping by. I adore comments and would love for you to leave a comment so I can check out your blog, too.

This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what her children and everyone else's children have not been doing this week.

Sunday Citar

On Thursday I took Lily to the wading pool and she had a great time. She was even more excited when we went over to get Ian and bring him back to the wading pool. He is her hero.

They looked so adorable sitting next to each other on the side of the pool.
She had to hold his hand...
"A brother is a friend given by Nature." Jean Baptiste Legouve


Welcome to Sunday Citar! This blog quote meme was created by Fresh Mommy. You can stop by her blog to see the quotes and photos that she and everyone else is loving right now.

Happy Birthday Ian!

It doesn't seem possible that 8 years ago today I gave birth to my son. I remember it like it was yesterday. I worked a full day. I came home and felt strange and called my OB. She sent me to the hospital. I was having contractions the whole ride to the hospital. When I got out of the car my water broke in the hospital parking lot (I was so glad my husband had his golf towel in the trunk). You see this would be all normal, if this would have been happening 5 weeks into the future. My son decided he needed to be here 5 weeks early. I got to the parking lot around 5pm and @8:3pm my son was born. He weighed 6lb 8oz! I could only imagine how large he would have been if I would have gone those 5 extra weeks. Actually I don't want to ever imagine that. My son knew he needed to be here...there were 2, yes 2, true KNOTS in the umbilical cord. We were very lucky that night 8 years ago. My OB told us to go buy a lottery ticket. My son was in the NICU for 10 days, but that is another story for another day...a take me back tuesday type of day.

Happy BIRTHDAY sweetie!!

XOXO, mommy

Lets Have a Tea Party!

When I saw these photos of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, I was very excited. I can't wait until this movie comes out in March 2010.

I also found this trailer...

To celebrate the new Alice in Wonderland movie we should have a tea party...

1. Its always Tea time - Pocket watch necklace by SixAstray
2. Mocha and Whipped Cream by prettyfickle
3. Hand Sewn Felt Faux Food Vanilla Cupcake Pastry Dessert by aoisart
4. Down the rabbit hole ... there is a cupcake! by anatego
5. The Ultimate Party Favors - PINK LEMONADE COLLECTION by SugarChicBaby
6. Felt Cupcake by SugarChicBaby

Such yummy treats!

Have a fabulous Friday.

"I Love Summer" Photo Contest

While Ian is at Swim Lessons this summer we are loving the town wading pool.

To find out more about the "I Love Summer" Photo Contest on An Island Life click here.

Giveaway Thursday 7/16

Everything Etsy is giving away a $20GC to Rainbow Swirlz. (ends 7/20)

The Dirty Shirt is giving away a $30GC to Sugarbeez Tutus. (ends 7/24)

The Dirty Shirt is giving away a pair of shoes from Simple Shoes. (ends 7/23)

Studio M.M.E. is giving away a print from Chelsea Rose. (ends 7/17)

The Un-Organized Mom is giving away a $25GC to Tutie Fruity Boutique. (ends 7/17)

Wordless Wednesday

This little johnny jump up came up in a crack in my driveway.
It made me smile when I noticed it the other day.
I love Johnny Jump Ups!!
Happy Wordless Wednesday.

Take Me Back Tuesday

Two weeks ago I wrote about my son laughing at my Raggedy Ann I had as a child. Well, my mom asked me why I had not put the picture of me laughing at Raggedy Ann....she reminded me that I had that album at my house. Oops.

January 1974.

I was 2 months old.
You can participate and/or check out other Take Me Back Tuesday posts at A Giveaway Addicted Mommy.

Don't forget to enter to win one of my wedding cakes here.

MckLinky's Weekly Blog Hop - wk3

Welcome to MckLinky's Weekly Blog Hop!!


This week the theme is 3 Things You Did Not Know About Me.

Here are 3 Things You Did Not (or maybe do) Know About Me...

1. I worked full time at the headquarters to a local grocery chain until the day I gave birth to my son 8yrs ago. I was the Office Manager in the Demo Dept. As the Office Manager I billed vendors for demonstrations. Demos are the people who give out product (free food) in the stores.


2. I was introduced to my husband by his brother. I worked with his brother and he is one of my best friends. It was great to go to family functions while I was dating my husband because I also had a friend there. It is still great today. When my brother in law told me about his brother I had a list of criteria that boys had to meet. You see, I had dated some doosies. So my list was that he had to 1. have a job, 2. have some life ambition (a goal), 3. not live at home. Well, he met the first 2, but he lived at home. I was not sold. I met my husband at a softball game 14 yrs ago. (he played on the same softball team as my brother in law) Well, the rest is history. BTW...my husband has 2 brothers and both of them also have red hair. And because last Saturday was my wedding anniversary I am including a photo from my wedding of my husband's family. The brother that introduced me to my husband is the 3rd from the left.
   


