Myles and Mayci JAMMING

Here is a little snippet if Myles and Mayci's jam session this past Saturday at Luques & Karina's engagement party

Week of July 7-July 13 2013

This week has just been dragging for me so much.  It started out like such a good week at first, but now I am just extra ready for the weekend.  (i know--- could I sound any more pitiful!!)  Myles is still suffering from stomachaches and discomfort and every time that kicks in, boy is he miserable.  Only good thing is that it last for a little while and then goes away until next time.  But because it has been two weeks, this warranted him a trip to see the doctor, well the emergency room in fact.  Damian and Madison went to the ER with Myles and I took Mayci home to put her to bed...and for all you judgemental mama's out there..nope- I didn't go..I don't like any stomach related illnesses and well, lets be honest ..I have never claimed to be the worlds best mom!  Anyway..nothing serious per doctor..just a little "backed up" and filled with air and well, other things.

Damian has been picking up extra hours at the store, so Anastoria has been coming to the house twice a week to help with babysitting.  The kids love it.  And Anastoria is such a Godsend. She wakes up extremely early just to catch the bus to our house and doesn't even act like it is a problem! We love her, and I hope Madison is paying extra attention, because in just a opulent short years she will be on babysitter duty!

This weekend (it's Sunday, July 14,2013) was awesome.  On Friday, all the kids were luck enough to have the opportunity to attend Damian's cousin, magda's wedding.  It was on a beach so before the ceremony, the kids had time to play in the sand.  Damian and I weren't able to go due to work, but when Madison and Mayci got home late Friday night(Myles of course stayed with Mama and Popup) they were already tired if not asleep.  Saturday was a busy day.  Damian had to work in the morning and had a gig at night so we didn't see each other except for first thing in the morning and then right before I went to bed around 1030p. But...that happens sometimes and while I never enjoy days like that, I am tried hard to not let it ruin my day.  We had Aaliyah's birthday party in Waterford and because Myles was still feeling blah, it turned out to be a girls only trip.  The party was at a bowling alley, and I was so happy that Madison was able spend some time with her cousins and that they evens had bowling shoes that fit Mayci! Plus, this particular family..Damian's uncle Greg, Aunt Robin, cousins Jazmyn, her husband Kike and their kids, Ambeur and her daughter Aaliyah(the birthday girl), and Isaiah(who was unable to attend the party) and his wife Tianne and their boys... Is always EXTRA good to my kids and even made sure that Madison had her cheese free pizza to eat!  Always so thoughtful.  It was so nice to see the family especially since we don't see them as often as we probably should :). We ended the day at Luques and Karina's engagement party. What a nice party.  So many family and friends came out to celebrate such a great couple!!! It was so good to see everyone and spend a little time just relaxing and talking with people even though I cut the night short for myself because of the heat and mosquitos.  I will admit that since I am such a homebody, I miss out on a lot of events like this, but I am really trying to get better.  I am so happy for both Luques and Karina and hope that has time goes on, I will get better at reaching out and spending time with people so that I can really get to know Karina. She seems absolutely amazing, we get along, and my kids ADORE her..in fact Madison is so excited to call her Aunt Karina...but because I tend to stay home during a lot of events and differ occasions, I have missed out on getting to know her anymore. I did talk with her this weekend and I hope to plan something when I can head out to NYC and we can get together to just hand out for a girls day!!

Today I am home relaxing, catching up on my YouTube subscriptions, and making sure the house is in order. Next week Madison leaves for her 5 day trip to NYC and Damian and I are hoping to get out there on Saturday...so until then...........

Mr Myles after he got comfy in the ER bed/cot

Check out those awesome bowling shoes

The couple of honor cutting their cake...

Iron Man performing for his uncle Luques and Aunt Karina at their engagement party!

Madison getting ready to show off her bowling skills

Week of June 30-July 6

Been a pretty good week.  I mean, good in the sense that I think the kids had a good weekend.  Madison seemed to enjoy her first full week off of school and I KNOW that Myles and Mayci LOVE having her home!

