3 Months In Review -- January 2016 - March 2016

Nope-- no excuses, no reasons, just took me 3 months into the year to log in and actually write a post.

And can you believe it?  Easter has already come and gone (a separate post on Easter weekend will follow this one)... which means that Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day have also already been here.  Time seems to be just speeding on by.

Unfortunately I take most of my pictures on my phone.  And in February I was having a ton of issues with my phone which caused them to have to "hard restart" my phone.  This meant that I lost all that was on my phone that hadn't been backed up yet... and let me tell you-- since I don't "back up" anything, most of my pictures were lost so I had to start from square one.

In January, my brother in law and sister in law (why on earth don't I just call them my brother and sister-- that's what they are!!!!), welcomed the newest member into the Curtis Family.  Miss Zeni Bea Curtis joined us on January 17, 2016 after giving her mom quite a labor experience to share for years to come.  Good thing she is so cute otherwise they may have had to give her hard time back :) :)  She is so beautiful and I am quite honored to be her Titi Michelle.  It is moments like these that I wished we lived closer than 2 hours away.  Damian, Abby, Ted, Myles and Mayci headed out to visit about 3 weeks after Zeni was born. Madison had a mandatory dance competition practice that day, so her and I headed out on February 27th to visit.  Sadly, Luques was away so we weren't able to see him and one of my headlights had gone out the night before so we left WAAAAAAY earlier than I would have liked.  But we had a great visit with both Karina and Zeni.  I lost most of the pictures that I took but had Karina send me the few she had taken.  I just love spending time with Karina.  I tried to talk her into taking a nap, so she could get some rest while I kept an eye on Zeni, but was not successful - she assured me she was sleeping with the baby was and that she was fine.  So we just hung out, played with Zeni, talked about everything, laughed ALOT, and I almost broke down in tears when we had to leave.  I wish in general that Karina and I had more time with each other, and I really want to bond with my newest niece!  ( I hope to post the pics of when Mayci and Myles met Zeni soon-- I have to have them resent to me.. same with the pics of Madison and Zeni- those all got erased)

Meeting Miss Zeni for the very first time

Is she not cute?  Look at that smile?  Karina sent me this pic of Zeni with the Easter presents we picked out for her!  So precious!

 

The past 3 months of 2016 have been pretty busy for the kids.

Mayci is still dancing at Morlock School of dance and has begun taking karate once a week at a local studio.  I must say, she has truly impressed me in karate.  I am actually thinking of possibly NOT doing dance next year for her and having her focus more on karate, but we will see what life bring us.  At her 3rd class she even earned an award for "Awesome Punches"  And biased I may be, but she looks so darn adorable in her uniform :)  And can you believe that in just 4 months, my last "baby" will be turning 5?!?1  Okay, that's it- I don't even want to talk about it anymore lol.

Myles is keeping extra busy with the 1st grade, piano lessons, and now he is also taking karate.  This school year has been slightly more challenging for us with Myles.  (Not with the actual curriculum, he is actually excelling in that area, aside from some extra work he needs to do in the subtraction area.  Well, I have a conference this evening, so I will update on his progress in a later post.)  In mid January, Myles was experiencing some bully drama, that was getting a bit carried away.  I believe everything is all better now for him though as I have not heard any complaints recently.  We have also found out that Myles needs glasses- he picked out a very mature pair, and we are currently waiting to receive them.  Don't you worry (not that you were) - there will be lots of pictures posted as soon as he gets them.
Piano lessons seem to be going well for him also.  He is also taking secondary lessons on the weekends per Damian's request, but I am not sure of the schedule.  And karate-- so at first Myles was completely against joining karate.  He had a very bad experience when we attempted 2 years ago and wouldn't even consider karate.  Mayci, on the other hand, had been begging to  join karate-- so when we went in for her first one on one session, the owner came and sat down with Myles and talked with him --- next thing you know, he is being scheduled for his first one on one.  And I am so glad that he changed his mind.  He is loving it.  Unfortunately until he turns 7 at the end of the month, he is only able to go to one of the 2 classes each week because it coincided with his piano lessons.  But as soon as he turns 7, he moves to a new class and the schedule works out perfectly.  And super exciting is that he goes for his first belt test this Friday. -- Since this post is going up after the belt test- the pics are below!!  Can't wait!!  And in just 1 more month, my little man will be 7 years old!  WOW!!

