Salty Mommy

Check out my NEW BLOG.

2011-05-19T23:23:00.002-04:00

Thank you for reading, if you feel like reading some more check out my new blog.

http://www.saltymommy.com/

xoxo Melissa Mae

And the winner is...

2011-04-20T09:10:00.003-04:00

Salty Mommy - - The reason i decided on Salty Mommy is I like the play on words. Salty can be the opposite of sweet, it can be used to identify salt water, it can be used to describe a christian. On dictionary.com the definition of salty is 1.tasting of or containing salt; saline. 2. piquant; sharp; witty. 3. racy or coarse: salty humor. 4. of the sea, sailing, or life at sea. I used visual thesaurus and it came up with the graphic I posted. I like that I was able to learn a new word while researching my new blog name. Piquant - engagingly stimulating or provocative. It is my hope that when you read my blog entries that they are piquant!

I went back and forth on Mommy and Mama The reason I ended up selecting Mommy was two fold, Salty Mama is already taken so that meant I would not be able to have Mama spelled this way it would have to be Momma. The second reason is my close friend Stephanie explained Mommy is younger then Mama. As I thought about it more and did some other research there are a few things associated with Mama that I did not want to be associated with. Big Mama, Yo Mama and Baby Mama. The idea that I am a Mommy is still new to me although our son has been a part of our lives since Feb 2009, it was Jan 2011 that he became our forever son and he calls me Mommy. So friends I am going to begin working on a better blog and with my graphic designer husbands help and I hope to become a better blogger. Thank you for joining me as I write about our lives full of adventures big and small.

tractors, boats, dinos and jesus

2011-04-19T20:28:00.002-04:00

We had a palm sunday lesson about hosanna and Jesus riding in on the donkey on sunday it was my first time as little man's teacher and not just the helper. He was not happy to share his mommy with the rest of the class and became very clingy. We managed to decorate the donkey, make coats to lay down before the donkey and read the story before he had a melt down. Thankfully our extended family is very involved in church and Cousin Laura helped me with little man and Aunt Tita came and took him home early for a nap. I brought home all of the craft supplies and Jesus was part of them, little man wanted to play with him so we now have a paper Jesus hanging out with dinosaurs. It is pretty exciting to see Little Man use his imagination and play with his toys and with Jesus. So that imagination that he has is very fun and we had a little egg hunt and he decided under the deck there was a dino. He made sure everyone knew about it and was so excited hollering for who ever he could get to come over and see the dino under the deck. The best part was when he looked at Mimi and said "I'm scared." and did a little shiver.

Nice Weather

2011-04-15T11:37:00.003-04:00

We live in a "shore" community where 58% of the homes are empty during the winter months or off season. I am looking foward to the nice weather and even the humid hot and miserable weather because of all the fun things we will be able to do when that weather arrives. We had a really nice day on monday and Little Man and I went to the zoo. We have a free or donation zoo and it is awesome. This was our first outting sans stroller, Little man is 2 now and he is full of energy and pretty much runs everywhere so I asked him if he wanted the stroller and he said "No Mommy" I figured we could try it. He lasted almost the entire time but we had a sit out by the tiger. He just sat down in the middle of the walk way and was done walking. I was so amused at him and let him take a break. Many people commented on how cute he was and how tired he must be. One older gentleman said "wish I could do that." It is funny when you just let your child think for themself and see what they do. I wouldn't choose to sit in the middle of the walk way but he was wiped out and so that was it he sat down. So back to that nice weather I have started a list of things I want to make sure we get out of the house and try to enjoy the "shore" aspect of our community. The whole county really has a lot to offer of course we have beaches, bays, boardwalks. There are some other things too... nature trails, airport museum, lots of delicious food choices, parks and play grounds and we are going to try to do some activites like the farmers market. Is my two year old ready for mini golf? I am not sure what else we are going to do but if you have any ideas let me know. I am enjoying everyday even the rainy ones but I am super excited to spend our spring and summer at our "shore"!!

