Week in Review Sept 29, 2014 - October 5, 2014

I swear, these weeks keep getting weirder and weirder for me.  We are now a month and a half in to the school year, and honestly, I thought I would be in a better groove by  now.  For some strange reason, not known to me to me, I cannot seem to get my butt together.  I have been having a hard time getting up and at 'em in the morning and getting my time management skills in order.  This leaves me feeling extra stressed, irritable, and tired at the end of each day.  No melt downs for me this week, so I guess that means it was a pretty good one!

Madison had a pretty exciting week.  She was running for President of her Student Advisory class.  She had to give a speech on Monday and by Tuesday morning, she found out that she won!  She was so happy.  I think the position is only for a couple of months so that more of the kids have the opportunity to go through the election process.  I don't care how long it is for.  I am so proud of Madison for making goals and doing the necessary work to attain them.  She also got her first progress report this week.... All A's!!!!  Go her!



 The last exciting thing for her is that she is preparing for her audition to be a part of the musical at her school, Once Upon a Mattress.  Actual auditions are being held on October 15th  - she has been annoying me practicing in the car quite a bit!!  She also explained to me that while she is trying out for a lead role, she understands that she may not get it, but hopes to be in it in some kind of way regardless of the role.  Only time will tell.

Myles is well into his routine for school, but still having some difficulties with the fact that he doesn't see Damian as much as he used to.  Every day that we get to the house and Damian isn't home, Myles melts down and it takes him quite a while to calm down/relax.  Eventually this too shall pass -- he informed me last night that he can't live with just me :(  When I asked why, he said, " because you yell too much and I just like daddy more" :(  Broke my heart and I could feel my eyes start to water, but I quickly took a deep breath, regained my composure, and responded, "Well, it's a good thing that you live with both me and daddy then.  Sometimes Daddy's work makes him have to be out of the house at weird times, I know you miss him, just know that he misses you too and when he gets home, I will tell him to go cuddle with you if you are asleep."  Myles reminds me daily of my faults, and while I sometimes get angry with him because of it, maybe it is a good thing to get those little reminders.  Maybe I need to hear him say things that cut me just alittle so that I can see how my reactions affect the whole family. 
Myles also had a little trouble on the bus this past week with a girl and a little boy who he thinks is her brother.  It ended with me reminding Myles that sometimes, even when we aren't trying to, out words hurt people and their family members feel like they need to protect them.  I also reminded him that when he sees these specific children again that he needs to apologize and mean it.  Not sure yet if the apology has happened yet, but I haven't heard any more stories, so hopefully all is well on the bus again.

Mayci is, well she is Mayci.  No huge exciting things for her this week.  She has been having a lot of overnight accidents(peeing in the bed) but we are taking that just one day at a time.  I know it will get better.  She also really seems to be enjoying dance class every Monday.  It gives her the chane to wear "princess" clothes, so she gets very excited.  Her behavior isn't always the best, but we are working on that as well.

This weekend Damian was out of town.  Friday he was playing at a CD Release party in New York and on Saturday, if I understood correctly, he flew out to Pittsburgh for a gig Saturday night.  He didn't get home until about 830p Sunday night and Ted made sure to warn me about how exhausted and tired he would be, so I left him alone and let him do his thing.

Friday night, the little ones stayed with Ted and Abby Lisa picked Madison up from school, brought her to dance, and her spend the night at her house.  I attended a wedding for a friend/coworker, Janelle.  What a nice wedding and both Janelle and Chad looked amazing and so very happy.  It was nice to be able to keep my mind off of the things that have been bothering me.  I danced, laughed, and genuinely had a great time with friends and coworkers.  I got home to an empty house around 11:45p.

I mean who doesn't take at least 1 selfie at a wedding !!