Madison- as per usual- keeps her self busy with dance and various school activities. That has remained the same as 2016 just rolls by.  In February, she had the part of Young Nala in her school's production of The Lion King.  The director also had her help out with some of the production's choreography, which was such a  great honor to Madison.  I think she did a great job during the play and if I can, I will try to post the small little video clip that I took opening night.  And a special thanks goes out to Grandma Virginia, Aunt Lisa (who went to both performances), Mama, and PopUp for coming out to support her.  Unfortunately Damian's gigs got in the way and didn't work with the performance nights so he had to miss out.  PopUp did film it and gave us a copy so hopefully Damian will have some time to watch it.  I sure think he would be proud!

Madison is currently her advisory classes student council representative and also takes the minutes during student council meetings.  She has been invited to join the National Junior Honor Society -- I am not sure when we find out if she made it in or not, but I know she had to write essays, get teacher's recommendations, and fill out some forms, so only time will tell.  This year for dance in addition to her group competition dances, and 2 solos (1 in modern and 1 in tap), Madison is also performing in a duo with one of her friends, Naijah.  The first competition is scheduled for Sunday April 3rd and I cannot wait to see how they all do.  I have only seen the solo number s so this should be very exciting. 
We also heard from a talent agency that they were waiting for me to send in some paperwork and take care of getting headshots done so Madison could begin some work with them.  They had also reached out to us in May of 2015, but life and time got away from me, so I never really followed up ( I know, I know, what kind of mother am I?)  Earlier in March they met with Madison via Skype and now we are just waiting to hear back about the next step.  She has received her child performer work permit from the state of NY already-- so when things start getting moving, I will be sure to keep all of you posted!!
And one of the biggest upcoming milestones for Miss Madison --- she will become a teenager in just 3 months-- A TEENAGER!! She is planning to have a party this year, but we did have to switch the planned day because one of Damian's cousins is going to be getting married on the original day that we had planned and we don't want to make family members have to choose.  I did explain to her that we still may have to sacrifice many family members because they will have been partying the day before, but to not take it personal and she seems to understand :) 

Hmmmm-- all this talk about all of these birthdays makes me think that I should probably start getting some planning done. I'll get to it, I swear!

Damian continuously stays busy with work, rehearsals, and gigs.  And I, unfortunately, am still not nearly as involved in certain aspects of his career as I would like to be.  Damian also keeps pretty occupied with helping out with his brothers' record label, Truth Revolution Records.  I should probably step my game up and offer to help out.  I have been saying that for years-----
I think Damian is really planning on working on his "studio" this spring/summer.  I know he has a lot of plans in his head, just not sure if he is ready to start executing them or not.  It will take a little bit of a financial investment, I imagine, so that may be what is holding him up.

Nothing of interest going on for me- what else is new- haha.  I went to Disneyworld in the beginning January with a few friends to run in the Disney Half Marathon.  Was an awesome experience, BUT I didn't do very well.  My only goal was to finish completely and I did succeed in that.  While I don't have any desire to run another half in the next year or so, I am thinking about planning to do one in 2019-2020.  I have lots of time to change my mind though.  I haven't been running quite as much as before, yet with the weather getting warmer, I should be starting that back up again.  I have been taking an adult hip hop class yet again.  But I think this will be my last year of that :(  Time for me to move on to something else.  In June, I will be starting school for what seems like the millionth time.  But I just have to get my bachelor's degree. Not sure why this is so important to me, but it has just been eating away at my heart lately.  I spoke with a counselor at Bay Path University and have started getting all of the details worked out.  I will be taking the majority of my classes online, but am planning on doing my science course with labs on campus in Longmeadow, MA.  I am excited to begin school again.  I really did enjoy it each and every time I went.  The last little bit of news for me, is that I have been on an official weight loss journey since January 17, 2016.  I started Weight Watchers and try to fit in exercise when and where I can.  I need to get better with the exercise though.  To date I have lost a total of 21 pounds exactly... meaning that I am only 19 pounds away from my goal, which I would like to reach by the end of the summer.  I won't go into specifics on this blog, but will be writing about it in detail on my other blog, MakeUp Of Michelle.  So if that area of my life interests you, feel free to pop on over there and check it out.



All in all- 2016 seems to be going well for the Negron/Curtis kids!  Here's to that continuing for the next 9 months!!

