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...

Thank You Mom.

   

On this same day and date 11 years ago was the worst moment any child has ever gone through...  but 11 years today her wounds have already been healed the day this girl heard the words "mommy" from her own child...this girl remembered the words her mother once said "no matter what happens put your faith in Him and He will take care of the rest" those words stayed true to her heart which were her stitches to her wound and in time the scares are still there of those stitches but the wounds are healed.... every year this girl never remember her mother's death but her mother's love and it has kept her from the tears of the night because those tears that are now shed from her own children when they need their "mommy"..Thank you mom for your love and crazy ways and thank you for the struggles that you went through so that your children didn't follow in your foots steps because you believe we were capable in a better lifestyle. Thank You.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMELIA!!

Yesterday was a special day for a little girl...she turn a whole hand, 5 years old Amelia. She was pretty excited for months now and i believe it had to with the fact that she is having a "Spooky" theme party this weekend. I have been her mother for 5 years now and I enjoyed every year with my little baby who is no longer a baby. She just keep getting smarter and smarter each year, there's just no words that can describe how I feel every year my kids get older. All I think about is how grateful I am to be able to hold them another year, to kiss them good-night another year. I am grateful for all the whining and crying, for the laughter from when my girls do or say funny things.  Nothing warms my heart then to know I could wake every morning with my girls in my bed.
Hearing their voices and how much they love their mommy makes my heart melt. Just to watch every milestone in their life gives me hope, which is why I am a big believer in prayer...I pray every year for my blessings which are the ones that I love. Every child is a child of God, who protects them anyway He can. We may not agree with some of His protective ways and we may thank Him for his protective ways. I have many fears for my girls just like every parent does but i do thank Him each year for their life. Being a parent means putting their needs before your own, if its freezing outside you give them the only coat you have to keep your child warmer. Parenthood is not all candy and cookies, its hard work and rewarding at the same time. So for Amelia's birthday I went to her class with cupcakes and her classmates sang "Happy Birthday" Later that day after dinner, I had asked daddy to get Amelia a cake and he got her an Oreo ice cream cake. She loved every minute of her special day and no matter how many "bad days" I get with just her happy high pitch scream it's a reminder that I am doing my job just fine. I love you baby girl wish you nothing but the best in your future and I will be by your side no matter what.

Until the next Blog...

♡♡Cousin Love ♡♡

The girls finally meet Zoey and it was the most unbelievable experience for me. Its like they saw a new puppy!..they so nervous and excited to meet baby zoey. It seems like Zoey was excited to meet them too she was so calm and relaxed around them. So my niece Skyla is staying with us over the summer and each girl got a chance to hold baby Zoey for the first time and you know as a mother we just have to take out our camera,  thankfully my battery life was still a little full.

 

I wipe out my camera phone and took a bunch of pictures like if i'm a professional photographer fixing everyones hand and fixing the baby head to a good shot. These moments I love to keep so wgen they get older they have memories of when they first met. All this waiting for baby zoey is finally over for my girls now theres a new member of their girls club, another girl to play barbie with and do each other hair, another girls to play dress up or to sing songs together. 

Another girl to have sleepovers with and to grow up together. The girls enjoyed having Zoey around that Jojo read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" book, which was read to her in the belly. Family is forever so not matter these girls go through even though we are missing two more girls, I just hope they all stay together. A bond of cousins is more powerful that the relationship is more like sisters and im glad (blessed) to have my cousins we always thought were the girls from the 90's movie "Now and Then" ( I was always Roberta the tomboy who is actress Christina Ricci) that movie was our holy grail movie. I hope we can share memories like the ones my sister and cousins had to the new generation of cousins..

 

Until the next Blog...

