Hydren Photography. Richard Hydren

Sunday afternoon, we met with Richard Hydren for a photo shoot of my 2 nieces, nephew and Brother and Sister-in-law. We had the shoot at Marini farm, mainly because my mom loves it there. Normally Richard does his shoots on Plum Island.

We got there a few minutes early and Richard was setting up his camera equipment. He was very nice, and very professional. My mother really wanted the large chair that Marini farm has as the back drop. Richard made that happen for her, plus he took some photos in a few other sections of the farm to have more options.

My nieces and nephew are 8, 5 and 3 and Richard worked really well with them. He positioned them in ways that will look great in photos, but then let the kids come up with their own shots at the end.

I saw a few of the photos on him tablet as he was taking them and they were gorgeous! I cannot wait to see the final product. I will post some on here as soon as we get them!

I highly recommend Richard for any family! He is patient with children, but has a real eye for his work! 

He also does weddings, horses, properties, and products for businesses. 

Check him out on Facebook: Hydren Photography or online at gallery.hydren.net

Disney's Descendants 2

Last week we watched the new Descendants 2 movie and the kids LOVED it! Yes, all 4 of my nieces and nephew LOVED this movie.

Plot:
Descendants 2 follows Mal, who is still at Auradon Prep and dating King Ben. At the beginning of the movie, several months after moving to Auradon, Mal starts to feel like she doesn't belong and that she doesn't know who she is anymore. She admits her issues to her friends, Evie, Carlos, and Jay, but they are content with their new lives in Auradon and do not wish to return to the Isle of the Lost. Evie scolds Mal for relying on her mother’s spell book to solve her issues. Ben eventually discovers Mal’s reliance on magic, and she comes clean about her insecurities, causing the two to have a falling out. Mal returns to the Isle, now ruled by her former friend Uma, the daughter of Ursula. Ben, Evie, Jay, and Carlos learn of Mal’s departure and sneak onto the island to find her, but one of Uma's gang recognizes them. Ben confronts Mal, who rejects his feelings for his sake and Auradon’s. Ben leaves dejected, only to be captured by Uma, who orders Mal and her friends to retrieve the Fairy Godmother’s wand or Ben dies. Carlos and Jay return to Auradon Prep, where they create a replica of the wand using a 3D printer. Uma speaks with Ben, bitter that she and the others were not chosen to go to Auradon. Ben takes this into account and invites her to Auradon, but Uma instead plots to make her own way there. Mal’s group return, handing over the fake wand in exchange for Ben, but Uma realises it is a forgery. The group flee back to Auradon, but Mal and Ben’s relationship is still on the rocks. Aboard a ship during the Cotillion, Ben stuns everyone by appearing with Uma, who he declares as his true love and announces he will destroy the barrier on the Isle. Jane unveils a stain glass display Ben commissioned to show his affection for Mal, who realises he loved her for who she was all along. Suspecting Uma has given Ben a love potion, Mal kisses him, breaking it. Uma leaps into the water, using her mother Ursula’s magic seashell to transform into an octopus, Mal fighting back by transforming into a dragon. Ben intervenes, quelling the battle, and Uma swims away despite his offer still standing. Mal and Ben reunite, Mal surrendering her spell book over to the Fairy Godmother. Mal and Evie request that Dizzy be allowed to attend Auradon Prep.

This movie was cute, as all Disney channel movies are. The music was fun, which is what my nieces and nephew liked the most (obviously!). They were singing and dancing to the songs, their favorite was What's My Name that Uma sang. Check out the videos of them having a blast! I feel like we will be buying this sound track to listen in the car!

Despicable Me 3

We just saw Despicable Me 3 and it was super cute! I took my 7 year old niece to see it and she loved it!