cooking for grammie

2011-03-28T20:42:00.003-04:00

We have been super busy with life lately. Nothing new or in particular but we have not had much down time to visit family. We see lots of David's extended family weekly at church but mostly it is just in passing. We haven't spent much time with Grammie (David's Grandmom) so we decided to invite her for dinner last night. I wasn't sure if she would come or not but she said yes and we had a wonderful time. When you invite a grandmom for dinner the stress of what to cook really sets in. Well atleast it did for me. So I asked David and he picked chicken carbonara, this is a dish I have made a few times and it is really yummy. Then I started thinking about dessert. I found a cookie recipe in my parenting magazine that looked yummy and little man and I could make them together. The recipe was easy and the cookies came out soft and good. The recipe said to frost the cookies and make sandwiches with them, but we just made the cookies. Cake Mix Cookies - 1 box yellow cake mix, 1 Large Egg 1/4 cup canola oil, 1/4 cup buttermilk. Combine all ingredients and mix on medium speed in electric mixer. Shape 1 inch balls flatten slightly and add sprinkles. Bake until cookies are golden and firm 8-10 min at 350 degrees. After we finished the cookies I put some italian herb bread in the bread maker and enjoyed the smell of fresh baking bread for most of the afternoon. When Grammie finally arrived Little Man was so excited to see her he showed her all of his favorite toys and ran around like a crazy man. Before Grammie even tasted dinner she asked for the recipe. She was in a great mood and I am so glad that we invited her for dinner. It was a wonderful night and Little Man went to bed a little later then usual because we didn't want the fun to end.

Manners and Redirection.

2011-03-24T13:04:00.003-04:00

So what do you do when your 2 year old cries because you tell him he is not allowed to watch a show? How about when he asks "A show please, mommy?" or worse "Dinotrain please mommy?" Boy do I feel like the meanest mommy in the world,he used his manners and everything. Well my answer is to put on music and declare its a "DANCE PARTY" We then danced and sang and were simply silly! It got his mind off the Show and I had fun dancing around with my little man. I recently read in a magazine about how you can avoid saying NO. If your child wants a cookie before dinner, you can say " After you eat a healthy dinner you can have a cookie." I feel like the past two years I have become pretty good at getting little man to move on from something he thought he wanted by redirecting him. As he grows bigger and gets smarter he will start to figure out what I am doing, but for now I will distract him while we are eating and somehow feed him all of his turkey while he is busy trying to scoop applesauce on everyones plate. When he realized he ate all his dinner he even clapped. I am really enjoying being a mama!!

Disney World

2011-03-17T16:44:00.004-04:00

I am blessed beyond understanding! My mom's birthday wish allowed for me to have a fun and exciting time too. When my mom asked if we would like to meet them in Disneyworld for her birthday I was excited but not sure if it would all work out. Unfortunately David was not able to take the time off work to join us, but little man and I flew down to Orlando to celebrate my mom's birthday with her and Tony. We had a wonderful time and it is so fun to see Disney through the eyes of a 2 year old. He is talking more and more and everything was a train - the monorail, tram, parade and most of the rides. He loves trains and we rode the train in Magic Kingdom several times and the small $2 per ride train at down town disney. He rode that one all by himself. It was funny to hear all of the adults around the $2 train comment on how cute the little boy was going all by himself. I spoke up once and told the sweet ladies he was mine and he didn't want mommy to ride with him. They were just amazed that he wasnt afraid and how small he was. The joy on his face to be a big boy and ride all alone on the train made me feel a little better about not being allowed to ride with him. He had such a great trip and I did too. I am thankful to my parents for taking us along on their vacation and I tried not to spend too much time thinking about how thankful I am to be little man's forever mommy. I only cried once while watching him sleep waiting for the parade. I am in awe of the love God has poured out on me and my entire family by allowing us to be little man's forever family.

freezer cooking

2011-02-26T14:47:00.002-05:00

So I decided to just add a little more to each dinner I cooked this week and that would allow me to freeze the extra for a second meal next week or the next. So I made three meatloaves one night, three pounds of turkey meatballs another and I made chicken in the crockpot with italian dressing. The italian dressing chicken was delicious!! I made as many boneless skinless chicken breasts that I could fit in the crockpot. We ate it for dinner that night, then I cut it up and made chicken roll ups for lunch another day (chicken, avocado and cheese) and we still have some left. I am thinking about using it for chicken alfredo :) I guess the whole big plans to do a freezer cooking just isn't for me. I bought all of the ingredients to make mac n cheese and baked ziti but havent made them yet. Whatever night I decide to make them I will make 3 batches and freeze them for next time. I came in $40 under our weekly budget last week but I didnt have to get gas in my car...so to celebrate when David and little man get up from their naps we ae getting SHAMROCK SHAKES!! Special treats are the best!!

big plans.