The lovely couple's first dance



Saturday morning, I was running(ummm... honestly I mostly walked between the obstacles) in a Fitahlon with Jen, Katia, and Michele at Manchester Community College.  SO MUCH FUN!! I was still pretty tired from the night before, and didn't actually run as much as I should have, but managed to have a really good time.  I am actually still sore from it today as I write this.  This obstacle course sort of thing consisted of things like calisthenics, rope pulls, wall climbing, ruck sack carrying, tire flipping, over/unders; chain pulls, etc.  Needless to say- it was quite the workout.  Note my scarf in the pics... it is now designated as my workout scarf-- I wear it to every race!



Mama and PopUp ended up taking the little ones to New Haven for a going away party for one of Damian's cousins and then when they were bringing them home decided they wanted to keep Myles with them.  Madison was staying at Jen's house for the night and I hung out at Jen's for little while, cleaned, and ran some errands.  Mayci and I watched some movie that she picked out before calling it a night-- wu-wu-wubzy or something like that lol

Sunday, the little ones and I went to church, Madison had a Mindful Practice Dance Workshop, and then Abby took the little ones to a birthday party.  We all ended up meeting back up at the house just in time for the little ones to go to bed.

You may notice that I didn't have the little ones very often this weekend, and please don't judge me.  With Damian out of town, I think sometimes Ted and Abby feel they need to "help" me by taking the kids off my hands for a little while.  And while that is not entirely the case, sometimes I let it happen because I know the kids will have more fun with them and they don't really like hanging out with me much.... but don't worry-- I am trying to fix that. 

I hope you all had a fun filled weekend!!!  Here's to a great week!!

September 5- September 14-- Two weeks in review

Oh how I wish that I had something exciting to post.. NOPE--- not even one little thing.  And I also don't think I have a single picture from this entire 10 day time period..but I will search through my phone :)

Myles and Mayci have been battling with some weird cough thing and Madison is being her typical full of attitude pre-tween self.  So we did a whole lot of nothing over the weekend...but with the first 2 weeks of school being behind them, I think Myles and Madison were both pretty tired, so they didn't even complain much as we sat around the house and lounged.

Damian and I have also decided to lessen the Friday night sleepovers at Mama and PopUps.  Because we are trying to regain structure in our home and really buckle down on the simple things like bed times and such, we figured that on Fridays they can stay home with us(or me when Damian has a gig) and we can enforce more of that structure and those bedtimes.  And that is not to say that they don't have structure with Mama and PopUp, but let's be realistic-- Grandparents rules and parents rules vary quite a bit... and we have noticed that sometimes the kids seem to forget which house they are at, or what the rules are. 

On Saturday, I was really struggling with the kids... or should I say that the kids were really struggling with one another.  There was just fight after fight and it was really starting to wear me out.  I made everyone spend some time in their rooms, thinking about their behavior(which really meant them yelling through the doors all the reasons why they didn't deserve to be there) and cleaning up.  Later that evening, we headed out to a high school in Middletown to meet up with some co-workers of mine, Katia and Michele.  They each have a child so my kids and their played nicely together while Katia, Michele, and I ran and did some "training" for the Fitathlon that we are scheduled to do on October 4th.  BEWARE for 3 HORRIBLE far away pics-- I already told you I had nothing haha!

Sunday was also a pretty blah day.  Myles woke up early with Damian and hung out with him all day at Damian's gigs... Madison, Mayci, and I  just hung out at home for the earlier part of the day and lounged around.  We did go and visit Jaida, Grandma Virginia and Grandpa Wayne for just a little bit. Unfortunately Amanda had to work, so we missed her.  Ted called and said that he had wanted to go and see Damian play and asked if he could take the girls with him.  Madison wanted to run a few errands with me, so I dropped Mayci off to Ted and Abby and Madison and I ran to a few stores to get some necessities and go out for a quick lunch. 

Damian, Myles, and Mayci returned home later that night just in time to shower and get ready for the upcoming week.

SEPTEMBER 8 - 12

School, work, and slowly getting into routines pretty much filled this week.