This movie follows Gru, who is now an agent for the Anti-Villain League (AVL) and he and his wife Lucy are sent to foil the plans of Balthazar Bratt, a supervillain who was a former child actor who portrayed a young supervillain in a popular television series before the show was cancelled as a result of his puberty, and his waning popularity led to him adopting his former persona to become an actual supervillain. Gru manages to stop Bratt from stealing a very expensive diamond, but is unable to capture him. As a result of constantly failing to capture Bratt, Gru and Lucy are fired from the AVL by it's new director Valerie Da Vinci.
The family is approached by the butler of Gru's long-lost twin brother Dru, who lives in a country named Freedonia and longs to meet him. Stunned at this revelation, Gru confronts his mother who reveals that after divorcing Gru's father, they agreed to keep one child each. The family decide to meet Dru and they are surprised at his immense wealth which the butler attributes to their pig farm business. Dru quickly charms Gru's family despite turning off Gru due to his flamboyant personality. Meanwhile, Bratt manages to steal the diamond once again as he intends to use the diamond to power his giant robot to destroy Hollywood as revenge for cancelling his show.

 Dru reveals to Gru that his immense wealth is due to his father also being a legendary supervillain. As Dru was constantly dismissed by their father as a disgrace, he turned to his brother to teach him how to be a villain. Gru is unwilling to revert back to his old ways. To persuade him, Dru brings him on a joyride around Freedonia in their father's car where the siblings bond. Meanwhile, Lucy tries to balance being generous and implementing discipline as a mom which she exhibits after turning away a young boy who had fallen for Margo.

Having discovered that Bratt has stolen the diamond, Dru convinces Gru to steal the diamond for one last heist with Gru secretly intending to bring it to the AVL to reinstate his work. Despite several setbacks, they manage to retrieve the diamond back, but they are rescued by Lucy who had followed them earlier. After finding out Gru's true motives, Dru confronts his brother on why he lied to him with the latter insulting him in the process and deciding to leave Dru's mansion. Bratt infiltrates Dru's mansion by disguising as Lucy, kidnaps the children, and once again acquires the diamond which leads Gru, Lucy and Dru to resolve their differences and pursue him.

With his robot powered, Bratt terrorizes Hollywood. Having watched Bratt's show as a child, Dru deduces that Bratt plans to re-enact the episode where Bratt cuts off Hollywood and uses inflatable gum to elevate the city to outer space. Lucy saves the children while Gru and Dru weaken Bratt's robot with the weapons of their father's car. Gru is knocked unconscious when the car is destroyed and Dru destroys the robot's core from the inside when Bratt threatens to kill Gru. When Gru recovers, he battles Bratt in a "dance fight" which ends in Gru trapping Bratt in his own gum. The Minions, having rendezvoused with Gru, manage to destroy Bratt's gum covering the city.

Gru and Lucy are reinstated in the AVL and the newly united family celebrate in Gru's home. Lucy is acknowledged by the children as their mother. Dru, having embraced the family tradition of villainy, steal Gru's car, accompanied by the Minions. Gru and Lucy decide to give them a five-minute head-start before engaging pursuit.

My favorite characters, the Minions, were hilarious! After not being able to convince Gru to take up villainy again, they walk out on him. The Minions are arrested after trespassing, but stealing the show, at a talent show set. The Minions exert control among the prisoners at their jail, but their longing for Gru motivate them to escape the prison. In the end, they reunited with Gru and his family after helping them save Hollywood.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who loved the first 2 Despicable Me movies and/or the Minions movie! If you haven't watched any of those 3, I suggest you do as well! These movies are great for older kids!

Don't Hire Derek Fuller from Royal Painting and Building out of Ipswich, Ma!

This blog wasn't meant to do this, but since they keep deleting my reviews, I wanted to warn people in our area about him!

We hired Derek's company, Royal Painting & Building to do our roof back in April/May of 2016. He had a great quote and was a customer of ours (he used to shop in our store 3-4 times a week!). He took a little longer than quoted to finish the roof, which we assumed would happen because once they started we had a heat wave, so they moved slower (which we were fine about).

A few weeks after they finished, we had our first rain storm. The ceiling in our living room was slightly leaking. We called him and he said he would send someone out ASAP to fix it. We called a few times, and he kept apologizing because they were busy and he had a death in the family. My grandmother passed the same time period, so we gave him another chance. It didn't rain the rest of the summer (other than maybe a light rain), so the leak of "out of sight, out of mind". 