~~The End of 2015~~

I figured since today is the last day 2015, the least I could do was post some pictures that never made it onto Instagram and/ FB and include just a small summary of the last 6 months of our lives.

We honestly are not a very exciting family, but I do try to take a lot of pictures so hopefully I can fill this post up with just a few.

I have had a couple of family member "scold" me because of my inconsistency with this blog, so in the spirit of the New Year and resolutions, I will try yet again.  I do realize that while I try to post regularly on Instagram, FB, and now even on SnapChat... I still don't include a lot about the kids ins and outs... and hat is the true purpose for this particular blog.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE CURTIS KIDS!

No promises on getting better, but I will try.

2015 was a good year for the Curtis Family.  Most years are to be truthful.  Nothing to exciting for us this year.

Damian kept busy all year with teaching and gigs as per usual.  He is still working extremely hard on all of his hip hop production "stuff".  And please don't take that the wrong way.  I don't say "stuff" to make it seem not important.  There is just so much involved in that area of his life, and as ashamed as I am to admit it, I just don't understand most of it.  I do know that he has plans for working more on the studio in 2016.  He wants to work on the ceiling and the walls as the weather starts to et warmer again (not that we have had extreme cold weather so far, haha).   Damian has also made a huge lifestyle change for himself.  About 2 months ago he decided to cut gluten out of his diet-- and let me tell you-- he is doing awesome and I think he has noticed some definite changes in his body because of it!

Madison as usual, has been a dancing queen.  She is now in the 7th grade and doing well.  Not quite as well as she would like so far, but she has assured me that she will be working on that for the next 6 months.  We decreased the amount of dance classes that she has been taking so that she could have a little more "free" time and get more involved in school activities.  She is her class president and will be playing the part of Young Nala in the school's production of "The Lion King."  Back in May, she was accepted into a talent agency... but because of me, we haven't really moved forward with this particular agency.  I have spoken to the director and has we enter the new Year, the 2 of us will be working closely to get Madison all set up with them and what, if any, opportunities arise from there.  I have also been looking at other dancing opportunities for her throughout Connecticut-keeping her local at this point in time is more feasible for the family.  We love Morlock School of Dance and have no intention of leaving.  But with Madison's drive and passion for dance, I am looking for additional outlets for her with her tap dancing. I think the thing that she is looking forward to the most this upcoming year is turning 13-- my baby will be a teenager!!!  I guess we will see what this new year will have in store for her.

Always taking "selfies"

First day of 7th grade

Myles had a pretty good year as well.  He finished his first year of school and is well into the 1st grade.  He is doing phenomenal.  He is reading way above grade level and his math skills seem to be above as well. Damian and I are trying to work with his teacher to make sure that he gets the extra challenges that I think his brain longs for to help keep his interest up.  He does complain on occasion of being "bored" in school, so we are working on remedies for that. Myles also started playing the piano this year.  He seems to be doing well, but unfortunately I haven't seen him play nearly as much as I would like.  Pop Up takes him to and from lessons and then he did have  recital shortly before the Christmas/Winter break... but it was a student only recital.  He does practice at home and while sometimes he seems fed up with practicing, once he starts, he normally seems to enjoy it.  He is still extremely into Lego building and video games and I don't foresee either of those losing his interest any time soon.  When I asked him what he was looking forward to for the upcoming year, he told me, Summer so he can have a break from school hahaha.

First day of 1st grade for Mr. Myles

At the dance recital this summer.. Miss Marci with her 1st year dancing trophy.  I think these 2 are seriously best friends!!

Mayci is... well, Mayci.  I think Mayci ALWAYS manages to have a fun time and a good day.  She is just an exceptionally happy child!  She has still been keeping herself occupied hanging out with Damian during the earlier part of the day and with Mama for the afternoon.  She asks me occasionally when she will be able to start school... and I honestly can't believe it, but that time will be here come Sept 2016.  She has also been doing dance as well and had her first recital this year.  IF I can, I will try to post the video from the recital here because she was so cute. 

She started off dancing and looking sort of miserable and then when she noticed us in the audience she got really excited.  It was the cutest thing.  She is the fourth one from the left. She has been asking to do both karate and cheerleading, so I am really hoping to get her into that this year.  When I asked her what she was looking forward to for 2016, she just gave me a blank stare.. but then said that she can't wait to be the new girl at school and meet friends who are really strangers.  Don't ask-- Lord knows that I didn't.

