Spring Break Week

So, the week of the 16th was Spring Break for Madison......woohoo..(boy do I remember those days!!  And I mean the innocent elementary spring break)  But of course, I was a fool and didn't think to take any time off, so I missed out on some special mother/daughter time with her. Hopefully she hasn't been traumatized by her "horrible" mother...LOL!  No, seriously though. Leo and Erica (Damian's cousins) stayed at Ted and Abby's for the week, so all 3 kids had a blast with them.

APRIL 16, 2012
On Monday the kids all hung out with Damian during the day (thank God he is home during the day with them....at least one of is) and then Madison had dance in the evening and Erica came along to watch.  I honestly have no idea how my 8 year old manages to have a busier schedule than I do.  Erica slept at our house so her and Madison could spend some girl cousin time.  We decided to spend the evening making chocolate chip cookies...just call me Betty Crocker :)  But of course, that really meant that I did the baking and those crazy girls and Myles just ATE them!  They also had a dance off with Myles---he has since decided that "Everyday I'm Shufflin' " and "Moves Like Jagger" are his new favorite song.

Learning how to use the electric hand mixer

"Mommy, can I eat the cookies yet?"

Not exactly sure what Myles was doing at this moment....but I know it was in the middle of his new "Everyday I'm Shufflin" dance

Mayci has mastered the heart of getting out of her chair....guess it's time to wash it and put it away

APRIL 17, 2012
Tuesday was pretty uneventful in our world.  THANK GOODNESS!! I love days like that!!  The weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  Like tank top and shorts beautiful!!(But NOPE, no shorts for me....I will stick to capris and gaucho pants..thank you very much!  So needless to say, the kids spent most of the day outside.  Madison and Myles both stayed at Ted and Abby's house overnight........now I always miss them while they are gone, but it sure is a little more "peaceful" without those 2 energy balls running around the house.....even though Mayci is starting to give me a run for my money.

Mind you, that is a big piece of cement in his hand that he wanted to  play "catch" with Mayci with.  Right after this shot, my camera ended up on the ground so I could block his makeshift "ball" from Mayci's body

APRIL 18, 1012
Lisa came by the house Wednesday evening to spend time with the kids while Damian was out at rehearsal for a gig the following week. (WOW--what  a run on sentence)  Myles had received some mustache stickers in his Easter basket, so we all tried them out today.  Daddy was even in on the action before leaving for rehearsal!!

This is honestly what I would look like if it weren't for my hair removal cream

APRIL 20, 2012
Friday was a low key day as well....................  Damian left early in the day for New York. He was there through Sunday night working in the studio with Beast 1333, one of the artists he has been working with lately.  Hopefully these busy long weekends will open some doors for him :)  Friday night the little girl who lives next door, A___ came over and ate dinner in the backyard, picnic style with all three kids.  Even Mayci was out there in her Bumbo chair like she was part of the crowd......
Please note:  I didn't put the neighbors name nor will I post her picture because even though her mom said I could take their pics, I know that some parents do not want their children's faces and names floating around on the Internet...and I truly respect that!!  Wait, does that mean that I am a bad mom because I don't mind?

The rest of our the weekend was spent at Grandma Virginia and Grandpa Wayne's house because we stayed over there Saturday night so Madison and I could be out of the house super early for dance competition in Mass on Sunday.....pics from the weekend will be in a separate post

So, I have come to the realization that my video posting is not so great!! I thought I was doing it right, but clearly I was mistaken....I've been told by 3 people that Madison's solo dance video didn't work.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. I am still very new to this, but I had downloaded the video onto YouTube, so if you are interested, please check it out there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd-pSP38_wQ&feature=youtu.be

Feel free to comment about what you think!!  I am sure that it would make Ms. Madison the happiest little girl ever!!!

Easter Sunday

This is how Madison and Myles decorated a part of the driveway on Saturday before Easter

Easter Sunday was such a NICE day!!  We opted out of church this year.  I get very overwhelmed goign to church on Easter Sunday when the rest of the world who doesn't attend all year round shows up.  I know it's a silly idea, but oh well...it's mine. I know I have probably just offended many and I do apologize...God knows my heart no matter where I am and missing an Easter Sunday won't make that any different.