Madison had some competition practices for dance this week, but the actual dance year doesn't start for her until Monday the 15th.  She still seems to be enjoying school and is making new friends daily.

Myles is slowly adjusting to Kindergarten.  He seems to be having the hardest time with the fact that he does not spend as much time with Damian anymore.  He has had several meltdowns because "Daddy is working too much and needs to start saying no to his gigs so he can be home with me and cuddle and play"  I spent a lot of time this week explaining to him that Daddy loves him and misses him too, but has to work so that we can keep our house and be able to get him the Legos that he loves to play with. Myles' response, "Well then I don't want the house anymore, then can he stop working so much?"  Oh how I wish it was that simple.  basketball will be starting soon, and I am hoping that Myles will still want to play because then it will give him something to look forward to, I hope.  We have Open House at his school on the 18th so I am also hoping to meet some of his classmates parents so that I can maybe begin to arrange some play dates.  Myles just needs some distractions and to start spending time with other kids his age outside of the school environment.  I feel this will be so beneficial to him.

Mayci, well she is just Mayci.  She is her same old spit fire self. Miss Sunshine has adapted well to not having her big brother around her ALL DAY long and I think she is rather enjoying her alone time with Daddy and Mama.  She isn't really napping as much anymore and has done EXTREMELY well with going to the potty.  We do still have some middle of the night accidents(which I am not used to because the other 2 rarely had accidents), but I would still consider her fully potty trained.  Yes, she also has accidents during the day, but they are few and far between.  We are having some trouble with doing #2 in the toilet, but we just keep encouraging!!

Damian has been incredibly busy with gigs and rehearsals.  We have only been seeing each other in passing. He is coming to bed just a few hours before I am getting up to start my day... but that's okay-- eventually OUR TIME will come and I will continue to try hard to be patient :)

FRIDAY SEPT 12 - SEPT 14

This Friday was a happy Friday for the kids. All 3 stayed at Mama and PopUp's house.  Damian had a gig and I had plans with some co-workers.  I had taken Friday off due to having some overtime, but didn't end up getting anything on my TO DO LIST done.  I did however clean up a little and rest ALOT.  I even took a nap before the kids came home from school.  I had gotten up and met Jen for a run around 7a and when I returned home Damian had been getting ready for work and decided to take Mayci with him.  So I really had a day to myself for the most part. 

Saturday morning Jen and I met yet again at 6:30a for a run.  We are getting pretty consistent with our runs!! Myles hadn't been feeling great when they went to Mama's house on Friday so I went to check on him fairly early.  By the time I had gotten there, they had already made plans to go for a nature walk and hang out, so I left them to it.  I ran to a few stores and then headed home.  The kids ended up hanging out there ALL day and I think they even got see Albert, Zaccai(both of which were in the area because they had a gig later that evening according to Facebook), Titi Tata, Dalila, and Uncle Jorge while they were there. 

Damian was one again-- BUSY BUSY BUSY!! And when he was home, he was holed up in the studio working.  By mid day on Saturday I started feeling pretty lousy, so I spent some time with some tea trying to rest.

Sunday, I was still feeling lousy so I cancelled my morning run and was hoping to sleep in. Damian had to leave fairly early for a gig and once the kids were wide awake they stated asking if we could go to a few stores.  Since we were in need of a new DVD holder for the playroom, I figured that we might as well get out of the house and maybe that would keep my mind off of how "blah" I was feeling.  So the kids were getting themselves together while I stopped argument after argument between them.  We have been having a little issue with some mice in our basement, but Damian told me that we got one in the trap on Friday so I was having pretty positive feelings that the mouse issue may have been behind house. 