Monday after work, Ted and Abby asked to keep the kids for a little longer to hand out and go out to dinner.  I have several things around the house that I wanted to work on, so of course I agreed. After coming home, it seemed as though Myles had gotten sick at Friendly's and thrown up.  The jury is till out as to whether or not he was a little sick to his stomach or he choked, but now this little boy is PARANOID!  We have been struggling since then to get him to eat a full meal, because he is so afraid of "spitting up." Let me assure you..I tried to be patient with him for several days, but today I blew up at him because I was just so frustrated with him.  I may have made matters worse because then he broke down entirely and got very upset with me.  I feel very bad, and will tell him that when he has calmed down, but uuugghhh, I just don't think I have much in the patiene department and I am not ashamed to admit it.

The rest of the week has pretty much consisted of me trying to clean out bedrooms and get this house in some kind of order so that I can come up with a schedule to help me maintain it better.  That's going okay, but I don't get nearly as much done in a day as I would like..I would like to attribute that to the fact that our house is unbearably hot with no AC and a few ceiling fans that just move around the hot air- but in reality, I think I am incredibly lazy.  But slowly, I am determined to get it all done.  Mayci is having a birthday party in 3 weeks so I would really like to get the house presentable by then :)

Madison started back with dance this week.  Looks like she is taking about 10 classes, spending 4 hours at dance twice a week and then 2 hours on another day. It doesn't seem to bother her, so I will continue to let her do so.

Myles and Damian showed up at Myles' soccer practice this past Tuesday, but unfortunately his coach has been ill so no practice yet again.  The kids have been filling in the gaps this week by spending time outside, at the park, and at the town pool.  hey are covered in mosquito bites, getting some color, and pretty exhausted by the end of the night...so I'm thinking that summer is going as planned.

This upcoming week consists of work, the pool, more park visits I am sure, birthday parties, and my brother in law Luques and his fiancé Karina's engagement party will end the week on Saturday.

Mayci relaxing at Alyce's 3rd birthday party...WOOOH..it was so hot outside!!

Madison playing "teacher" to her "students" Myles and Mayci...believe it or not--those little ones really enjoy sitting still and "learning"

This is how Mayci was enjoying her lunch and watching LeapFrog....What a worryfree life...

Live action

Nothing super exciting to post....ummmmm...wait...do I ever post anything exciting?!?!?

Just a few videos of the kids just sort of ......."doing what they do"

MIA no more!!!!!!!!

Just a glimpse of our faces since we have been gone for so long :)

4 MONTHS?!?!?!

I cannot believe that I allowed for 4 months to go by before even sitting down and truly taking the time to write in this darn blog.  Didn't I tell myself that the main reason for the blog was so that I could maintain steady up to date pictures of the kids, allow for myself to have "blog book" yearly to be able to look back on, and to a have an "outlet" to release some of my not so hidden feeling....

Okay, okay--I am not going to beat mysel fup for it.  I am not going to even try to catch up on the last 4 months...I have to focus on the here and now.  So I will just recap the month of June with maybe a few tidbits for the prior 3...hahaha!

March, April, and May kept the entire family busy with dance competitions for Madison, Myles 4th birthday( no party..we kept it simple this time around) , Mayci's many milestones of incorporating new words into her vocabulary, gaining some more teeth, and looking forward to her second birthday party.

Competition for Madison was extra exciting this year for her.  She was not only competing in groups but had a lyrical solo number as well.  She did quite well and managed to get into the top overalls for 2 out of 3 competitions and we are so proud of her.

Myles turned 4 on April 27th and is such a big boy.  Damian and I didn't host a party for him, finances and time were jut not on our side at this point, but Ted and Abby had a small gathering at their home for him. Such a nice time to be together with friends and family for happy occasions

Mayci has just been growing, learning, and exploring overs these past 3 months.  She speaks more and more each day and has us laughing quite a bit with her many facial expressions and silly ways.  She will be having a birthday party to celebrate her 2nd birthday at the end of June and I don't think she even realizes...even though I have been trying to teach her to show 2 fingers and tell people how old she is.

