November Highlights 2014

Welcome back Wendy where have you you been? Well I'm glad you asked. I know I have been away from my blog for some time now and a lot has happen this pass month that I have been beyond grateful for. In today's post I decided to share my most memorable moments in the month of November of 2014. I was pretty busy in my kitchen as well but I'll explain more in this blogs. I went through my phone photo gallery to look back at some pictures i took in the month of November and below are a list of moments that I want to share...some may be mommy related and others are more family related..the point is that they were special to me.

Family Taco night: 

It was a Wednesday night instead of the famous traditional "Taco Tuesday" we had tacos on Wednesday. For once it was a night where mommy wasn't hurting her self in the kitchen or in attempt to burn something.  It was a quick and easy dinner to make and prepare....plus the girls were independently making tacos like the big girls that they are. Joannelly wanted tacos a week before that night and it turn out to be a big success in the kitchen....click here --> Taco Blog

Birthday/Big Hero 6:

Last month Disney premier the movie "Big Hero 6" about a robotic health care provider was created then after a tragedy the robot was in the care of a 14 year old boy named "Hiro" It was a beautiful made family movie and it came out three days before my birthday (Nov. 10) I thought that was a perfect opportunity to take mommy out to the movies for her birthday.  The girls were more excited about the movie than mommy turning a year older. We had our family movie and dinner date by New Rochelle in NY.  click here ---> BIRTHDAY vlog

Baby Zoey/she turned 5 months:

So as you know by now I have a huge obsession with my latest niece..I adore her with all my heart. This month I have spent so much time with her and I couldn't ask for the best moments with her. Watching her grow and learn new things she just give me baby fever to the max and takes me back to memory lane of when my girls were 5 months. I have seen this baby come out from the most darkest place in a mother's body, I have seen this before with my first niece but it wasn't as much intensive as the birth of my fourth niece. I have the same love for all my nieces but I feel we shared a moment a special one at that.

Lunch with the little sister:

It was the day of my birthday and I had lunch with my sister over at Olive Gardens..it was our first time eating there (didn't know they had complementary wine taste) I wish I hadn't forgotten the name of the type of wine the waiter gave me..after we ate our lunch I was grilling at the pumpkin pie cheese cake on the menu that the minute my waiter asked "would you like anything else?" I look straight at her and she knew exactly what my heart wanted. Next thing I know I heard a bunch of waiters with my slice of pie singing "Happy Birthday" to me. I was at peace with my pretty pretty baby, slice of pie and a glass of some good wine I had.

2 Frozen party plus 2 other parties: 

First thing I want to mention was that I thought "Beaver Fever" was bad but Frozen fever is just to overwhelming.  Don't get me wrong I LOVE Frozen, the girls and I would watch the movie over and over till the point we couldn't "Let it go" but it gets tired at one point like these sisters are not the only Disney princess out there. But I don't mind giving the little princesses what they want. In the month of November the girls and I attend to two Frozen parties. We also went to another party for my little cousin who turned 3 and the girls grandfather who turned 60. Click here --> Frozen vlog

NYC Mommy Meetup:

As a YouTube mommy vlogger, I love watching other YouTube mom's and YouTube vloggers. The 411mommas had a mommy event with venders for kids and mommies. There was a performance and a panel filled with other YouTube mommy vlogger/bloogers. I was able to share this moment with my best-friend and she could have been the perfect person to go with it. She accepts the fact the I do YouTube videos, blogging and support me through it all. We really enjoyed ourselves a lot and left home with AMAZING goodie bags for mommy and for the kiddos too! 
Click here -->  mommy meetup vlog

Cake cupcake cake-pops:

In a week never did i thought I would be so busy in my kitchen and my oven so over heated in three days. I had two orders in one week. I guess it was a good experience for when I launch my baking business. I was impressed with myself that I was able to complete that much work in just a week. And I was very pleased with my end results, it inspired me to see that my dreams can come true with a lot of hands on work believing that the outcome would be much more then one could imagine.

Night out with the big brothers:

After the second Frozen party,  daddy and I needed a night out away from anything kid-related environment.  We ended up going to a pub downtown where a cousin of mines works. I realized there is so much more in the night life then just a night out in a club. I wanted to experience bar hopping and an adult environment where can be enjoyable without someone looking down at you. The night out with the big brothers was a pleasant night with some beers and wings.