Well---- maybe I was too optimistic too fast!!  I won't go into a ton of details, but lets just say we had a little visitor on the main floor of our house and since Damian was out, there was a lot of jumping, screaming, panicking, and there may have even been some tears(they weren't mine, I promise)  Thank goodness for the other man of the house, Myles, because he was brave enough to trap the mouse under a container for us scaredy cat girls!!  I immediately called Ted, who was so nice and rode his bike over to the house to help remove it.  One of the lovely perks of living so close to Damian's parents!!!!  The kids and I ran some errands and visited with Jaida and Amanda after all of our excitement.....

With dance picking up for Madison and Mayci and basketball starting for Myles.. I am pretty sure that  will start to have more interesting posts and maybe even some pictures.
I also plan to start getting back in to my MakeUp of Michelle blog as well sine I have been working out and eating better lately and I am hoping to use that blog to help me track my progress and keep me motivated,  Please feel free to check that blog out at MakeUp of Michelle.  I promise there will be some new posts on there by the weekend!!

I hope that everyone has been having a great September and is transitioning easily into the Fall Season!!!!

Month in Review-- June 2014

WOOHOOO!!  As always, I am super happy the first week of the month..any month!  I just love this time as I have said so many times before.

The month of June sort of flew by for our family!  With birthdays, milestones, sickness- time sort of got away from us quite quickly.  Good news is-- we survived and have now made it into another month to start collecting more memories.

Personally, the beginning of the month was a bit rough for me.  And  have no problem being candid about it.  Damian and I are far from being in the "perfect" relationship and I have been known to make things quite difficult sometimes,  and the first few days of June proved it for the millionth time.  We had a blowout fight slight argument about some things a little before Amanda's baby shower.  Not even anything worth a disagreement.  And because of my stubbornness, I held quite a grudge for a little bit.  So NOT the right thing to do, I know, but I'm human and accept responsibility for that.  Because of that, I had many sleepless nights and wasn't in the mood to do much of anything besides get up and sort of float through the day and then go to bed.  I am happy to say that it was short lived and all is happy in the Curtis family again!!  I don't have any problems admitting when things aren't going 100% in our home, because those are memories also, experiences that we can learn from :)

Mayci and Myles have pretty much been involved in the same things as usual.  Playing outside, fighting with each other, spending time with Mama and PopUp and staying over there every Friday night.  Damian's cousin Alicia came up in the early part of June and stayed with Ted and Abby for the 1st 2 weeks or so, and the kids definitely liked having someone else to annoy hang out with over there!  She is such a sweetheart and so good to the kids.  TiTi Ada and Sammy joined the fun around the 12th and it was so good to see them also.  Brian is also here from Puerto Rico and Nadia from Texas!!   My mom's mom, Grandma Betty came up for the first part of the month to spend some time with the family.  I am sure that we will all be getting together more and the summer progresses-- we have some exciting stuff happening this summer!!

The ONLY picture that I got during recital

Grandma Betty-- Oh how I love this lady.  This was from a girls night at the Muse Paint Bar

We celebrated Damian's 36th birthday this month!

But first, let me take a #selfie

I swear Madison is in this picture, getting down from stage after receiving 1 of her two awards-- (Citizenship Award and President's Award)

Happy Birthday Madison-- from Myles

Yup-- most of his ice cream doesn't even make it into his mouth!

Myles has been extremely focused on video games lately-- THANKS DAMIAN!!  Once you introduce that little boy to anything and I swear he becomes mildly obsessed hahaha... Sort of an extremist like his dad and PopUp!  He is also spending a lot of his time playing with Legos.  The little legos I might add.. you know the ones that always end up underneath our bare feet when you least expect it.  He is getting better and better at building neat little creations on a daily basis.  With the warmer weather here, Myles sometimes has to be forced to leave his video games and legos so he can spend some time outside in the fresh air..but once you get him out there, you have to drag his behind back in haha.

