Visit from Indianapolis

This weekend we had my niece Brooke, her husband Corey and their cutie pie baby Malin here for a visit. Malin and Ava are only 3 weeks apart! It was fun to see them interact together and Malin sat up for the first time on Friday night.

It was a great visit and we look forward to spending time with them as our daughters grow up together. We look forward to our upcoming visit with them in December!

What's new for Ava

I keep forgetting to let people know what "Little Ava" is now doing. She has progressed to three meals a day of baby food and eight bottles. She is now turning over from back to stomach, and close to turning from stomach to back. She can somehow find her way across the room when I leave the room for just a couple of minutes. She is Mobile!! She loves to stand up on my lap and look around at all the things in each room and she loves to look outside. She has just started to use an activity saucer and she and the cats have begun to size one another up. Opal tried to rub her head against Ava and Ava grabbed for the fur. Yikes! She will be Six months old on Thursday and she is growing up SO FAST! George and I look back at video's and pictures of her when she was born and we can't believe how the time has gone. More updates later.

Happy Halloween!

This is Ava's first year for dressing up and I didn't think I was going to get a costume but.... my friend Kim Kalman and I were shopping at Target after our lunch at Uptown Kitchen and I couldn't resist this lobster costume!! She is SO CUTE!!

Saving Time & Money

With the recent decline in the economy, we have taken another look at our outgoing cashflow and found some savings. Thought I'd pass the information on to others.
Martin's Grocery Store: They have a pet club, baby club, and prescription club. Just go to the service desk and fill out a short form and they start tracking your purchases and then you get $10 coupons to be used on grocery items. I've already received twenty dollars off. The prescription club is a little different because you have to keep a punch card. However, if you have a prescription for antibotics, have them sent to Martin's because their FREE.
Trash Pickup: We didn't realize that when we signed up for trash service almost five year's ago, that we were on the highest bag level. We recycle most of our items and only have two to three bags per week. So...we called and we got a reduction of $88 per year.
Verizon Cellular: Went back and reviewed my last six months of use and realized I was always below my minutes. I called and reduced my minutes and monthly charges by $20 per month.
Capital One Visa: We switched from Chase to Captial One to gain travel points to use for airfare and hotels. There are no restrictions or blackout dates and your points never expire. We now put all our outgoing expenses on the credit card and then pay it off at the end of the month.
Hulu.com: This is a time saver. George and I get irritated with all the commercials during prime-time TV. Now we just log on to Hulu and watch our favorite TV shows like "The Office" with only one or two 15 second commercials.

Riverwalk-Mishawaka

Yesterday afternoon we went to the "new" Mishawaka Riverwalk to get out in the sunshine and walk with Ava in her stroller. My sister had told me how nice it was, so we decided to check it out. It was so beautiful!! The sidewalks were nice and wide and the views along the river were very scenic. There is lots of beautiful landscaping, water sculpture features, benches, picnic areas, large grassy areas, playgrounds, tennis courts, baseball diamond, public pavillions, rock gardens, bike racks, fishing areas, fish cleaning stations, fish ladder for the salmon, and everything was well maintained. The Riverwalk route is well marked with signs and lots of lighting if you are planning a evening walk. If we lived closer, this would be my daily walking routine. There is still a lot of construction going on and I'm excited to see what else they are going to be adding. We walked the entire route that has been finished so far, and it was approximately five miles. It was a great way to enjoy the outdoors with my family!

Look what the cat dragged in!

Most of you know that we have a LARGE pedelstal dining room table in our house and the table cannot be moved without the help of 4-5 strong men. So...if I want to clean underneath it, we just take a broom and hold it parallel to the ground and sweep out what's underneath. This is also the place where most items end up, that have come up missing due to our cat Opal's mischievous nature. This last week when we cleaned underneath the pedelstal, this is what we found: (Yes, it's hard to believe, but true)
1 drink coaster
8 trash bag ties
1 small wasp nest
3 rocks
1 lid to my honey bottle
2 outlet safety covers
1 headband
1 hairclip
2 catnip mice
2 water bottle caps
1 rubber ball
1 milk bottle tab
2 artificial flowers
1 acorn
1 Dr's receipt
1 kleenex
1 rubberband
5 hairbands
1 Cracker Barrel receipt
3 felt discs
1 wad of carpet fuzz
1 8 x 10 drawing-folded

Carving Pumpkin's- A study of patience

Thursday evening after Ava went to bed, George and I decided to carve pumpkins together. I pulled out a book of stencils that I had bought several years ago and have yet to use. After I read the instructions for how to use the stencils on your pumpkins, I opted to go for the quick and easy route and George, being the patient man that he is, picked a stencil marked "difficult".
Two hours later, George ended up with a GREAT looking pumpkin and I ended up with a basic design that took me 20 minutes. I have posted pictures of the pumpkins next to each other. It goes to show you that patience is a virtue that can take you further than the fast and easy route. Unfortunately, our cat Opal decided to bite off one of the tower's of George's pumpkin right after these photo's were taken. Ironically, then George lost his patience!!!