Thanksgiving Potluck:

This was the night I agreed to bring pies and cupcakes to the girls school Thanksgiving Potluck.  It was a nice night for the kids to have a big family Thanksgiving with their other scholars and teachers. There were so many dishes and ridiculous amount of pumpkin pies. It was a crazy night for me because it was the same week I did my two baked orders and the potluck was the night before the day of the two deliveries.  In the end it was fun, crazy getting there,  chaotic with noisy kids and the food was so delicious.

Thanksgiving week: 

This pass week the girls had the entire week off from school. To me it meant an entire week of drinking extra coffee in the morning and tons of sleep because I didn't have to wake up so early (5:45 am)  I did a few clips of the week base on what we did each day as part of a YouTube video I'm working on for my channel.. Lovelynelly23. The week went by fast and the last few days was spent with my older sister and the kids in my house for three days.

Christmas list:

As I mention before the last three days of the girls Thanksgiving vacation my older sister spent it at my house. We planned a post Thanksgiving dinner for the kids but it turned into a lighting of my Christmas tree.  I had the nieces and nephews including the girls to create a Christmas list to send to Santa, I ended up with like seven 3-page Christmas lists. That was fun, the kids got a chance to decorate the tree and I helped light up the tree.  It wasn't as exciting as the Rockefeller tree but at least they got to enjoyed each other company before going back to school.

These moments are close to my heart and I love that it happen in November. Hopefully this month (December ) we can end the year with a bang! I want precious memories before a new year starts and I hope I could share them with my readers. And don't forget to click on the links mentioned in this blog post to watch my YouTube videos I do with my girls on the weekends.

Until the next Blog..

Sick all Week!!

I didn't get a chance to write on my blog last week because the girls were sick. Having both girls home away from school was pretty intense. First the week before that, at school in the morning,  Joannelly was complaining that her hand was itching and it bother her. I had baby Zoey at the time and i rush to get Joannelly from school to take her to the doctors so that we can figure out what this mess is all about. It turn out that Joannelly had Coxsackie A.K.A "Mouth, Hand, Foot Disease.  Let me break it down more if you have never heard of Coxsackie, it blister like bumps that appears inside the mouth, the inside of the hands and the bottom of the feet. This is common more on children and contagious, thankfully it didn't pass on to baby Zoey. I believe this occur due to the fact Jojo has this bad habitat of putting things in her mouth and she happen to put a rusted necklace they had but haven't wore it in a few months....Grreeeaaaatttt!! The doctor let me know that these goes away on their own without any antibiotics just keep her washing her hands and give her ibuprofen for pain. Sure that was no brainier, "she would stay home from school until the blisters goes away" I thought until it so happen that the blister pass on to the Drama Queen of the house, Amelia, so this week go pretty interesting. As a mother i made sure they didn't miss any work or homework. To my surprise went i went by the school to pick the homework packet and work for the week, I notice the stack of work the girls had to complete on top of the science projects that were due the week that they were going back to school. We as mother have to always be on top of children to ensure that they get their work done correctly until the day they end up sick the whole week then we are like "Oh shit!" (excuse my french) a week of "mommy she snatch!" "Mommy I'm tried i wanna finish later" later came..."mommy I'm tired can i finish tomorrow" but wait there's more! more whining, loud playing then some quite ready with the some giggles in between and a week filled with headaches and lots lots of love. Ok back to positive thoughts, happy thoughts. The entire week the girls spend it doing their homework any morning work that they do in class and their science project. When our kids get sick its not an easy job for us moms but we do it because they need us, all the sleepless nights and the constant cleaning of vomit or moments where they don't feel like eating anything and we don't want them to starve so we come up with so many meals as if our kitchen is a restaurant menu. And all the whining of being uncomfortable that sometimes we let things sly like letting them sleep with us at night or in their case eating popsicle all day because the doctor said it was ok. I'm
extremely glad my babies are back to themselves it does take a toll on us mom especially if don't we have much help, daddy couldn't help me because he had a crazy schedule that week so i was by myself in my house on "quarantine" like my sister calls it. Every is back to normal and i am ok with that so with that being said....

Until the next Blog.

Weekend Vlog: Mommy Birthday Weekend!!

Here is another weekend vlog with us celebrating my birthday together. Since that same week the girls got sick them minute they recover we went to watch Disney new movie "Big Hero 6" it was an amazing movie to watch and I think I will buy when it goes on DVD. So I hope you enjoy this video and if you have a YouTube account you will like me to watch put it on the comment box. Don't forget to subscribe to our weekend vlog channel, where I capture all the fun things we do over the weekend..

Until the next Blog...

Taco Family Night!