Mayci has been quite the struggle for me (#thestruggleisreal)  She will be turning 3 on July 27th and this little one still will NOT use the potty.  And its not for lack of trying.  I really have been trying.  In fact, I may be part of the reason that now she is so against it.  I found myself getting quite upset at her for not using the potty and I may have scared her a little but.  Yup, all of you judgy moms out there-- go ahead and criticize me!! We lack a lot of structure in our home(I'm working on it) and I feel that also contributes to the non potty trained child.  I am hoping the month of June will have a brighter outlook and as I type this in the first week of July, I can already say that my hopes my become reality.  Mayci has already shown even more promise in her potty training journey. 

Madison had a busy, yet sickly month with a couple of exciting events/milestones.  The beginning of the month was dance recital time for her.  Dress rehearsal wasn't the best because her tap show broke and she wasn't feeling that hot, but she did phenomenal as always on recital day, despite having to wear an old pair of tap shoes.  School was out late this year for them, June 20th.  Unfortunately the weekend before the last week of school Madison fell pretty ill at a friends house.  Thank goodness for good moms and friends.  Madison passed out and vomited and was feeling pretty icky.  Icky enough to warrant her a trip to the ER ( Call me paranoid, I don't care)  It turns out that she had been suffering from strep throat for a couple of weeks(remember when she told me she didn't feel good at dress rehearsal--there goes another notch in my "ways I screw up parenting" belt). We left with her feeling as gross as when we got there,but now we had some antibiotics to help her out.  She missed 2 days of school that week because she just couldn't get her energy up.  Went to school Wednesday and then went to school Thursday morning.  Thursday was her Grade 5 promotion ceremony!!  Can't believe she is officially a 6th grader.  I was able to go and see her ceremony but only a half an hour from being back at work I got a call from the dreaded school nurse saying she needed to be picked up because she was sick.  She ended up back at the pediatrician because he couldn't understand why antibiotics weren't attacking her fever and why her throat was worse than before--this time he said he could see a huge abscess on her tonsil.  So finally after a new antibiotic and some bloodwork-- my big "baby" is doing well!!  Missed the last day of school, but I don't think she really minded. 
     Madison celebrated her 11th birthday this month.  WOW!!  In addition to the five of us, Lisa, Ted, Abby, and Brian joined us in celebrating such a special day.  At her little celebration, Madison had a super exciting announcement to make.  She refused to let me tell anyone until she announced it at her "party".  We got word that Madison had been accepted into a magnet school.  She will now be attending the Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy from 6th to 12th grade.  She was sort of nervous at first and wasn't even sure if she wanted me to accept placement into the school, but that has started to die down and turn into excitement for her!

Damian had a busy month as usual with gigs, work, and lots of rehearsals  not to mention, during the earlier part of the day, he is home with the kids and has to keep them happy and busy.  He celebrated his 36th birthday this month-- Ted, Abby, Alicia, and Dalila all came by to sing Happy Birthday before Damian had to head off to rehearsal.  His students had their annual recital this month, unfortunately I was unable to attend.  I think this is the first one in about 5 years that I have missed :(  He also sort of got cheated out of a Father's Day, since we spent the second half of it in the Emergency Room with Madison, but he did tell her that there was no where else he would rather have been. Such a sweet and genuine daddy.. we should probably treat more days like Father's Day anyway for him!!

I have been focusing a lot more on my interests in self help/improvement; beauty; and journaling.  I have decided to start writing in my journal once a day like I used to a few years ago to help me have a handle on my crazy emotions.  I have also been trying to put more effort into my personal blog, MakeUpofMichelle  It is here that I discuss the self help/improvement, health, beauty, nails, personal thoughts that interest me-- feel free to take a peek and even leave a comment! 

Whew---  we have made it through the 1st half of the year.. I cannot wait to see what else is in store for us. I do know that for the summer, there are some pretty exciting things happening with Madison and traveling, Luques and Karina's wedding, family get togethers, spending some more time with the newest baby in the family, and getting Myles ready for his transition into school.  So excited to be able to share the events with all of you!!

