Earth Day

Posted on April 23, 2012 by melissamae

I couldn’t be more proud of my 3 year old. We have been trying to have “Active / Outdoor” weekends. Since both of us work from home we spend a lot of time at home, and our little man is a major home body. So last weekend we went on a hike near the light house and as we were walking Little Man noticed a can off the trail in the marsh. He was not happy about it and said “Look a can, we gotta get it.”

So we trudged into the marsh (just a little way) and took the can home with us. Then this past weekend we went kayaking and he saw a beer bottle in the water. Again he was not happy about it and said “Daddy you gotta catch it.” So we took the bottle home with us and put it in the recycle bin.
Seeing yesterday was Earth day this seemed like a great time to share. However I am a firm believer in leaving nature more clean then you found it every day. We always pick up trash when we go to the beach and park. I have little trash bags in my bag just in case. I believe that my 3 year old is learning by example and when it makes me sad to see trash in nature I am thankful that my little one notices it and wants to clean it up. Here is a challenge, next time you are in nature pick up 5 pieces of trash. The world will be cleaner and you will feel better about your self. I promise.

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Open Adoption

Posted on April 6, 2012 by melissamae

I am so thankful for my son. I just spent a few minutes on an open adoption web site and I can not even begin to imagine what it feels like to be “waiting” to be matched with a child thru open adoption. I know how it feels to have a 3 day old baby brought to your home with only a few hours notice and not know if the baby will be with you for his lifetime or for a few months. I am thankful to God for leading both myself and my husband to consider being foster parents and walking with us thru our entire journey.

Have you ever considered adoption? If you have considered adoption what about foster care? We are currently on the list of foster parents for our area but have not felt ready to take any more foster placements. How do you know when the child is the right one? Is it ok to be a one child family? What are the pros and cons? I am working thru all of this and trying to figure out what the next step in our lives will be. All I know right now is that whatever it is God has planned for us it will be amazing and an adventure.

Just a little bit of what I am thinking about.

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Good Intentions

Posted on March 15, 2012 by melissamae

So it is March 15th and my good intentions to be a better blogger have obviously been just intentions. As I lay awake last night I couldn’t remember the last time I blogged. So I am trying to figure out the best things to share on my blog and the best ways to share them. Stay tuned for more exciting stuff! Or at least somewhat exciting stuff.

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February

Posted on February 1, 2012 by melissamae

Where did January go? I can not believe I haven’t posted since Christmas! I am going to try to post more. I think I can attribute my lack of posting to spending too much of my online time on pinterest! I love it but it is super addicting. So for the month of February I decided to make a list of things I want to do with our family, something special each day. I saw something similar on pinterest. I made a calendar and it is more personal then the one I saw on pinterest. If you would like to download and make changes to have a family fun calendar feb fun calendar .

I am excited to make a little extra effort each day and do something special for my little one. Hope your first day of February is filled with fun!

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Christmas Celebration

Posted on December 29, 2011 by melissamae

On Friday I said to my Son, “This is going to be a busy weekend.” His 2 year old response, “No it’s not Mommy, it’s Christmas.” This was just what I needed to hear, its not about what you do for any holiday but it is about family and taking the time to celebrate.

So as I think back to our Christmas Weekend there are so many great moments that made the celebration even more special. Having an almost 3 year old as part of the day makes the whole opening presents even more fun. We opened gifts, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and even some on the monday after Christmas. We even opened some presents via skype. By half way thru Christmas Day he was asking if the present was for him and even if it wasn’t he would tear into the paper excitedly and then give it to the recipient to open the box.

On Christmas Morning I had the joy of playing Mary in our church drama. Little Man sat with Mimi and Pa and when I came back to sit with him after the drama was over he said, “I saw you up there. You were being Mary.” It brought tears to my eyes. He sat for almost 2 hours and was so good during service and to hear him tell me what I was doing in the play showed me he was listening and paying attention for a little bit at least. Mind you he did have his moments where he covered his ears and said ” I just can’t listen anymore.” and of course there was a “I need to go out to my class room.” But for the most part he was a JOY! I am so blessed!

There are so many moments that I can’t decide which ones to share so here are a few more. Our Christmas tree was decorated by our whole family. Yes my 2 year old helped with the ornament placement. He placed a slinky on the tree with the branches going thru both sides of the slinky. He placed any ornaments that matched right next to each other, because “They are the same.” He also placed toys under the christmas tree skirt and all the candy canes on the same branch. It made my heart melt every time I saw his decorations.

We started a new tradition of reading the Christmas Story while laying under the Christmas Tree.

This is my new favorite tradition because no matter where we are this tradition can take place. We snuggled together and read about the birth of Jesus and Little Man listened and then we looked up at the ornaments in the tree and the lights and he showed me a star ornament.

What are your family traditions? Do you allow your children to help decorate the tree or the house? I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Weekend.

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Firsts

Posted on November 14, 2011 by melissamae

We have had a wonderful weekend with our friends Robert and Janet from Colorado. Three things happened with our little one that I just have to share. We went to Murasaki a Hibachi Restaurant and when the Grill Master was flinging little pieces of zucchini for each person to catch in their mouth it was a very exciting time. Little man was second to last and when it came to his turn he looked at the grill master and opened his mouth just like all the adults. The grill master flicked the little bit of zuchinni right in Little Man’s mouth. Our whole table went wild! Uncle Jason stood up he was so excited. Little man was glowing with excitement.
The next day we went on a tour of the Ferry with Pop and even got to see the engine room. As Pop was explaining all of the engine parts Little Man kept leaning in to hear what he was saying and then asked Daddy to see what ever he was talking about. As we headed out of the engine room there were engine parts all around because it is being rebuilt and Little Man pointed to a large part and said, ” Look Daddy a Piston Cup.” It really was a piston sitting on the floor.
The last one just makes my heart smile. We were eating dinner near the beach and the sunset was changing and getting more and more beautiful. I showed it to Little Man and he said, “It’s Jesus’ painting.” Then it changed again and he asked me “Why did that happen??” He is so amazing.

We went on a Carriage Ride too! (it was Little Man's second one.)

I know that children learn and grow so fast, but this weekend was just a reminder to me of how fast my little boy is growing up.

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travel tips

Posted on November 11, 2011 by melissamae

We just spent about a month travelling with Little Man. Here are a couple of things I learned…

1. Bring something that comforts your child. We brought his blankie and his pillow case. It seemed to help ease him into the new places we were staying.

2. Don’t count on them falling asleep on flights. One of our flights was when technically Little Man should have been asleep it was NJ time 8pm – who knows when but we were flying from California to Maui and the sun was out and he was wide awake. He didn’t even come close to falling asleep on this flight.

3.Expect them to be at their worst behavior then you will be prepared if they are or super happy when they are at their best behavior.

4. New Toys are the key to happiness – we started saving McDonald’s toys still in the packaging and he got a New toy each flight. He was super excited until we got to this one lame penguin toy. But I still had a pack of matchbox cars in the bag.

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Mommy’s Helper

Posted on November 9, 2011 by melissamae

My friends daughter is in 5th grade and she loves playing with and caring for Little Man. This summer she was my mommy’s helper and I was able to get a lot more work done for my job and around the house on days when she was working. My husband would usually comment when he arrived home from work, ” Your little helper must have been here today.” I was amazed at how much I could accomplish with just a little extra help.

The other benefit is my 2 year old enjoyed a fun day and has a special friend. Once school started again he has had many days where he asks me if his friend is coming over to play. We miss having her here to play. School is out on thursday and friday this week and we are looking forward to a fun play date with our amazing and wonderful mommy’s helper.

Do you have any tricks for getting more accomplished in your day?

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Walking and Napping

Posted on October 17, 2011 by melissamae

I am so happy! Today is the 3rd day in a row that Little Man has fallen asleep on our walk and stayed asleep for a nice nap. After almost 3 weeks of sporadic naps/rest time these past 3 days have been so amazing. I was ready to throw in the towel on napping and pretty much losing my mind trying to get Little Man to have a rest time. He will read books to his Big Dino for about 15 minutes which is good, but when 5pm rolled around my sweet loving boy turned into a monster. Still a cute monster but not much fun for anyone, especially him. So I had an idea to see if he would fall asleep in his jogger stroller – perfect answer to my problem. He would at least get a 30 min rest and I would get some exercise. I was a little worried because he is very nosey and a neighborhood can be loud depending on who is cutting their grass or if the guy with no muffler drives by.
He has done amazing! I know the weather isn’t going to be nice forever but right now this is a great solution for both of us. I get some exercise and he gets a rest. In 3 days I have walked 4.73 miles total, each day walking for around 30 minutes (1.5 miles per day) I am even using my easy tones and jogger I got for Christmas last year! This is a mommy WIN!!

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Tortillas

Posted on October 7, 2011 by melissamae

I have a new favorite food to make! I was so excited about tortilla making I called my sister and told her step by step what I was doing , sorry sissy!