So last night dinner was a fun dinner..Taco Tuesday? Nope. "Taco Wild Wednesday" I'll get in to more depth with the title in just a moment. The girls for days wanted tacos for dinner...i couldn't say no to one of the no-hassle dinners. Easy to prepare and easier to clean up..only when using paper plates! I went food shopping the other and came across the Old El Paso Taco Dinner Kit (AMAZING!!) I added a few of my favorite toppings for the tacos in the picture below. Dinner was so much fun especially for the girls, I love cooking with my girls only if they follow direction...lol Other then that making dinners like this hands on is really fun, our kids feel more involved in the kitchen. I hope i can make more kid-friendly meals with the girls in the future cause they seem to enjoy it..

  

I warm up the taco shells in the micro-wave for about 40-45 seconds

I then cooked and seasoned the ground beef.

Our Taco Buffet

The girls got a chance to make their own tacos.

Seems like they really enjoyed it!

Taco Wild Wednesday was a huge mess!...I mean success!

 Until the next Blog...

First Dental Appointment

FINALLY! There teeth have been taken care of...I'm pretty sure I'm not the only parent who is late taking their kids to the dentist and still not too late to go either. Don't get me wrong they have been to the dentist before but on those mobile dentist office by my college years ago. This time my girls finally have a dentist of their own that they can keep going to,  I'm pretty excited about that. I don't know what it every time a make appointment or an errand it's like I'm earning what my sister calls it "Mommy Points" so doctors appointment completed that's 1 mommy points, groceries done mommy point. It may seem lame..whose counting mommy points anyways, but knowing that when an errand is completed it feels awesome. So for this dental appointment I got a mommy point!! 

It's all about the importance of any kind of hygiene and teaching our kids how to take care so we don't have to do all the time even if it means to remind them every day to take a shower or brush their teeth. My sister and I, from what i remember, were never raised with the understanding of hygiene, my mother would just tell us "go take a shower" or "go brush your teeth". I remember going to the dentist once before in my life and i was told i needed braces after that appointment i never wanted to go back to the dentist. My mother did the best that she can when it came to our hygiene the rest was taken care of the young women in our lives....old friend, older sister and our aunts. Now that i have my girls , I will also do the best that I can to help my girls understand why it's important to take care of their hygiene and I know there are many reasons for a young girl to develop low self-esteem despite that i don't "I'm not pretty" to be one of them. I love my girls and I would always want them to always have a beautiful smile as they do now.

Until the next Blog...

Parent Meetings in New School

The other day was the first parenting meeting at the girls new school (reminder: i will write about their experience in a new school and how they fell about it in another blog) this meeting focused on the first-graders academic progress since the beginning of the school year. I thought (as thought every parent does) that Joannelly was doing so well in her grade...turns out they weren't but it was expected from their teachers. Every kid is not going to reach their teachers expectation just yet so it didn't bother me at all. So in the parent meeting i decided to take notes in what might help JoJo do a little better without hurting her self-esteem. I know my child is smart especially the kids in this generation with all the new fancy gadgets out there, as a parent i know encouraging our children that they can do better is pretty important. Growing up i felt i didn't get that encouragement,  it was always the method of "tough love" but i knew that method did not always worked for me. Being in this parent meeting not only did i get great insight from JoJo teachers but i got a chance to see her class room. Mind you that this is a new school, so they had some new gadgets to help teach the students. The notes that i took down were based on how to help my child in their homework whether it's math or reading...trust me when i say this...i was amazed of the tips that the teacher offer to the rest of the parents. And i wanted to share with you all some of notes i jot down from the meeting, i believe this would help for other grades besides first grade...so here are they are:

