Weekend in Review 10/17/2014 - 10/19/2014

I think we can officially say that warmer weather has said its goodbyes.  This weekend was one of the first that was nice and cool and more in tune to what it should be for the middle of October.  While I am not a huge fan of the super cold weather, it was nice to have some of the cooler weather here reminding us of my favorite time of year-- Late fall into Early winter.(Beginning of October through Thanksgiving)

Earlier in the week, Madison auditioned for a role in her school's upcoming musical, Once Upon a Mattress.  I promised her that I would include in this post, that she did get a part. She will be playing Lady Beatrice.  I don't know anything about the musical other than that it is along the storyline of the Princess and the Pea.  Madison isn't sure what her part entails or much more, but as I find out dates of the performance, I will be sure to keep friends and family posted!

Myles has been suffering from a mild ear infection this week.  No antibiotics though, the Dr is confident that it is clearing up on its own.  Myles doesn't seem to be letting it get him down too much.  He truly only complained about his ear once all week.

Mayci, is well, Mayci.  Her potty training issues with going #2 are still very much present.  I am working on being more patient with her, although she may think that I am being mean when we have our little "discussions" about the importance of using the toilet for EVERYTHING!!

Friday was one of those days where everyone had plans. Well, everyone except Damian.  I find that whenever Damian doesn't have anything planned-which is rarely- I ALWAYS have things planned.  Ugghhh-- are schedules never seem to mesh, especially recently. 

Madison, of course, had dance and was then supposed to head to Six Flags for Fright Fest with Tara, Juliana, and Josh.  Unfortunately traffic had other plans in mind, so they ended up at the movie theater in Enfield.  And because I am such a lousy mom, I cannot for the life of me remember what movie they saw.
Myles and I attended his Movie Night at school.  We ate popcorn, had pink lemonade, watched the Winnie the Pooh Heffalump Halloween Movie, and looked at books that might interest him at next weeks Book Fair.  I dropped him off to Mama and Popup where Mayci already was(hmmm- why didn't I bring her to the movie night?) and was supposed to be heading out to Bethany CT to a Haunted House to meet up for a girls night with some co workers.  Traffic and timing were a little out of control, so I, like Madison, ended up not making it to my final destination and just headed home.  Damian was home working on some music, so because I had a 5K in the morning, I called it a pretty early night,

Saturday morning, the kids, Lisa, and I headed to South Windsor for the Witch Way 5k that I was running with Jen, her girls Angie and Emily wanted to show up early and ran the mile fun run as well.  Since I wasn't to always be honest, I hadn't run in like 2 weeks and was SOOOOOO NOT looking forward to this run.  It was cold and windy and I was tired with a headache.  I ended up finishing the run over a minute faster than my original best time.  It was still slow, but gosh darn it, I see it getting easier and I can see the improvements I am making, so I will take it. 


BEFORE the run
 

DURING the Run-- at about a mile and half-- and yes, my smile was forced because I knew Lisa was taking the picture!

AFTER the run-- and Myles was SO excited because he photobombed us!! haha-  Too bad running doesn't take pounds off of your arms immediately-- I am really going to have to start working on that area!

Myles and Mayci even ran that last .1 or so with me... it was so cute!  Lisa, the kids, and I headed to Foster Farm to pick up pumpkins and just enjoy the environment.  As I was getting out of the car, I realized that I had messed up my knee somehow and was pretty uncomfortable...but I pushed through!  It was quite chilly and of course I was still dressed for my run, but I had a good time.  The kids each picked out a pumpkin and went through the little kid corn maze with Lisa.  Lisa and I have tried to make a tradition out of going to the pumpkin patch with the kids, and while it was nice to go somewhere different, we decided that we definitely want to stick with Lyman Orchards here on out for our pumpkin patch needs!

Lisa, with her extra large head of cabbage from the little Farmer's Market at the Run!