In October, we had another big rain storm. The living room was still leaking slightly, but my niece's bedroom ceiling collapsed in from the rain! We didn't even know there was a leak until it was too late! This was a Sunday night (Monday being a holiday). We called their 24/7 emergency number they had listed online. No one answered or called us back. We called several times between 7PM on Sunday and about 1PM on Monday. We finally hired someone else to fix the roof area of that side of the house and fix the damage of my niece's bedroom. Derek finally called us back on Tuesday and said he would fix it, we told him we hired someone to fix because he didn't get back to us fast enough (We had a HOLE in our ROOF and it was supposed to rain again!). Derek was fine with that, and said he would come look at the pictures and the damage and that if we gave him the receipts/invoice he would pay for the damage. About a week after we saw and spoke to him, we email his wife Jessica (she answers the phones and emails), the invoice and he refused to call us back to set up a payment plan. My mother called a few times and Jessica would tell her he would call her back, then they stopped answering when she call all together. I tried from my cell and they called back within 5 mins (right after my mother called them!).  Jessica said they would have to talk to their other partner then call us back to set up a plan. I have called a few times since then with no return calls. It is now May and they are still refusing our calls and have yet to pay us back!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not hire them! Don't fall for their low estimates! They claim they use products, bought specifically for our house (that we paid for) and turns out they weren't put down! Take a look at the following photos of some of the damage!

Slight leak (June 2016) in the living room, the reason we called them.

This is what my niece's bedroom ceiling looked like the night it caved in!

This is a new(ish) leak we found during the snow/rain storms this winter (Feb-ish) of around our sky light,

We will need to re-do our whole roof this summer! 

We recently saw Smurfs: The Lost Village and LOVED it!

The movie follows Smurfette and a few of her friends on finding the "lost" village before the evil wizard Gargamel does. 

Plot:
The movie starts out explaining all the Smurfs are named after their characteristics (Brainy is smart, Clumsy is a klutz, Hefty is strong, etc) and Smurfette feels a little out of place. Smurfette is the only female in the village, but she was created from clay by the Evil Gargamel. While Smurfette is out playing near the forbidden forest (along with Brainy, Clumsy and Klutz) she sees another female Smurf.  Smurfette ends up being captured by Gargamel and at his castle, she ends up inadvertently revealing the hat, enabling Gargamel to mix up a brew that causes him to locate the village on a map.  Soon enough Hefty, Brainy, & Clumsy who followed Smurfette, help her escape and return to Smurf Village, where they are punished by Papa Smurf for disobeying his orders and confines them to their houses while dismissing their claims of a lost village filled with Smurfs. Smurfette decides to break out, with the help of Hefty, Brainy, & Clumsy because they are "Team Smurf". The four best friends follow the map and end up in various adventures, like being attacked by monster flowers and getting caught in a stampede of luminescent rabbits, one of whom they befriend and name Bucky, who helps them on their quest. After setting sail on their handmade raft along the river, they encounter Gargamel, Azrael, and Monty. Following a brief chase, Gargamel was thrown out of his own raft. Hefty and Smurfette convince the others to help save him. They do so but instead of thanking them, he pushed them out of their raft, leaving them to plunge down a waterfall. After surviving the waterfall and washed ashore, they are soon captured by the leaf-covered creature from earlier along with a few others and they soon reveal themselves to be female Smurfs. They are taken to their village, which is called Smurfy Grove, in the trees and get to know all the girl Smurfs, including the leader Smurf Willow, the tomboyish Smurf Storm, the hyperactive Smurf Blossom, the gentle Smurf Lily and the music-loving Smurf Melody. They all welcome the Smurfs, especially Smurfette, to their humble home. After a while of showing them what they do, Smurf Storm and Clumsy come back with her telling that Smurfette was created by Gargamel. Before they can attack her for being considered a traitor, Papa Smurf appears (after realizing Smurfette and the boys are missing, he goes out to find them), and the female smurfs accept him into their home. Then, Gargamel comes and destroys Smurfy Grove, capturing all the Smurfs, all except Smurfette, who is now alone, feeling guilty for her actions. However, Brainy's pet Snappy bug shows her a picture of her and the others, and she soon realizes that she is not a real Smurf, and heads back to Gargamel's lair with Snappy and Bucky to save the Smurfs. At Gargamel's lair, where all the Smurfs are, Brainy makes a plan to escape. Papa Smurf hears their plan and he and Smurf Willow decide to help them. Hefty, Brainy, Clumsy, and some of the female Smurfs succeed at the plan until Gargamel and Azrael spot them and put some of the female Smurfs and Clumsy into his Smurfilator, extracting their essence. Smurfette appears, tricking Gargamel that she wants to be an evil smurf again. When Gargamel tries to turn Smurfette into an evil smurf, he realizes that Smurfette is absorbing his magic powers instead, a skill she found earlier after destroying Brainy's invention. The lair explodes, sending Gargamel, Azrael, and Monty into a lake full of piranhas. Unfortunately, Smurfette has reverted to her original lifeless clay form. Papa quickly tries to find a spell, but Brainy states there's nothing they can do to save her, leaving everyone, especially Papa, heartbroken.