The kids woke up to their Easter baskets at a pretty decent time.  I remember alway waking up SUPER early because of excitement.  This year, Damian and I decided to talk to the Easter Bunny and inform him that we would like to choose the less candy route in the baskets this year.  SO this time around the kids got small gifts, few candy, a shirt, socks, a movie or book...and then it was complete...They didn't even seem to notice  and seemed happy all the same.

Showing off their new toothbrushes...poor Mayci got left out of this one, she just got a new one the week before

We ended up at Ted and Abby's(Pop-up and Mama) house for both an Easter Dinner and a birthday celebration for Ted.  The kids enjoyed a good meal, thanks to Abby,and a pineapple upside down birthday cake for Ted.  Being as spoiled "blessed" as they are.....each kid also got another basket over at their house. But they had to work a little harder at finding theirs because they were hid around the house! :)  Some of the nearby family came by and the kids (Madison, Myles, and Jacob) enjoyed a cool easter egg hunt put on by Pop-up...(Grandpa Ted).

The weather was on our side so Pop-up took Madison and Myles son a bike ride to the elementary school playground, I went home with Mayci to finish decorating the bunny cakes i had baked, and Damian stayed and hung out with his brothers and cousins.  It's sad that they don't see each other that often...so I know that they defintiely didn't want Damian's wife hangin around... Lol!!  Hey, I know my place........

The only not so nice thing about today is that it had to end early because it was a school/work night for us!!

The Past 2 Months

Okay, so I have completely failed to write a post in....well....FOREVER!!!  But that has changed, hopefully.  I am hoping to write at least 2 times a week so that it becomes a habit.  I have started spreading the word about this blog, so it is definitely time that I actually get it up and truly running for people to view. Not that anything in my life is really interesting enough for people to WANT to read about, but I thought it would be a great way for people to enjoy watching the kids grow up and keeping up to date with what is happening in our lives.

February was a pretty uneventful month for the family as nothing super exciting happened.  I hosted a Pampered Chef party and started Weight Watchers towards the end of the month, but other than that, each day sort of ran into the next.  I had managed to lose 8.8lbs on Weight Watchers in 4 weeks, but over the past 2 weeks I haven't tracked a single item or weighed in, so who know where I am at right now...Oh and Madison got her ears pierced this month.  What a trooper....I have to look to see if I even have any pics from that day, but I am not so sure.  I so worried about trying to keep her happy that I couldn't even focus on picture taking.

March had a couple of fun things..Parent Teacher conference was one of them.  I LOVE parent teacher conferences.  I think that is only because Madison is still doing quite well that I know they are only going to say good things.  Her report card was excellent.  She had struggled a little in math at the beginning of the year and received some "I"s on her report card.  That means improvement needed.  But this marking period, she brought them up to either "M" for meets expectations or "E" for Exceeds expectations.  Mrs. Martinson says that she has been quite the little helper and become talkative sometimes.....but hey..she's my kid, so what did I expect!! Damian and I are also very pleased to announce that our little 3rd grader is reading at the 5th grade level...the middle of 5th grade to be exact!!  SO PROUD OF HER!!!
Madison also had an exciting dance moment this month.  Every year her dance school hosts a VERY informal charity dance show to raise money and this is the first year that the Madison participated.  It is a Potluck...so of course I volunteered brownies..since that is like the only thing that I am confident about making! :)  And even so..about 3 other people volunteered brownies also and some of their looked WAY WAY better than mine.  But I'm okay with that...I don't ever plan on being the next Betty Crocker.   Any way...since this is a kids dancing for kids charity event, all of the kids involved got to choreograph their own dances and perform them.  Madison performed 3 times. Once in a duo, then a trio, then a solo.  All three somgs were by Adele, who I think sounds so amazing.  I just love her voice.  But I will posting a video of Madison's solo here. Please be patient, it's about 4 minutes long and they were supposed to fade out about halfway throughm but they forgot so Madison just kept up and improvised the last half.  So weird....in only 5 years of dance, I have watched her so many times and I get teary eyed each time.

Today is Easter.................but I will post pics about that in it's own entry!!


Some random pics over the past 2 months:

Trying to enjoy some outside time in early March!

Myles absolutely LOVES the swing....he needs to hurry and learn how to pump his own legs though , because it can get pretty boring for the "pusher"

So happy to finally be outside and at the playground.

Madison's solo dance number: