Weekend in Review April 15- April 17th

Such a good weekend with even better weather!!  I have to say that this was probably one of the nicest weekends I have had in a while.  All 5 of us were home and got to spend some time together.  Albert, Luques, Karina, and Zeni were all in town on Saturday into Sunday.  I missed seeing Zaccai, but he was around Sunday night for a gig.  All in all -- such a great family oriented weekend.

Saturday brought some beautiful weather with it!  After karate with Mayci, lots of time was spent outside playing, cleaning up the yard, and the little kids doing a bit of their digging holes in the backyard gardening.

By mid afternoon we headed over to Mama and PopUp's to see Luques, Karina, and Zeni-- it was Zeni's first trip to CT so it was quite the BIG DEAL!!  Mama was super excited to show off her newest grandbaby lots of people came by to greet Baby Z and see her proud new parents!!!!  Yvette, Paul, Nikko, Melina, Natalia, Angelina, Abigail, Jacob, Monica, Jorge, Titi Tata, Carol, Veronica, and Albert are just to name a few.  The kids decided to stay over longer because they were having such a good time and Madison was hanging out with Nikko and Melina, who are just a year older than she is :)


Mayci at the park-- pretending to be the Statue of Liberty

Myles and I racing...

Yup--- I won the race.. the little girl next to me is some friend that Myles met at the park named Emily

Miss Zeni Bea

Mama with her newest grandbaby

Quality time for Mama and Zeni

Sunday was a low key day for the family as well.  The Curtis Brothers Quartet had a gig in Hartford on Sunday night. So the family, excluding Myles and me, went to go support them also.  Myles and I stayed back so that we could ensure that he would get to bed on time and be prepared for his first day back at school after a week long Spring Break.  I was pretty surprised to find out that Damian also ended up playing a little as well.  I have heard from many that went that it was a great show and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

The weather was so beautiful on Sunday, that the kids just HAD to eat breakfast outside on the back porch

Thumb wrestling match between Albert and Madison

I hope this upcoming weekend bring some lifelong memories as well...

Engaging in some intense conversation with Zeni

First time Aunt-- June 17, 2014

I took some time off from this blog because some things at home and in my personal relationships were pre-occupying some of my time.

Now I am back in business... but I am so behind that I just posted Amanda's baby shower blog and right after I am posting this one because she's has JUST given birth to her beautiful baby girl.

OH MY WORD!!  My little Amanda is a mommy!!

On June 17, 2014 at 3:22am, Amanda gave birth to Miss Jaida Sarai Nascimento.  She weighed 6lbs 1 oz and was 19 inches long-- COMPLETE PERFECTION!!

I get that she is my niece, so I may be a little partial, but she is absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  I love her round head, her small eyes, her incredibly squeezable cheeks!  I have lots of friends with kids, many of which I have known since they were newborns-- and boy do I love them dearly-- just as if they were my own!  BUT--  there was something different in my heart when I walked into that hospital room as saw my little sister holding her very own baby girl. 

I melted... I got teary eyed and fought to keep the tears back.  First of all, how is it even possible that my younger sister I sold enough to have a baby? Don't worry, I know how it happened, but I am still in minor shock, lol!  It made me remember the day that Amanda was born.  And then as she was growing up, we were pretty close.. I spent a lot of time with her, babysitting her, playing with her, carting her around with me as I did things with my friends.  When she was 9, I gave birth to Madison, and when I moved out, she used to always want to come over to my apartment and play with Madison.  She babysat as she got older and sometimes would even take Madison out with her on little day trips to the mall and things like that.  Her and I would spend days together, going shopping, eating out, just hanging together-----------And the she went through the phase where family just wasn't as important to her and she didn't really want to spend as much time with us.  It bothered me at times, but I understand.  I am sure I went through phases like that also.  She just continued to grow up-- got a job, a boyfriend, her own life-- and now here she is with her own "little family",  A little one to call her own.

How amazing it was to see my sister, who has always just been my little sister, with a new title-- a woman and a mommy.  She is now in charge of someone else's well being as well as her own. 
I have the utmost confidence in her that she will be a wonderful mother.  She has always been so good to my children and they aren't even hers. 

I hope Amanda understands how happy I am for both her and Will and their new bundle of PERFECT joy!  I hope they know that I am here for them every step of the way as much as I can be and I hope to be the kind of Aunt that both her and Lisa have been to my kids.

I LOVE YOU GUYS!! WELCOME TO THE FAMILY MISS JAIDA NASCIMENTO-- you are in for quite the ride!

Isn't she the cutest thing ever?

Please Mayci, don't tip over the new baby!!

Madison admiring her new cousin--  don't be alarmed by the mask-- Madison was suffering from Strep Throat , and while cleared by Dr. Rifkin, we still wanted to be safe and keep the germs at a minimum.

Baby Jaida and PRO-Aunt Lisa

Baby Shower Barbecue

Saturday May 31, 2014

The beautiful cake made by one of Amanda's friends, Noelle

My younger sister, Amanda, and her boyfriend Will are expecting their first baby on July 1st.  (I'm actually posting this on Saturday June 21, 2014 and Miss Jaida Sarai Nascimento decided to bless us with her prescence 2 weeks earlier than expected!!).  Lisa, my mom, and I wanted to throw her a nice shower to celebrate her soon to come bundle of joy, so we decided to host a baby shower for her.

Amanda is a very simple girl.  She didnt want anything super fancy, no games, no frills...just a simple barbecue with friends and family.  As the guest of honor- her wish was our command,  We went as simple as we could and just got some food, the grills, some snacks-- threw friends and family in the mix-- and there was her shower.

I'd like to think that everyone had a great day, but do know that Amanda and Will seemed to enjoy themselves, which was most important  Her friends sort of came and went in waves as they were leaving to go to work and coming after work, so we had a steady flow throughout the day.  Aunt Denise and Uncle Wilbert came from New York also to give their well wishes.
They got so many nice clothes and accessories for baby Jaida.  She is going to be one of the best dressed little girls I know!!

I am so excited to be an aunt and cannot wait to hold this baby in my arms!!!

Me and Amanda #selfie

Me and the guests of honor!!

Lisa and I before the shower getting the last minute things to combat the mosquitoes in the backyard