Graduation Time -- Thursday May 29, 2014

Thursday May 29, 2014

Auntie Sonya and Charlize--  LOVE THIS PICTURE!!

Here is Auntie Lisamarie and Brooklynn after they got all excited right after Brooke was awarded her diploma

The GRADUATION GIRL!!

Today was a super bittersweet day for me.  After work, I got to spend the evening at Brooke's Graduation from Manchester Community College.  She graduated with her Associates Degree in Criminal Justice!!  I was and still am so proud of her, yet I would be lying if I say that I was a little sad also.  I should have been standing in that same line with those graduates, my kids should have been able to watch their mommy graduate alongside "Chachi" and "BK"---  BUT I wasn't.. and my kids didn't get to.  While it makes me sad, I do know that things happen for a reason.  I wasn't able to juggle all of the pressures of school, being a mom, being a wife, and working full time... a decision needed to be made, and school just wasn't at the top of my priority list... Will I ever go back??  I don't think so, but only time and God will tell!!  Brooke's ability to push through all obstacles makes me so proud of her!!

So so so PROUD of her!  I remember attending her high school graduating shortly after we truly be came friends.

What a beautiful day it was for a graduation.  The weather held out so that it was able to be outside and we were all welcome to attend.  Unfortunately Brooke's mom was out of town for her birthday, so she was unable to attend, which I know broke Brooke's heart...but even though her mom and dad weren't there, Brooke had quite the support group: Jermaine, Charlize, Brooklynn, Lisamarie, Jacob, Chin, Sonya, Bethany, Allison, Kyree, and myself all came to show our support for an extremely special woman.  She looked so pretty in her cap and gown, and you could see the happiness in her eyes as she enters into the next phase in her life.  I am not exactly sure of what her plans are now, but regardless.. what a great accomplishment.

And I know this wasn't always the easiest thing for her, with kids, being pregnant, being a single mom, working full time, having to struggle with day care....but she allowed NOTHING to hold her back...and has her diploma to show for that.. she better be proud of herself as well!!!!!

CANstruction- May 14, 2014

Madison was the part of her CANstruction team at John F. Kennedy Elementary school with some of the other fifth graders.  This group of kids was responsible for standing in front of various grocery stores to ask for donations.  These donations were used to purchase canned good of various kinds to be used for a competition.  The competition allowed for the students to work with architects and engineers to build something out of cans for a statewide competition.  These structures would be judged and awarded "prizes" at the end of the competition.  After being in display for several days, JFK would be breaking down their project and packing up ALL of those cans to then deliver them to the local Windsor Food Pantry.

The kids did a fabulous job. Their slogan was, "When the clock strikes one, hunger is done!"  Their structure consisted of an hourglass, a regular clock, and a sundial.  They won the award for " Best Structural Integrity."  The final can count has yet to be announced by the judges.. I think that do that at the breakdown of each structure.

Throughout the competition day which lasted for 4 hours, the kids were able to visit various booths and learn things about engineering, electricity, home improvement, law enforcement, and fire safety.  They were able to participate in small experiments and even take home some goodies, including a hula hoop that they were able to make out of actual gas pipes. So cool... And YES- I made one of those hula hoops as well!

As someone who has had to utilize the local food pantry for basic needs during rough times, I am incredibly proud of Madison for being involved in something that gives back to the community.  I am actually hoping that next year, her and I can both get more involved in giving back and volunteering in some way in our community.  Such a great way for children to learn to be appreciative of their blessings and acknowledge that there are those less fortunate than their own.

Madison and the teachers, architects, and engineers that made This experience possible for her

The finished product 

The other side of the finished product..isn't that so cool?

Madison and her group...TEAM 4 baby!!!

The month of December

The month of December just seemed to fly by for our family this year.  I still cannot believe that it has come to an end...WOW!!!

Mayci's month seemed to consist of the same sorts of things for her: playing, spending most of her time with Myles, testing boundaries as usual; sneaking out of her bed after being tucked in, you know..the usual 2 year old sorts of things.