This year has been an up and down for me.  I spent most of the year working on learning to really "find" myself.  Let me tell you, this has not been an easy journey and it is certainly far from over.  I actually quit my job at the gynecology office and was working as  a logistics coordinator for about 3 months... in the end, I ended up back at the gynecology office.  While I am always keeping my options open for something outside of the medical field.. I can tell you this- Logistics is certainly NOT my thing- haha!!  I am hoping to go back to school in 2016 for Criminal Psychology.  I may be 33, but I don't think that you are ever too old to learn something and try something new.  I have also been slowly working on getting a job with the Department of Corrections.  The only thing I have left to do is the physical fitness portion and I am just waiting to hear if I made it to the part of the application process.  I will keep everyone posted on my progress with that, if there is any.  One highlight that really sticks out for me from this year was when Damian and I had the opportunity to see Stevie Wonder live in concert for his Songs in The Key Of Life tour in October.  And that is not even the best part...  As we were walking in, we were stopped by XL Center staff and had our tickets upgraded to FRONT ROW!!  I couldn't ask for a more rewarding experience.  It was so nice fro Damian and I to experience that and to experience it together.  Lisa was so kind to babysit on a Sunday night until after midnight so we could attend!!

NO CAPTION NEEDED!  IT'S STEVIE WONDER!!

Other than the usual working, bring kids to their activities, and watching my favorite shows on Netflix, nothing really worth mentioning has been happening for me.  I am hoping that 2016 will bring some excitement and some more progress in my self discovery journey-- and if you are ever interested in that side of me, feel free to check out my other blog - www.makeupofmichelle.wordpress.com
That blog is more of my "all about me and what interests me" blog and I would appreciate your support in checking that one out as well.

As the year 2015 comes to a close, I hope that all who are reading this are in good spirits, good health, and among friends and/or family. If you ever need a place to retreat to- please know that our door is always open for you!

Our family with Grandma Betty ( my mother's mom) July 4, 2015

From the Curtis Family to yours -- we wish you and amazing and prosperous New Year!!

Love,
Damian, Michelle, Madison, Myles, and Mayci

Weelend in Review - Friday Sept 19-Sept 21, 2014

Lots of pictures from this weekend... well mainly from Friday night, but lots of pictures either way.

Friday September 19, 2014

Damian was home for the majority of the day today.  He worked on getting the window on the van fixed--that was long overdue-- and he spent some time with the little ones when Myles got out of school.  Madison has dance of Fridays this year, so our schedules are a little off.  I just wrote in my last post how we are limiting the amount of Friday night sleepovers with Mama and PopUp, but this particular Friday, Damian gave the go ahead and  the kids ended up over there after some quality time with Daddy.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO PRINCESS CHARLIZE!!  It was an honor to Charlize's 3rd birthday with her.  I will remember the day she was born on September 9, 2011, like it was yesterday.  I was blessed enough to be able to share that moment with both Jermaine and Brooke as Charlize entered the world and I can never thank them enough for letting me share such a personal moment with them.  This little girl is so special and has an amazing group of people that love and care about her.. and I am right there with them

After dropping Madison off at dance I headed over to Brooke's house so I could sing Happy Birthday to Charlize and give her her present.... Well-- that was a fail!! I definitely left Charlize's gift at my house and still have it.  I swear I will get it to her.  UUUGGGHHH-- things like that make me feel so bad!!

Enough of my failure, let's get to the exciting stuff!!  It was so nice to see Brooke, Brooklynn, Charlize, and Jermaine.  Brooke and I don't get together nearly as much as we would, through no fault of Brooke, that's all me.  So when the opportunity arises, it is always a good time.  I love both Brooklynn and Charlize as I do my own children and it is always so great to spend some time with them.  Brooke had originally wanted to have a little party, but life sort of got in the way, so she cancelled it.  When I got wind of this, I asked her of she was planning on being around on Friday, because since it was already in my planner to go over there, I still really wanted to. I guess a couple of other friends sort of felt the same way, so when I got there, Bethany(Charlize's Godmother) was there as well. And then shortly after Allison came with Kyree and Silas.  I also only see Bethany and Allison just a couple of times a year, and we always have a good time catching up with each other and each of our crazy, busy lives. 

