Wednesday, October 22, 2014

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...


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

New School...New Friends...New Teachers.


New school, new experience.... this moment I have been waiting since the day that Amelia was born (2009). Since then it was the most hardiest motherhood experience I have ever been through in my entire life (I know I'm being dramatic ). I say this because I did it without my mother,.my girl never got to meet their grandmother, she left too soon. OK tears are dry up now, I'm ready to keep writing. This past September was the day the girls started a new school...together!! I felt like a million dollars about this, it just makes my life a little bit less stressful. It was Amelia's best friend mother that push me to put the girls in charter school, I had my bad experience in Joannelly previous school and I didn't want Amelia to start kindergarten in that same school. Jojo was in public school and I'm not saying that ALL public schools are bad then again I just felt that I did my part as parent to help my child in school but I felt the work wasn't enough. I had another public school I wanted the girls to attend a pretty good public school closer to home, Amelia got accepted but it would be a little difficult for Joannelly to get in. I didn't want the to deal with the transferring Jojo to different schools it worried me a little, I had bad experience with transferring schools growing up, it sort of affected my social skills.
From preK- to elementary school i have attended about 5 different school before i reach the 4th grade, i was known as the "quiet kid" I rarely made any "close" friends. As a patent I didn't want my girls to go through that experience, I'm sure other parents have their concerns about transferring their child depending on the circumstances and then there are others that don't have a problem because they are looking out for their child best academic interest. The reason why I decided to take the risk of transferring was because I got tired of getting no answers in Jojo school, tired of hearing other parents saying "my child is in 1st grade reading at 2nd grade level" or "the teachers didn't go over that in class". I needed to do something about it...make that change that will improve their intelligence, cause Yes these kids of this generation are much smarter these days, it's the school system that needs to update their hardware of teaching. Their are kids doing homework or projects on all these new technologies. And I want my kids to be one of them, although we do get the "I can't do it" phase with our children but we they just don't to do the work, that's when we find alternatives in their learning. OK back to the new school....it's a charter school however it's still a public school it just doesn't follow the public school systems or teaching technique.
 I have my pro's and con's about charter school but what I can say is that the school really embrace the students abilities to learn and that outshines the con's. My girls love their new school, teachers and made friends pretty quickly. I love love love LOVE..it's the same homework for each grade! what I mean by that is...all first graders have the same homework and all kindergartners have their homework the same. So no matter what class they are in the students would be on the same page. I like that the students can move up a grade or if the teachers feel that the student needs just a little more help goes down a grade but never hurt their self-esteem because the student has a chance to go to the grade they started before the end of the school year. I like this idea because it doesn't back track the teachers and their lesson plan, it keeps a steady academic flow. I love my girls and I want the best for them like all parents do however I'll be just as excited if they WANT the best for themselves because they love the challenge of learning.
 These charter school scholars work really hard with their teachers practicing for the state exams which is why they have longer school days and shorter holiday off, they waste no time. So as I sit in on my with my tired scholar (Jojo) who is taking a nap as I write this it's only my first experience at a charter school and it may not apply to most charter schools but I know my girls are getting the education they deserve. OK now I have to stop writing cause my little one (Amelia) is climbing the walls in my room dancing in her sister Christmas dress from last year showing me her "Dancing Queen" moves beside that, I have to start dinner before daddy gets home or else I would be getting a survey title "Why is dinner not done yet I'm starving". So......

Until the next Blog....

Thursday, October 9, 2014

School Lunches!!

I have been excited to do this post because i have for some time now, taken pictures of the girls school lunches. It may seem weird to be taking picture of what my kids eat for lunch everyday but to me it helps to know what lunches I already have made just so I can change things up a bit. It all started two weeks into the new school year, JoJo begged for a couple of days that she wanted to bring school lunch from home. I had explained to her that school provided lunch and that why I needed to bring lunch, she insisted that "everyone" (a little exaggeration I might add) in her class brought their own lunch at school. I never had a problem with school lunches I figure it has changed since that last time I was in elementary school back in the 90's. I have read that the parents make their children school lunches from home for allergies reasons or the different foods that their family eats, I on the other hand enjoy making these lunch for the girls. The one problem I have is that on some days I get full lunch bags, on the bright side i only make these lunches 4 days within the week because every Wednesday is half-days for the girls. So here are the lunches I made these pass couple of days and keep in mind that every week I will be our weekly school lunches, hopefully this helps other mothers out there for more ideas for their little one school lunch bag!  
  • Oscar Meyers Lunchables 
  • YoplaitGo-Gurt
  • Market Pantry Raisins
  • Mott's Grape juice
  1. Horizon Organic Cheddar cheese stick
  2. Market Pantry Raisins
  3. Spring Water
  4. Ham and cheddar cheese rolls
  5. Quakers chewy granola (chocolate chips)
  6. Blueberry Mini Muffin
  1. Chedder Cheese Crackers
  2. Go-gurt
  3. Home-made pasta shells w/ ground-beef
  4. Home-made Parmesan cheese bread sticks
  5. Mott's Grape Juice
  6. Market Pantry Raisins 
  1. Yoohoo Chocolate Milk
  2. Dole Fruit Squish'ems (apple mixed berry)
  3. Cheddar Cheese Cubs w/ Multi-grain crackers  
  4. PB&J burrito rolls
  5. Annie's Mac & cheese
  1. Gold Fish Crackers
  2. Dole Fruit Squish'em
  3. Yogurt with granola 
  4. Market Pantry Raisins
  5. PB & J Sandwich
  6. Apples and Eves's Fruitable juice
  1. Ham and Cheese Burrito
  2. Green Grapes
  3. Raisins
  4. Go-gurt
  5. Yoohoo chocolate milk
  1. Chocolate Drizzled Rice cakes
  2. Carrots w/ ranch dressing 
  3. Fruit Snack gummy
  4. Chicken Salad Sandwich
There you have my girls school lunch from the past week and a half. Most of these lunches are pretty basic but i do want to incorporate more healthier lunch. I will do my best to post more pics of their lunches in the future.