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 "Science Fair Project/ Homework Day"

Its the last day of the girls spring break vacation!! I'm excited they go back to school tomorrow and they are excited too!. Today's plan was to work on Jojo science fair project for school. It was really fun to do although i did most of the work and she did the drawings and some writings. While working on the project, it brought a lot of memories of my middle school years when i used to class group projects. I didn't have a problem doing the crafting part of the project, i just really didn't like the writing and doing the research part of the project. When ever i'm doing any kind of work i procrastinate a lot, like right now i am procrastinating on the projects i want to for my sister baby shower. I know it's bad and i have to stop wasting time cause the baby shower is in a few weeks!. We spend the whole day working on this project while Amelia was finishing up her PreK homework. Our science fair project was about plant growth and development, we wrote about onions being propagating planting more onions. The finishing product looks amazing done since i was the one who help her set it up, the science fair is next month so i hope i get to the work at the fair. It was a really fun and busy spring break vacation for both the girls and i. I am glad i decided to this these activities for the girls. It was all about planing base on your budget, cause we don't want to spend so much especially if we have children, unless we can afford to, in this case i was able to afforad these activities. Also do your research you never know what deals you can get, just because i travel a lot to the city doesn't everything we did was expensive. So i hope you all readers enjoyed reading our daily vacation blogs, don't forget to leave comments and you thoughts on each day. We really appericate the time you take into reading our blogs. I had so much fun writing and share our adventure with you all and....

Until the next Blog....

Spring Break Vaca Day 8 "Not Myself Day"

Mondays for me are my lazy days but this Monday i wasn't feeling like my usual self. As a mother its understandable we have those "not myself" days where our body is there but our minds are in a different worlds. And that is exactly how i felt today, i needed to get out the house for some fresh air to get my mind back to my body. It got worst till the point i ended up having an argument with my husband to the point that i found out why i was feeling the way i was feeling. Have you ever had one of those day?? I would like to know what you have done to cope with your "not myself" day. I didn't get to do laundry yesterday and it gave me the opportunity to get that fresh air i needed. The girls and i did just that and while the clothes were getting dry we went to the same pizza shop (which is now our favorite pizza shop) to get lunch and to the discount store a few stores down to finish buying all the stuff for JoJo science fair. I felt a little ok while folding the clothes, it was just something about folding clothes that keep mind off what i was thinking. It's always go to find that one thing that helps cope with your "not myself day" and its ok to get these days we are human not a machine.

Today's plan was "homework day", the girls had to finish up any homework before they go back to school this Wednesday. That plan did not go as plan but it's ok. When we were heading back home i notice Joannelly outfit and she reminded me of a little girl from our favorite store series, "
 Fancy Nancy" Its about a little girl who finds anything she does and wares very fancy to her. She love all those fabulous things and walks around like she is very fancy wearing all the girly clothes,bags and shoe. Joannelly does the same-thing she finds what she wears very fancy. I love that JoJo can pick out her own outfit, she is growing up so fast and doing thing own her own being a little more independent. I am not ready for them to grow up but i do have to prepare for those stages. The girls have one day left to their spring break vacation but surprising they are happy to go back school.

Until the next Blog...

Spring Break Vaca Day 3 "Broadway Show Day"

           Today was the biggest surprise for the girls today. The plan for today was to see a Broadway musical show, which better than Cinderella!!! with Fran Drescher and Carly Rae Jepsen. The girls were very tired but excited to see the show, I guess because of the Disney story of Cinderella that they know not the Broadway version.  This morning I didn't get to clean up the house only because I was a little moody and tired from yesterday's work oh I also got the "time of the month".  When we women get our period its kinda like an off switch to our mood...everything bothers us and it makes everything we do around our surroundings so frustrating.  My mood today was off because the girls woke up extremely early.. well Jojo did and then Amelia. I was not ready to deal with children at 7 am especially on a vacation day, as a mother I shouldn't say that but as a human being its the truth. I thought maybe if I turn on the t.v. in my room (yes I do have a t.v. in my room for those days when its just me and the girls at home) maybe just maybe the girls would stay in my bed to watch t.v. while I rest for another hour. Yeah that didn't last long only one episode of Doc Mcstuffin and they were out of my room playing. Ok I got up made breakfast,  printed out our reference to pick up our tickets then i read that we had to be at the theater an hour before the show, it was 11 and I had 2 hours to get ready to be downtown by 1. That didn't sound to appealing it sound more like chaos rushing the girls to get ready and be at theater at 2. 

