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!!

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!!!!