1. Label and Circle the total number...This method was mentioned in the meeting because the majority of the students where getting confused by the number total of objects or whatever the category may be. The teacher stated that the "Label and Circle" method would help the students not only be organized but can get a clear answer to the math question.  For example: if the question asked there's a fruit basket on the kitchen table..how many bananas are there? how many apples are there? and there's a image of the fruit basket with the bananas and apples; that's where the "Label and Circle" method kicks in. Our kid can label how many bananas are there first then circle the last number of bananas and sort forth with the apples. I found this method a genius method because our kids won't get confuse of how many things/objects are there and have a well organized answer.  GENIUS! 
2. Language used to describe the situation... Growing up i had very few teachers,tutors and even my mother who weren't good at speaking to me about the school work that would help me get the answer on my own. I had family members say to me "you know the answer but you are not trying hard" or "you know the answer, your just so distracted pay attention!" Just to clarify that i would be able to tried harder if the way the school work was explained to me in a way i could understand. The language use to explain a problem or lesson was a challenge for me growing up so i made a promise to myself that if i ever had kids i would do my best to describe any situation to my kids in a way they would be able to understand...speak in their level. One way the teacher at the meeting spoke of was questioning our child..ask if they can see if the number is bigger or smaller. Another question that can help with homework is how is the number changing.
3. Organized objects to help skip numbers.... The definition of skip numbers is referred to when the math problem is being counted by a specific number such as 2's 10's or 5's. Jojo really hasn't been doing this at home but i know its been done in class. I want her to be able to use this method when trying to count a large group of numbers and that's what it was created for...I'll elaborate a little more. So our kid has a math problem where they need to add such number and such number together. The counter objects that are being used in this number math problem are pennies and the numbers they need to add is 23+56. The pennies can be use to organized each group numbers that needs to be added so for example: to make 23 the pennies can be organized by a group of 10's which will look like this...two sets of 10 pennies and 3 pennies. By first grade the kids should know how to count by 10's, once all the numbers that are in the addition problem is organized it would then be easier to count how many 10's are there and how many ones are there altogether.

There it is my notes that i jot done and a brief explanation about each jotted note. The rest that i had written down were just reminders of other things that are non-related to school work or homework. So i hope this makes sense and also can help a parent out there in encouraging their child to do extra better in their homework because they do know the answer, they just need the confidence to just say it. I also wanted to mention that the teacher  talked a little about reading, which is more about reading to them every night a book...but that's something else i wanted to write about in another blog....

Until the next Blog...

Mommy Gets a Time Out!

 For today blog i just want to vent a little, nothing about what the girls did today or our mini adventure. So right now mommy is taking a time out for herself. I've been feeling down still since i stop working and all, even with our trip to Hersey Park i haven't been feeling myself. Its our human nature to as women to feel overwhelm with work, school, children and just life in general. I felt like i needed a day for myself, we all need those days. We spent almost all of our children lives taking them everywhere we go the supermarket, salon, bank and even the gym. Some days i just want to do things by myself without worrying about the girls fighting or be precaution about our surroundings. It was just one of those days where i can do errands without my babies or have a girls night and every chance i get start to feel bad that i'm leaving my babies behind. I still feel that way til this day, i'm pretty sure its parental insecurities. Today i got up took a shower, got dressed then laid the girls clothes out on their beds, i step into the living-room while the girls were playing store and i ask them "Girls wanna come with me to the supermarket or you stay home when daddy gets here?" I was pretty surprised by their answer "We will stay home mommy, but who will stay with us" as funny as the answer was of course daddy came home just in time. So i took the opportunity to go food shopping by myself...By Myself. For a second i thought the girls needed fresh air but it turns out it was me who needed the fresh air. I enjoyed being outside for a little without the girls, it was very therapeutic the driving and get the things that i needed for myself. I always thank God for everything i have no matter the situation and i would tell myself that the downfalls are only temporary if we only make it temporary. I will get back on track in the work field my plan is to get employee by the time the girls start school (Mid-August), so this summer i will work on my resume and putting myself out there while enjoying the summer with the girls....including my nieces. Mommy time-out still continues even after the girls are sleep and i'm catching up on the show Orange is the New Black at the same time that i am blogging. For right now my mindset is to stay positive in the midst of my storm called "life", i want to be able to find something to be able to help financially at home and yet love doing it while making it my passion. I have my baking, its a passion of mines, when i am creating bake goods for someone its like i have the ability to express myself in baking and reality doesn't seem so dreadful.Then i have my Blogs, i can also express my feeling and thoughts on parenting with our little  family adventures. I still have blog posts that i haven't uploaded yet for distracting myself but they will be post so stay tune. So mommies (and Daddies) go ahead take your time-out that is much needed, enjoy it for a moment its ok to have some time for yourselves. My night continues with mama lion watching her show, papa lion sleeping and baby cubs are asleep.

Until the next Blog...

Z for Baby Zoey...