         As i mentioned in my pass blog about transportation, in the city we have local buses and express bus that travels from one borough to another. So desperate times calls for desperate measures, we took the express bus, its cost us triple the price of the local bus fare. We got to the theater, sat in our seats while we waited for the show to began. Lets keep in mind most Broadway musicals are about 2 hrs long so I was proud in keeping the bathroom breaks down pack and snacks only because I brought our own made lunch from home. This was the girls first Broadway show and my second (my first show was off Broadway a class trip many many years ago) so the girls didn't know what to expect. As tired as they were, they skipped nap-time, they really enjoyed themselves.  The show was amazing and funny, its a show you never expected certain part of the story to happen which makes it unique.  We laugh a lot and clap a lot despite all of that I too enjoy myself, Jojo was so into the story and Carly too. Amelia on the other hand was busy keeping herself awake didn't work cause she took a nap on my shoulders.  

           The experience was memorable cause all I kept thinking to myself that this was something my mother (who is no longer with us) would wanted us to explore different things with our children. And the fact that she admired Fran Drescher in the show "The Nanny" to now being able to see Fran in person then share it with the girls just made it even more special. To me its hard doing these adventures with my girls without my mother because she wanted to take us to do these kind of adventures that we are doing now with own children. I know if she was still with us she would have enjoyed school shows, graduation,  birthdays and family vacation trips. But the funny thing about all of this is that its exactly what she wanted for us to do with our own kids, is to have these experiences as they got bigger. I love her for teaching us that no matter who we become in life never forget where you started from. So our adventure continues tomorrow and I want to apologize if these post are late its just that I feel more free writing when everyone is asleep. If you are following us on our Spring Break vacation blogs I really appreciate you taking the time to read about the girls experience. 

Until the next Blog....

Surprise Spring Break Vaca Day 2 "Mommy had to work Day"

Well today wasn't really a big surprise, the girls had to stay with their grandmas cause I had to work. The plan for today was suppose to be a play date with one of Amelia close friend from school but it got cancel. I hate canceling dates on people its not something I like to do but in certain  cases it just has to be done. No biggie,  its OK the world is still going around. Anyways the good part about this is that something cool happen on our way to grandmas. When you are living in the city the best way to travel is through public transportation, maybe your transportation is not as great or clean but it does takes us where we need to go. In our case it was an hour and half from a bus to a train to our destination..Washington Heights. When traveling with kids can be a little difficult whether its with a stroller or you have more than one kid. And it can be scary, the kid gets left behind at the station or in the train, even worst falls into the tracks. We should always be cautious with our little ones in any situation.  OK we woke up this morning, me being the last one to wake up, fed them breakfast, got them bath and dressed to be out the door. So that took us about 3 hrs to complete. This rain was not our friend today, it was so windy we couldn't hold up our umbrellas.  By the time we were out the door the girls were getting sleepy being that this weather does make you wanna stay home all cozy up watching t.v. all day. 

35 minutes later now we are on the train, it took me a good minute to realized an ad. When I saw my eyes pass through this ad we spotted one of our favorite You Tuber Rosanna Pansino from Nerdy Nummies! If you have no idea who i'm talking about then let me explain....she does baking videos inspired by video games (since she loves video games) or anything nerdy. So if your kid has a birthday coming up who love video games check out her channel and your treats would be the life of your kids party.

              Now back to our day, I was able to drop off the girls at grandma and manage to get to work an hour early. This meant a stop at Target. I think Target is a drug because it has everything and it gets you coming back for more. So I was there getting all the Easter goodies for Sunday, just so you know as part of my preference I am not making any Easter baskets for the girls this year instead ill make some bake goodies!!. (A post of that while be up in the future) Then I bought a notebook to keep track of my sister's baby-shower, after all I am in charge of such a beautiful occasion. I did my 4 long hours of work to get home with none other...... SNOW!! Its spring time and it clearly states "April showers brings May flowers" but why more snow, the good thing is that the snow is not sticking to the ground. To end my night I was surprised to have read from a text message my husband sent me that Joannelly lost a tooth, so he wanted to award her with a little something (obviously mommy did the work for him) I also took some time to prepare our lunches for tomorrow's adventure. I learned from my older sister that everywhere she went she would always pack a lunch, it may seem weird but in some cases it would save you a lot of money.  Especially if you live in the city with small portion for a big price, unless you know a spot that's worth the price then your tummy and wallet would be happy. I like preparing things the night before that way in the morning all I have to worry about is making breakfast and cleaning up. When coming back from a trip the last thing I want to worry about is cleaning up because i'm going to be tired from being with the kids all day. So now that everything is ready to be packed tomorrow i'm going to get my rest for tomorrow adventure.

 

Until the next Blog...