June always seems like such a short and busy month for this family,  Damian celebrated his 35th birthday, Madison celebrated her 10th.  Can't believe that I am even old enough to have a ten year old! School for Madison didn't even get out until the 24th, thanks to all of the snow days in the earlier months of winter.  Madison and Myles had their recital and oh goodness...I was so nervous about Myles but he did much better than I though.  I signed up for an adults hip hop class this year and we also danced in the recital.  Not my finest moment but I enjoyed myself all the same.


As we enter into July, we have a lot of things to look forward to.  Myles is playing soccer once a
week and is really enjoying it. They missed one week due to his coach being ill but he has asked ,e several times when he is going back.  Mayci is turning 2 on the 27th of this month and she will be having a Dora themed birthday party (ummmmmm--- I should probably start planning that and send out my invitations).

Madison starts dance back up after 3 weeks off.......that's bittersweet though- I
love to see her dance and know how much she enjoys it, but I would be lying if I said I didn't really enjoy not having to bring her back and forth.  Madison will also be attending the Tremaine dance workshop thing in NYC that she attended last year toward the end of the month.  Seems like the busyness never stops..

HARLEM SHAKE--WINDSOR STYLE

Took this past Friday off to enjoy at least one day home with the kids during Madison's week long break(not to mention the fact that the darn family was suffering from stomach bugs, whooping coughs, and fevers).

Since Myles woke up still very feverish and having trouble catching his breath during his coughing fits, I decided to keep everyone hone to relax after Damian left for work.  My original plan had been to bring the kids to the science center with Lisa, so she came over and hung out with us instead.

In the midst of our boredom we attempted to make our own rendition of the Harlem Shake videos that have been floating around YouTube.  We cut the video too short, so its only about 30 seconds but  I guarantee it will have you giggling quite a bit.....

Please excuse the messiness in the background and Mayci's pee covered pants...I promise I changed them as soon as I stopped recording......

Storm Nemo/ Charlotte 2013

FRIDAY FEB 8-10

Whew......so glad that's over....even though it definitely could have been worse!  We were all home and safe and sound on Friday by about 1p...I was the only lucky one who got to go to work on Friday, and I went in a little early(6:30a) to ensure that by leaving early I would not lose out on too much of my earned vacation/personal time.  I like to use that time for things that I plan for, not because I have to.

 Madison, always the planner, had been in emergency storm preparation mode all day.  She had gone around the house looking for flashlights, glow sticks for her and Myles, candles, and batteries.  She even set up an area in the playroom with each of their favorite blankets, snacks, extra glow sticks....just in case. I was at work Friday morning so she sent em pictures of her work.

She started getting a little upset when it became clear that we were not going to be losing power, but was also enjoying the fact that she could keep her tablet charged without having to worry about how much battery power she was using.  Mayci and Myles, well they didn't even have a clue!!

Saturday morning was quite exciting for everyone when we opened the front door only to see that we were stuck in the house.  Being a little claustrophobic, my heart was pounding as I walked to the back door to make sure we had an escape route!  Damian wanted to get everything done nice and early so he went out to get started on the porch, walkway, and driveway...... more power to him.  I have to admit, while feeling quite a bit ashamed, I did not help very much at all....BUT-- I did make sure that he had a fresh pair of dry clothes and hot chocolate waiting for him when he was ready to take a break.

Do you see that little red speck on the right side of the picture in the middle of the snow?  Yup, that's the passenger side mirror of my car...took a while for us to get to the rest of it!! :)

I spent Saturday and Sunday scolding kids every once in a while and watching LOCK UP on Netflix (one of my guilty pleasures).  By the end of the day on Sunday I was already dreading getting up bright and early to go into work.....but money is tight as always, so I guess I should just be grateful that my job was open so I was going to be able to get paid and not use any of my vacation or personal time.