I had to leave early to get Madison but came back right after for some cake and ice cream...  All Frozen themed of course.  Nothing else would have been good enough for Miss Charlize Zuri!!  Anthon (Charlize's Godfather) also came bearing gifts for the belated birthday girl.  Even Jermain's cousin Craig stopped by and was lucky enough to be able to share in some cake and ice cream as well.  Chachi (as Charlize is better know by many) was in her own little "Frozen" heaven. It was so cute as she opened her gifts and got excited about items and wanted to play with them right away.  She donned her Princess Anna apparel almost immediately and the only way to get her to go to sleep with out her princess dress was to promise her that she could keep it next to her while she slept. :)  Kids are great!!

"Yay Daddy.. thank you so much for my new favorite outfit"

"Mommy, don't hate that you don't have a cool wand like me!!"

ALL HAIL PRINCESS ANNA/CHARLIZE

Being crowned a princess

"Yes Peasant-- you MAY take my picture"

Admiring herself in the mirror

Silas trying to steal the Cran Apple Juice

Beautiful Birthday Girl

Opening my gift from My Godfather Anthon

Look at what I got!!

CAKE TIME!!

"Everyone is singing Happy Birthday to me!!"

Blowing out my candles

Silas trying to eat his cake in piece

Mommy was clearly playing with my dollhouse and dolls!!

Brooke was kind enough to let Madison spend the night with Brooklynn and it seems like they had a good time. Unfortunately, I had to pick Madison up fairly early, but we have a sleepover planned with Brooklynn for a couple of weeks from now, so hopefully they will have more time to spend together then.

Most everyone knows that I do not have many friends.  While I had met both Bethany and Allison through Brooke and gotten to know them more and more, I really do consider them friends.  They are great people and I have loved that we have shared experiences together.  Everyone deserves friends like the two of these women are to Brooke. I am not around quite as much as they are and know that Brooke is extremely lucky to have these two women who care about her and her children so dearly in her life!! 


Saturday September 20, 2014

As usual, since it seems to be a regular thing in my life now, I met up with Jen to go for a run! We spent most of the time walking and catching up since we both had bad weeks in regards to getting  run in.  :)

My original plan for Saturday morning was to go to the NorthWest Country Fair with the kids, take Madison to a birthday party, and go see Damian play at the Library.   And as always-- everything go switched up.  I was running way later than I had planned, never got to the Fair, and by the time I went to go get the kids to bring them to see Damian play, they were already at his gig waiting for it to start with PopUp-- I am not sure if Mama was there, I didn't even think to ask. 

So I went and dropped Madison off at her friends house and by the time I would have gotten to Damian's gig, it would have been almost over anyway, so I went and spent some time with Jaida, my mom, and dad.  this is also becoming the new weekend ritual.  We had a small little photo shoot while I was there since she actually liked me for a little while:

Ummmmm..Anutie Michelle-- I am sort of done taking pictures now



Trying some salmon tempura or something like that... Did you know that Sushi was raw fish???  OH LORD!!

Damian said he had a good time at his gig and he was extremely happy that 2 out of our 3 kids were able to make it to see him.  He even posted about it on Facebook-- he doesn't write many personal things on FB, so it may have been a little dig at me since I was there, but nonetheless he enjoyed having that moment with the little ones, so I will take it :)  Myles ended up going to New Haven with Mama for a graduation party for Damian's cousin Carissa and Mayci hung out at the park with PopUp. Damian headed out to New York for a WuTang concert with Joe and HellRazah while Madison ended her evening with her friend Naijah.  The little ones came home tired and ready to call it a night. 

Sunday September 21, 2014

Sunday was a laid back low key day for the family.  Damian had a rehearsal, Myles went to church with Mama and then came home with Daddy.  Mayci spent time with Grandma Virginia, Grandpa Wayne and Jaida, while Madison was still with Naijah.  I ran in the Union Street Tavern Trot with Jen -- a 3.5 mile run that didn't go as well as Jen and I had hoped, but all in all was still a good time.  I picked up the girls after the run, headed home and the whole family just lounged and hung out.  I took a nap and Madison cooked dinner.  Like, she really cooked dinner.  Chicken and then she did corn and green beans.  The vegetables were delicious and since I no longer eat meat, I didn't try her chicken but it smelled great and everyone ate it and said it was good!!

I hope everyone had a fun filled weekend!!