Myles, Madison,and Mayci with their pumpkins-- Dear Mayci, please take the juice box out of your mouth for the picture!

In the corn maze with Lisa-- I still can't believe that I have NO babies left- and look how grown Madison looks!

Morlock School of Dance was hosting a movie night for the dancers so of course Madison wanted to go.  I had plans to go out to dinner for Tara's birthday, so Damian took the little ones to the mall and I headed to Agave in Hartford.  It was such a nice time and felt good to be able to relax a little bit and enjoy some time with adults.  Sometimes I feel like I am always around the kids or at least one of the them, that I miss the kid free interaction with adults.  because I am a sucker, I also ended up at the Revolutions bowling bar/lounge place as well.  Lots of laughter and silliness... but no bowling for me, since I wasn't originally planning on ending up there and had no socks  with me.

Birthday girl Nicole, Marilyn, Birthday girl Tara, Me, Cara, and Heather (Revolutions)  -- Picture courtesy of Joel, Nicole's hubby!

Sunday was a pretty laid back day for the kids and me.  Damian had a wedding to play at later in the day, but the whole family slept in.  I know, I made a plan to get us back to church (the kids and myself) on a regular basis, but we needed that sleep time.  ALL OF US!!  Today, the dance school was hosting a craft day, so I brought all 3 kids.  They made magic potion, slimy glow in the dark goo, and milk carton jack o lantern scary faces.  Oh my word, it was a small group of kids, but they had so much fun.  At then end all the little ones were running around in the dark with their glow sticks.  Thank goodness for such awesome dance teachers like Liz and Christine!

Making their magic potion:

Myles magic potion

Mayci's magic potion

Madison's magic potion

 

Making their glow in the dark slimy goo:

Making their milk carton "creations"- they were supposed to be Jack O Lanterns- okay... well I only have Mayci & Myles' before they were completed because I dropped my phone and couldn't get the camera to work lol:

Myles'

Mayci's

Hope you all had a GREAT cool weathered weekend!

PARTY CAR!

A couple of weekends ago, the kids, Damian, and I were driving some where and Mayci started yelling at Daddy to turn make it a "party car"  I had no idea what that meant.. but Damian didn't miss a beat.  He turned on, El Debarge, "Rhythm of the Night"  and all of a sudden the car was transformed into the "party car" and Mayci was in her glory---

ENJOY:

So now  I have proof that my kids do NOT get their craziness from me hahaha.  Honestly though-- I love how Damian is never too proud and never tries to be something he isn't.  He is just a good guy who is an even better dad that will do just about anything to keep his kids happy, smiling, and full of laughter!!

Celebrating Karina and her upcoming marriage! August 2-3, 2014

This weekend was a little busy.. and unfortunately I only have like 3 pictures to show from the entire thing, but it definitely deserves a blog post.  I didn't take many pictures, because I actually tried to keep my phone in my purse and away from me so that I could focus on celebrating what we were all there for.  And, like the flake I am, I left my actual camera at home :(

Luques, Damian's brother, (well my brother also!!) is getting married on August 30, 2014.  he is marrying one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met-- Karina. 

On Friday August 1, 2014- Karina celebrated her 30th birthday. What a great age!!  Also, what a great month for both her and Luques.  They each celebrate birthdays this month and now will be celebrating their wedding anniversary as well.  So exciting.

I was invited to Karina's bridal shower on Saturday August 2nd.  It was a surprise for Karina and was being held at a nice restaurant called, Café Archetypus in Edgewater, New Jersey.  I had also been invited to attend a bachelorette party for her on Sunday August 3rd in New York City.  I had decided early on that I would drive to new Jersey on Saturday, come home that night and then attempt to take the train on my own into Grand Central on Sunday and then travel by the Subway to get to the actual venue for the bachelorette.

