Melissa | December 26, 2011
Our neighborhood (like many others) has a Santa who comes via fire truck a couple days before Christmas to deliver candy canes.
MIA (whispering): Mom, I’m whispering because I don’t want PJ to hear. I know Santa isn’t real but how does he do it?
MELISSA: Do what?
MIA: Get to all the houses in one night?
MELISSA: I [...]
Melissa | December 15, 2011
Five years ago, even though we didn’t know it, our bouncy, pouncy, Ty-ger of a child entered the world albeit 15 weeks early. He joined our family at 2 1/2 years old and our lives haven’t been the same.
Unlike our other two, he didn’t respond to cause-effect discipline or intuitively learn anything. We still have [...]
Melissa | December 12, 2011
Sometimes even a 15 passenger van (ours actually just has 11 seatbelts right now) isn’t big enough. We actually had to take two vehicles to go Christmas tree hunting.
Everyone needs a chance to hunt for and cut down a live Christmas tree.
Needing to fell the tree must be an inherent male trait.
Having 6 kids brings out my [...]
Melissa | December 1, 2011
The sixth annual Christmas chain is complete and hanging, waiting to be torn apart. We’ve been writing the names of friends and family on our chain for quite a few years now. Last year, we added a twist by putting the names of waiting children on the other side of our links. This year, the [...]
Melissa | November 23, 2011
Because November is National Adoption Month, I’d be remiss in not blogging about it or at least giving an update on Ty (and our current adoption process).
On paper, Ty’s almost 5.
There’s one camp that see him as 5 and expect him to act that way. They lay out how he should be acting based on his [...]
Melissa | November 11, 2011
So as someone who does not have an office outside her home and who is her children’s primary educator, the best society seems to be able to offer in terms of titles are “stay-at-home” and “homeschooling” mom. While these terms may accuratelydescribe some moms, they just don’t do it for me. Remember this post?
I’d love [...]
Melissa | October 11, 2011
Nearly every night Mia ends her prayer with “and I pray for everything I am missing. Amen.” She’s a little paranoid and likes to cover her bases. One night Ty prayed for a toy Mia had lost weeks ago. It seemed out of place but Ty is usually pretty random so we let it slip. [...]
Melissa | October 4, 2011
We drive a lot. Both around town and on trips. In the last month we’ve to Williamsburg and New England and there are plans to go to Tennessee for Thanksgiving. Our kids happen to be great travelers…mostly out of necessity. They’ve been trained to travel. Thus far, we have not had to resort to portable [...]
Melissa | September 23, 2011
I’ve always wanted a guest bedroom. Our first apartment had a single bedroom. The hand-me-down pullout sofa was a poor excuse for guest quarters. Our first house was smaller than our first apartment with 2 tiny bedrooms and the same pullout sofa. Then we lived with my parents in a modest 3-bedroom 1.5 bath that [...]
Melissa | September 17, 2011
Let me preface this post to say that I’m not expert on neuroreorganization. We haven’t even used it in our family…just considered it. However, I am a huge proponent of solutions for kids from hard places that do not include drugs. If nothing else, the research and testimonials for neuroreorganization are compelling and if you’re [...]