Back at Smurf Village, all the Smurfs, boys and girls, mourn the loss of Smurfette. Using their energy, Smurfette comes back to life and becomes a Smurf again and everybody happily celebrates. After which, Smurf Village and Smurfy Grove become united with each other and Smurfette finally became the new leader of the Smurfs and most of all, true-blue Smurf.

I took my 7 and a half year old niece to this and she LOVED it! She was giggling the whole time! We highly recommend seeing this to everyone! She even told me she liked this version better than the other movies (Smurf 1 and 2, both were live action)!

Boss Baby

So, it is April school vacation week for us this week and, of course, it is raining! So, what do we do? We go to the movies!

We saw Boss Baby!

This movie was very cute! It starts out with a 7 year old little boy named Tim. He has a loving family, his parents work at a puppy company. Tim's parents play with, sing to him, read to him at bed time. He is happy. Until the baby arrives. Boss Baby arrives at Tim's home in a taxi, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. Boss Baby takes over all of Tim's parents' love and attention. Tim begins to think that his parents don't love him anymore, and they only care about the new baby. One day, Tim discovers that Boss Baby is actually spy from Baby Co, trying to get more attention/love for babies instead of puppies. Tim still tries to get rid of Boss Baby, even going up against his team of babies in a hilarious "battle". Tim's parents catch on and ground him. Tim and Boss baby put aside their rivalry and work together to thwart a dastardly plot that involves an epic battle between puppies and babies. Through their battle against Francis Francis, they bond. The ending of the movie is pure love!

I took my 7 year old niece to see this. Her mother is expecting a baby in a few months. When the movie began, I was like "Oh no! I hope she doesn't feel unloved like Tim!" but as the movie progressed, I started to hope she has the same love for her little brother that Tim developed for his!

I recommend this movie for any child, but especially ones with siblings!

Recycle!

With Earth day coming up, I wanted to talk about recycling. Everyone talks about recycling plastic bottles/cans or paper. Not a lot of people talk about recycling (or reusing) children's things! The Children's Orchard is all about recycling and reusing items!

Did you know, we buy and sell children's things that they have outgrown?

1. Clothing/shoes: Children, at least twice a year, grow out of their clothing! Some items, like fancy dresses and suits, they only wear ONCE! We buy season clothing/shoes!
1. Spring/Summer
• bathing suits and cover ups
• shorts/capris
• t-shirts/tank tops
• sun dresses
• sneakers
• sandals
• water shoes
• rain coats/ boots
• Light weight jackets
• Dressy clothing and shoes for Easter/Mother's Day/ Weddings
2. Fall/Winter
• t-shirts/sweat shirts
• pants
• Halloween costumes
• sneakers
• rain coats/ boots
• Snow gear (jackets, snow pants, winter boots)
• Dressy clothing and shoes for Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years/ Weddings
• Bathing suits (year round: for swim lessons or the hot tub/pool on vacations)
2. Equipment: swings, exersaucers, high chairs etc. the children only use for a few months (if they even like it). We buy gently used equipment (as long it hasn't been recalled)
• swings (inside and outside)
• exersaucers/ jump a roos
• high chairs
• changing tables
• pack n plays
• cribs (no drop sides)
• Strollers/joggers (single and doubles)
3. Toys and Books: Children have so many toy options these days! Typically, a child will lose interest in the toy after a few months! We buy them if they have all (or most) of their pieces!

When you sell to The Children's Orchard, you are recycling your children's outgrown items! Unless you give them to friends, the things your child outgrew sits in a landfill!

When you buy items from The Children's Orchard, you are reusing someone else's items!

Both are good for the environment!