Weeks before either of these events, I could feel my anxiety rising.  I am a very loud and outgoing individual--- in certain occasions.  Honestly, though, I suffer from SEVERE social anxiety. I knew this was an extremely important event and I love both Karina and Luques dearly, so I was determined to overcome these nerves and make sure that I was there in support of their exciting new adventure in life.

Lisa and Madison decided to take the ride to New Jersey with me, so we headed out a little extra early on Saturday to ensure that I got to where I needed to go in time.  In addition to social anxiety, I also get VERY nervous about arriving somewhere late.  Especially today since I knew it was a surprise so I needed to be there before the guest of honor.  It was a nice 2 hour or so ride.  Lisa and I caught up, laughed, listened to music. Madison got a lot of reading done for her summer assignments for school.  The plan was for them to go to the movies while I was at the shower.

OH MY WORD!!  The area where the shower was being held was beautiful.  Karina's mother, Julie, and Justine did such an amazing job making sure everything was perfect and where it needed to be.  They had their personal touches on everything and it was gorgeous.  I loved the book that they had set out for each guest to write words of wisdom for the bride in and then they also had little hearts for the guests to write their favorite thing about Karina on.  (So easy for me to do-- I have always admired Karina's genuine "niceness" <---- not to sure if that is even a real word or not, haha. Luques and Karina have been together for about 7 years I  believe, and I will admit that I have not spent as much time with Karina as I would have liked,  No ones fault, but my own...but every time I see her, she is so full of grace and kindness, it amazes me.  And it is just so real.  I love that.. envy it actually!)  When Karina arrived at the shower, she was definitely surprised, and completely overcome with emotion.  So sweet.  This shower was so nice.  It was such a privilege being able to attend and see her mother again and be a part of something that was so special to her.  You could tell by the environment and people that were there that Karina is surrounded by love, compassion, and strength!  A very special lady indeed.   I actually ended up leaving a little early because I knew that I had to drive back home and had to get an early start the next day as well.  Madison and Lisa were in the front waiting for me and Karina had asked that I bring Madison in to say hi to her before we left, so I made sure to do that-- Madison was so excited and happy to be able to see Karina.  She was also excited to tell Karina that while they were waiting for me, she actually found the dress that she was going to wear to the wedding and had bought it with her own money. Oh how she melts my heart.

Myself & the guest of honor, Karina.  Isn't she just beautiful??

Madison and Karina - so nice of Karina to ask if Madison could run in to say hello

Nadia wearing her toilet paper wedding dress--  Nope-- our group definitely didn't go for traditional

Saturday night, my anxiety kicked into EXTRA OVERDRIVE! I couldn't sleep and had a really rough night.  But as planned I woke up early headed to New Haven to catch the train and wound up at Grand Central Station about an hour and a half early.  That was perfect.  My original goal was then to take the subway from Grand Central to a little closer to Fairway Studios, but I started panicking so I decided to walk the 15 minutes that it took to get there.  because I was early I hung out at a Starbucks that was around the corner.  Won't go into specific details about the bachelorette party, but once again, Karina was especially surprised and her, 12 of her closest friends and family, myself were there to celebrate.  There was a lot of laughter and it seemed like a good time was had by all.  I would have loved to stay a little longer, but Damian was in Boston for a gig and I didn't want to intrude on Karina and her family/friends, so at the end of the party, I headed back to the station..and started my journey home.  Got home safe and sound-- Damian actually beat me to picking up the kids by like 5 minutes, so I arrived at the house before him surprisingly.

I talked to Damian a little about my anxiety and he his so darn respectful of it.  I am really trying hard to overcome these little quirks about myself and I think if I keep pushing myself to do things that are out of my comfort zone, it will just get easier and easier.  I know I can tackle this and WIN!

All in all-- this past weekend, celebrating Karina and her upcoming marriage, was a GREAT time!!  I was honored to be a part of this weekend and look forward to spending more time with Karina AND Luques in the future!! I am so excited for the both of them and cannot wait until the end of the month to share in the moment when they exchange their vows to one another!!

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