Time has come to meet baby Zoey. I stayed with my sister in the hospital till monday morning. My thoughts on labor is just as it means...LABOR! For soon to be moms (and moms with more than one kid) its takes alot of work to get to 10 centimetres, with the contractions and the pushing. She went through alot of pain which bought back alot of memories with my experiences of child birth. With Joannelly I was induced at 37 weeks and for Amelia well she was over cooked for two days. My experience with labor was much longer with Jojo than with Amelia, I spent four days in the hospital. After getting induced I waited a day and half to start feeling contractions to then be in labor another full day. With Amelia was pretty quick I was in labor at home for about 8 hours that by the time I got to the hospital and i  got checked,  I was already 7 centimetres.  I guess it's true what they say every pregnancies are different and with my sister it was totally different. After spending a day and a half at the hospital i just needed a break before i had to clean the house, not sure how my mother did this mommy job for so long but it can wear a woman off. It's been 13 years since our mother had passed and I knew that my sister was able to handle this life called "Motherhood". And no matter what she may need im just a call away. 

Baby Zoey is here and now she is the most precious human being in the world. I am so excited to see what milestones she will be going through in the future. And I ask God to protect them as they grow older for they are amazing blessings from above. So Zoey whatever you need something auntie titi will alway be there for you and loves you from the moon and back.

Almonds Everywhere!

Hey everyone,

When I rhink about being healthy I first think about eating healthy.  Cheesy yeah im sure but ill get to my point in a second. I am trying my best to have a healthier lifestyle, my husband has only half of an healthy lifestyle, when I mean by have I mean he workout everyday but doesn't eat healthy. I love to cook different foods that is healthy or good for your body. I incorporate lots of veggies in my meals and fruits as a snack, well atleast I try cause its not easy eatting fruits when theres a bottle of nutella staring right at you from all the way from the kitchen table. Thankfully my family and I aren't allergic to any kind of nut, although the girls do eat nuts that much but mommy and daddy do! I was introduce to almond milk a few years ago and I feel in love with it. I love the taste and digest very well in my tummy. I love to add almond milk to everything, pancakes, cereals, tea anything food u think of. Almonds adds a richier taste to your food, it has a lot more calcium than regular milk. Almond milk is good for skin and has a lot of the good nutrients for your body. Here are a few ways i incorporate almonds in my healthy meals!

Granola Cereal w/ Almond milk

Almond milk w/ tea

                           (it may look nasty but tastes great!) Almond milk w/ 1 tlbs of peanut butter and oatmeal

Almond Pancakes!

Chocolate Almond Milk

Spring Break Vaca Day 6 "Making Cookie Meaning Day"

    The girls and I did something out of the ordinary. Our Saturdays are usually me being the last one to wake up or the first one to wake up to get ready for work. This Saturday I had a plan for the girls to do for Easter and I had to be at work that afternoon. It was a crazy day for me but the girls were going to enjoy and they did. The plan for today was a cookie-decorating class and we went to the east side of the city to a place called Make Meaning. 

        The place is a craft store for children and adults  to create different things. The cookie-decorating class was a last minute thing I decided to do the day before. After so many local buses to exchanged I managed to make it the city in the express bus on time. The girls had a blast at the place, they socialize with the other kids and had so much fun putting their creative side in the cookies. As yummy as it look I was very surprised at their work, I help a little but the rest was them. We fell in love with the place we wanted to do more stuff but we had to go and i didn't want to be late for work. To end the night hubby and I went out to the city for a date night while the girls had a sleepover. I'm not all about sleepovers unless it's with family, this sleepover was with hubby long time friend. She has a daughter the same age as Amelia and the beautiful thing about this little girl is the minute the girls are together its like they are cousins. The ended well and the adventure still continues till tomorrow so...

Until the next Blog...

The Hubs Birthday

Yesterday was my husbands birthday. I was trying to get the girls excited to celebrate daddy's birthday since they were so tired from walking and being in school all day. We made a stop to Rite Aide cause Amelia wanted a toy and I felt bad that i pick up jojo 20 minutes late from school, I felt the need to get her something. We ended up buying daddy his birthday present. By the time we got home I was able to prepare a nice meal before hubby got home from work. I didn't get to finish setting up his birthday table but thankfully he did. Our menu for dinner was brown rice, baked porkchops with parmesan cheese and caramelized onions with peppers,  then some spanish beans to put over the rice. We also had diced cherry tomatoes with kettle corn bites salad with a tastful vinaigrette, simple and easy to make. To finish off the meal a nice Entemann's chocolate fudge square cake.  Daddys surprise dessert was left for another day.  The hubbs was very surprised about everything but I was so beat trying to get things done with no car, two tired girls and this rainy day!!! But all ended peacefully and everyone enjoyed the the day. I love doing small birthdays like these because even though we don't have alot in our pockets to plan big parties and we living on a budget, its the small things that make it very special. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the man in my life and in hopes he gets better from the cold.

Until the next Blog.