3. I love daisies. They were the theme of my wedding after I saw them in a Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. I still have that magazine tucked away in my attic. I also love to take photos of flowers. Here are a couple daisy photos I took this week in my back yard.

BTW...don't forget to enter my giveaway here.

Not Me Monday - wk11

Hi!! Welcome to my 11th week of Not Me! Monday!

I certainly was not GLUED to the tv to watch the Michael Jackson tribute on Tuesday. Ummmm...nope...I would definitely find something more productive to do with my time.

I did not take my son to his basketball clinic on Tuesday not realizing he had his crocs on. I would definitely pay attention to what my son puts on his feet. At least he had socks on!

I did not feel guilty about taking my son to his swim lessons this week. It was so cold that the instructors (guy in red shorts in photo below) looked like he was freezing. These photos are from Monday. On Wednesday, it was really cold! So cold my son did not have purple lips when he was done with swimming and I did not make my kids soup for lunch because it was so cold.

I do not dislike the neighbor child and end up sending home alot. You see, I am a person who love kids, especially when they come over to play with my son. But this child is 10 yrs old and is so annoying and drives everyone crazy! I am not sure what is wrong with him (I am pretty sure there is something wrong). Ok, so I am not a bad person for disliking the neighbor kid. *sigh*

I did not spend 2 hours on Saturday (my anniversary) at the DMV with my husband and kids. You see, if my husband or myself want to go over the border to Canada I need a passport or an enhanced license. My license expires in November so I figured if I need to renew it I should get the enhanced one. If I was going to get one my husband should get one, too. So in 2 weeks I will be able to go to Canada and get back into the states without a problem.

This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

BTW...don't forget to enter my giveaway here.

Sunday Citar

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you."
Frank Lloyd Wright

I took these photos the other day at the Buffalo Zoo. My son is enamored with pine cones and little acorns. I thought the quote was appropriate because just down the road from the zoo is the Darwin Martin House Complex designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for one of his closest friends Darwin Martin.

Welcome to Sunday Citar! This blog quote meme was created by Fresh Mommy. You can stop by her blog to see the quotes and photos that she and everyone else is loving right now.

Happy Anniversary!

July 11, 1998

I became Mrs. Adey...
Our wedding was in the backyard of my husband's parents house.


I LOVE YOU, Mr. Adey!
Just a little background on my necklace. My grandmother wore this necklace when she married my mother's father (he passed away when my mom was 3). The original necklace was longer and she personally restrung it into a necklace and bracelet for me.

XOXO

Happy Friday!

Today we went to the Buffalo Zoo. It is a beautiful day here and the weather finally warmed up (while I write this it is 81 degrees out). I packed a lunch for everyone and took my nephew with us.


The tiger was having fun playing with his ball.

My nephew told me his favorite animal were the bears.

Lily told me her favorite animals are the zebras.Ian's favorite animals are the Meerkats (or what we like to call the Timones)
We saw a couple mommy's with their babies!! There were a couple babies in their mamma's pouches....And my favorite a mommy and her baby giraffe...
I have a zoo pass and it rocks! We go to many reciprocal zoos that are free of charge. Not only do I have one where I live, my parents live near 2 zoos and 2 more a little over an hour away from my house.

So what did you do today?

More Giveaways...

Some more I found...

Sweet Cheeky Designs is giving away a free blog design. (ends 7/12)

The Sunshine Studios is giving away a print from Get the Picture. (ends 7/12)

Miss Priss Tutus is giving away a 10" tutu. (ends 7/9)

Lassie Girl is giving away a skirt from little bit funkey. (ends 7/9)

Giveaway Thursday 7/9

Here are some giveaways around the bloggy world.

My Fancy Princess is giving away a tea set. (ends 7/11)

Everything Etsy is giving away a dozen Vanilla Cinnamon Sugar Marshmallows from Cupcakes in a Jar. (ends 7/10)

Baby Loving Mama is giving away a cake from Bake Me a Wish. (ends 7/19)

Sew Inspiring is giving away a Lil' Bit of Whimsy apron. (ends 7/12)

rem-i-nisce is giving away a custom necklace and a starbucks GC. (ends 7/10)

Jolly Mom & Go Graham Go are having a Big Kid Blog Party starting July 20th.


Don't forget to enter to win one of my wedding cakes here.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy WW!

Don't forget to enter to win one of my wedding cakes here.

Take Me Back Tuesday

July 2006

In the summer of 2006, I was pregnant with Lily and it was the first summer I babysat this sassy girl.

The summer of 2006 was all about crafts!

This 4th of July crown we made turned out adorable!!

I found the idea in Family Fun Magazine.

You can participate and/or check out other Take Me Back Tuesday posts at A Giveaway Addicted Mommy.