Myles' December included his norms as well: basketball on Saturdays, hanging at Mama and Pop-Ups house the majority of the time, expressing his MANY concerns quite loudly for all to hear, decided he is more a deejay than he is any superhero this month. He was also introduced to the world of video games(thanks Damian) and his most current obsession: DONKEY KONG!!

Madison had a pretty normal December also: school projects, dance, school vacation, the annual Christmas Show in East Hartford for dance, oh..and did I mention..dance?!?

On the 7th of this month the kids and I joined Ted,Abby, and Uncle Chuck  as we have every year for the past 8 years with picking out their Christmas Tree.  It was quite a COLD morning and we went VERY early because Madison didn't want to miss out and was performing later in the day the the East Hartford annual Christmas Show.  Umm..I have to admit that I definitely had a complete MOMMY FAIL while out hunting for the Christmas Tree.  I don't know what I was thinking by not making sure that each kid had gloves and, I don't know, like a hat? So, needles to say, we were super cold which caused us all to be just a WEE bit moody and grumpy to the end of our hunt.  But int he end, Abby picked out a beautiful tree that ended up looking nice as always in their living room for the holidays.

The Christmas Show in east Hartford that Madison danced in turned out very well. She was in 4 numbers: 2 competition numbers, one dance made just for that show, and her jazz/musical theatre solo.  I thought she did fabulous, but if course she was her own worst critic.  She also told me that she felt super supported by the number of people that took time out of their day to come and watch her: Grandma Virginia, Grandpa Wayne, Aunt Lisa, Mama, Pop-Up, Damian, Myles, Mayci, her step mother Lisa, her brother Brandon, and her step brother Lou(who also got to watch his step sister dance as well).  I am always so grateful for all who support my kids int he the things they are interested in!! THANK YOU ALL!!  I didn't take any pics that night, but I know that many have been posted on my Facebook page, so you can definitely find them there if interested.

The rest of the month kind of just flew by.  Madison took an extra day off before school vacation.  She had "earned" it due to a PHENOMENAL report card and parent teacher conference. ( everyone deserves a special break sometimes)  I know that Myles and Mayci have LOVED having her home this past week and a half and will be extremely sad in Jan 2nd when she goes back to school.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were so nice for the kids.  On Christmas Eve, Damian and the kids were able to spend time with Ted, Abby, Luques, Karina, Zaccai, Julie, and Albert.  They went out to dinner and their fav restaurant for Ted and Abby's anniversary and then sadly had to say goodbye to Luques, Karina, and Julie who were headed back to the city for Christmas Day.  I was unable to see Luques, Karina, and Julie and am hoping to make more time for them in the upcoming months and plan some long weekend trips to NewYork sans kids just to "hang out" and spend quality time with each other!!!

On Christmas Day, the kids woke up super early around 630a and immediately opened gifts and went through their stockings.  Lisa, Amanda, Grandma Virginia, and Grandpa Wayne came over a little later with their gifts for the kids and to have a little informal brunch.  Then the early evening part of the day brought us to Ted & Abby's for the rest of the day for the kids 3rd Christmas.  WOW!!! Damian and I hung out with his brothers and cousins until about 3am talking, laughing, making jokes, going to the movies....the usual.  This was my first time going to the movies with all of them in over 5 years-- and I had so much fun! I think that the kids had an amazing Christmas , as always, thanks to all of the family and friends.  Our little Christmas at home was rather small this year due to finances, but the kids didn't seem to notice, and I am thinking that we may keep it that way regardless of finances from now on!!  It definitely makes the kids more grateful for all that they do get!

All in all...this holiday season was wonderful and filled with love, kindness, and family time.  I enjoyed every moment of it and can't wait to see what this next year has in store for us!!

Hoping that you all had a great holiday and would love to hear what everyone has planned for 2014!!