Until the next Blog....

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Weekend Vlog (Vlog-tober Month)

Here is another weekend vlog for you guys! I have been vlogging for some time now and i like that i can share them with my readers. Vlogging on the weekends are our days off of our busy morning rush week. And i decided to vlog on the weekends because i know we will be doing a lot of stuff on the weekends. The girls enjoy them and we hope you enjoy watching them too, i also have other vlogs that i have done in the pass if you would like to watch. Our biggest hit was our trip to Disney World in Florida, it was an amazing first family trip. Keep a look out on our family weekend vlogs on YouTube!

Click here -----> Birthday Weekend



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...

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

September Ipsy Bag! (final bag for now)

Hey Lovelies, 
So I got good news and pretty sad news...I'm pretty sure by the picture some of you already know what this blog may be about. Can you guess??.....Ok fine i won't play the guessing game. This post is pretty late because this month Ipsy bag I've received in the mail 2 weeks ago. I can say that i am in love with this month bag much more than a few other bags in the pass. I had one flaw with this Septembers bag, but I'll get to that in a minute. For those that may not know what Ipsy is...well its another monthly beauty subscription bag were you get sent 4-5 beauty samples. In the past blog posts i mentioned a few Ipsy beauty bags, i had my like, dislike and even some of my favorites make brands. Ok so about the bad news, it may not matter to you however its my last bag and i wanted to share with you...my readers! Like i mentioned before i love this month's beauty bag, the only thing i wasn't to skeptical about was the tinted lip gloss. Below i would name the products that i have in my Ipsy bag and i would also post links to my previous blogs post of my other Ipsy bags. 

September's Ipsy Bag (2014)
  1. Nourish Organics Moisturizing Cream Cleanser... This cream cleanser is a face cleansing cream. I tried it this morning and i really love the after wash feel on my skin. I really nourish your skin and i am glad it was made for all skin types. This cream cleanser is formulated with cucumber and watercress leaving that nice refresh skin after a good wash. This one is added to my favorites basket.                                                                                                                                
  2. Pacifica Natural Mineral Pencil Eyeliner (Gun Metal)... I've had many pacifica beauty products in the past and my most favorite ones are the body butters (Indian Coconut Nectar and Tuscan Blood Orange).                                                                                                                    
  3.  Mitchell and Peach- Luxury Hand Cream... The lotion is a hand cream and the brand is from UK. The hand Cream also contains Vitamin E, Shea butter and English honey to soften, nourish and protect the skin. Personally I don't use hand cream that much but since the cold season is approaching maybe i should start using them....uuuummmmm *tapping finger on chin.*                                                                                                                                                
  4. Crown Brush- Crease and Shadow Dual Brush... from my YouTube experience I have only heard of Crown Brushes. From the first time i saw the brush i realized that the fibers on the brush are very soft. And I'm pretty excited to use this brush because when i apply my make-up it will enhance my look, whether its a day or night look.                                                                   
  5. Cailyn Art Touch Tinted Lip Gloss (#08-Love Affair)...  I left my ALL time favorite make-up brand for last. Every month I look forward to the Cailyn Cosmetics in my Ipsy Bags, i have  few of their eye shadow with applicator on the packaging of the product. I love the colors and textures of their Lip Balm, it's so creamy and the colors are so vibrant colors. The Tinted Lip Gloss has a beauty shine and can make any lip stick color pop. The color Love Affair is perfect for fall, it adds a warm color on your lips and stands out. However, my one flaw about this products was that I felt that my lip gloss looked like it was not a full bottle like most full size packaging so that blew me off. Besides that little incident i love Cailyn products so sad i wont be getting more of Cailyn Cosmetics.
There all the products in this month Ipsy Bag. As mentioned before this is my last bag i should add that's only for short time and I come back to Ipsy soon so that i can share more bags with you all make enthusiasts. Don't forget to click on the links below for more Ipsy Bags mentioned on my blog page.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

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...