Don't forget to enter to win one of my wedding cakes here.

MckLinky's Weekly Blog Hop

Welcome to MckLinky's Weekly Blog Hop!!


This week the theme is FAVORITE PHOTO.

Well...I am really indecisive. I have a few favorites right now...

My son looking really old...

My daughter in her tutu...
I am in love with the whisps of her hair across my daughters face...
This is a photo of myself & my husband on our wedding day July 11, 1998. I have this framed in my bedroom...A photo I took of a friend's son at his first birthday party...
Thank you for stopping by and checking out my favorite photos. Have fun hopping. =D

Not Me Monday - wk10

Hi!! Welcome to my 10th week of Not Me! Monday!

Ok, so I am NOT ashamed to admit that I did not drop my daughter while on the zip line at the playground this week. I did not kick myself in the butt when I didn't hold onto Lily better when she wanted to do the zip line thingy. She did not fall on her face and her eye did not swell! I was not mortified!


I also did not leave my daughter upstairs after we went up to wake him up from his nap. She did not proceed to jump all over him.

I was not grumpy all weekend! Enough said. ;P

I did not finally clean my florida room. It was not disgusting and did not need to be cleaned!

I never wonder why my garbage is always full and my husband never realizes that it is full? I am not trying to prove a point by not taking it out myself.

I would never tell my husband that the shoes he picked out (for me) at BonTon were UGLY! I did not tell him to throw them out...due to the fact they were so ugly! LOL....I would never think that it is still funny, sad & ironic that he would show me those shoes. I also did not wish I would learn to use my filter and keep those type of feeling to myself because I did not hurt his feelings by telling him they were ugly. OOps...

This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

BTW...don't forget to enter my giveaway here.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th from my family to yours!

(Lily is wearing corkers from Winklepots.)

XOXO

MckLinky Weekly Blog Hop - Welcome!

Welcome to MckLinky's Weekly Blog Hop!!

This week the theme is INTRODUCE YOUR BLOG.

For those of you who are new to my blog...hi my name is Melanie! For those who are not new to my blog, welcome back! I am a married, 35yr old sahm of 2 children, a son age 8 and a daughter age 2. I am also a polymer clay artist. This blog is about my family, my life, my creations & my finds along the way. I love all things handmade and enter way to many giveaways. BTW...I am having my own giveaway right now here. I started this blog a year ago in an attempt to share my creations with people. Since then it has become so much more than that to me. I love being able to connect with my family and friends through my blog. I have also made many amazing bloggy friends while writing this blog.

Wedding Cake Giveaway! - CLOSED

To celebrate the month of July I am having a giveaway.

I have many special things upcoming in July...

My 11th wedding anniversary (on the 11th...lol, just noticed that),
my son's 8th birthday (on the 18th),
my friend's wedding (on the 25th),
and my 1 year blogiversary (on the 18th).
Also my parent's (39yrs) & my husband's parents (42yrs...I think) wedding anniversaries are also this month. (on the 17th & 25th)
Not to mention, tomorrow is the 4th of July!
Whew...I am tired just thinking about all those celebrations!

So what am I giving away?

One Pair of Photo Holders with navy ribbon!

To enter:

• Leave a comment telling me what your July plans are, yep that's it.

Extra Entries:

• Follow my blog (current followers count). Leave a separate comment letting me know you are following my blog.
• Blog about this contest and link it back to this blog. Leave a separate comment with the link to the post for an additional entry.

Anyone (yep, I ship worldwide) can enter this contest, please make sure you leave me an e-mail so I can contact you if you won. This giveaway will end on Friday, July 17th around midnight, EST.

Thanks for the past year! =D

XOXO

Giveaway Thursday 7/2

Verging on 40 is giving away a Personalized Tiny Tag from Sentimental Silver. (ends 7/10)

The Giveaway Diva is giving away a retro black and white apron dress from Lover Dovers. (ends 7/23)

Pieces of Me is giving away a tutu from Three Peas Co. (ends 7/8)

Pieces of Me is giving away a pillowcase dress from Izzy B Designs. (ends 7/6)

Pieces of Me is giving away 20 Small Cupcake Place Card Holders from Diva Entertains. (ends 7/5)

Not So Wordless Wednesday

This is my letter to my daughter...

Sweetie, Please quit picking my tomatoes!I have caught you red handed...or should I say orange because those were not quite ripe yet.

When I ask you nicely to not pick them anymore you look at me...

Then bat your eyelashes...

And promptly stick your tongue out at me!

You are very proud of yourself.
So I repeat, please stop picking my tomatoes or I will be forced to put you on the naughty seat.

Love, Mommy

Happy NOT so Wordless Wednesday.

For more WW check out 5 Minutes for Mom, WW, Mostly WW Headquarters & 7 Clown Circus.