2011-02-16T23:21:00.003-05:00

I have big plans for the weekend...to do a round of freezer cooking. I hope to make 3 meatloaf's (or is it meatloaves?), burrito meat filling (enough for 3 dinners), macaroni and cheese (3-5pans) and baked ziti (3pans). So before I can do all of this I need to buy some throw away pans and ziploc bags. I have been reading about freezer cooking and I dont have the space to do a major freezer cooking but I think this will be plenty. I might have to cut back and do just 2 pans of ziti and 2 pans of mac n cheese. I am going to do a test with the empty trays to make sure I can fit everything before I start cooking. The meatloaf will just be mixed up and frozen no need to cook because when I am ready to make it for dinner I can defrost the meatloaf and bak as usual. The burrito meat will have to be cooked and then frozen....then when we want to have burritos all I have to do is throw the frozen meat in the crock pot on low until dinner time. The ziti and macaroni will be all cooked and then frozen, to reheat I read that you defrost and then bake or you can just bake it frozen. I am not sure the best way to do this but I am going to read some more and then try it. Any suggestions? or Recipes that work well for freezer cooking? I am excited because I enjoy cooking but some days I have limited time so this should help me with time management too. I will post how it goes :)

Learning & Growing

2011-02-10T22:40:00.002-05:00

I like to consider myself a stay at home mom, but the truth is I am a work at home mom. I have the joy of getting to be home with my little man but I schedule my work around his day. I work while he eats breakfast and I work for an hour while he plays. Then we run errands, clean or just play trains. Lunch time, a show and then NAP. I work while he naps then when he gets up I usually have to fit in 30 more minutes of working. So between 2 and 5 we usually spend a few hours playing in the afternoon. Yesterday I spent some time on nick jr and sprout online trying to find some fun activites for us to add to our fun afternoons. We printed the blues clues mix and match game. Little man loves to match up the shapes with the colors and he is even saying the colors and trying to say the shapes. It is really exciting to see him learn and to see the smile when he figures something out on his own. I am going to print out some other shapes and make a board to match up the shapes and colors. When daddy got home from work little man was so excited to show him his new game! I also got a few ideas from my friend crystal about activites for little man. check these out. I am going to get some beads this weekend and some felt :)

Open Adoption Roundtable - Better Late then Never?

2011-02-09T00:10:00.002-05:00

I read a few blogs about adoption that have really helped me. I stumbled on this open adoption forum tonight after reading write mind open heart and the questions and many of the answers got me to thinking about our adoption. I don't feel like I have the answers to these questions but in answering them it has helped me to understand our relationship with little man's birth mom a little better.
1. If open adoption is so great, why do so many people suck at it? By this I mean, not honouring commitments, closing the adoption, telling the other family they’re not “doing this thing” correctly or playing the “for the sake of the child” card?
Every situation is different for us little mans birth mom "K" is in a place in her life where she is trying to see what she can get from us, rather then what part she can play in little man's life. I have realized that when we meet up I previously had expectations set for how I thought K should interact with little man. It has not really gotten easier in the 1 month since our adoption has finalized but I have realized I can't hold K accountable to an expectation I have set. (we adopted through foster care and have had contact during the entire 2 years of fostering and now continue to have contact) The other important part in all of this is little man's 1/2 brother they are 11 months apart and he is with K and her new boyfriend. I hope that one day the boys can have a healthy relationship. I can't imagine knowing I had a brother or sister in the world and not knowing them.
2. From the standpoint of first parents, open adoption sounds like something that could prolong suffering. Could this suffering potentially outweigh the good of knowing where your child is? Who helps the first parent?
It was not an easy decision for K to sign over her parental rights to us, and I feel like she wants to be our child too sometimes. She does not have a strong connection with little man, most of the time when we see her it seems like she just wants to know he is healthy and happy. Since we adopted through foster care she has several options open to her for counseling and to my knowledge she utilizes them.
3. I’m guessing kids are not hung up on how many relatives they have. Tell me that the thing that hangs up the public all the time about open adoption and other unconventional relationships—two mommies, two daddies, three, four, parents—is the least of your worries because it seems to me it is.
The one thing that I wonder about in the future is how little man will feel when strangers tell him he looks just like his daddy. We hear this all the time and often we say "thank you" and continue on with our day. Sometimes we gently correct the person and say something to the affect of "really we get that all the time but we had the joy of adopting little man." (we usually save this response for people who know us through acquaintances but don't know our story. )
4. Do you ever feel like you should give this child back? Does the thought ever seize you totally as you watch your child with her bio-family: “ooops?” (OR for f-parents: Do you ever feel as though you need to take this child back? That nothing is stopping you beside an agreement that feels false? Does that feeling go away?)
This question reminds me of the time we spent as foster parents with the ups and downs of not knowing if little man would be our forever son or if we would be part of his reunification with K. When he would leave our home for supervised visitation it was the longest 2 hours in my entire week. We were blessed with an amazing driver/supervisor who helped during this time, but the sadness I felt as he cried being put in the van and when he returned home after the hour visit with puffy red eyes will always be a part of our process but it definately showed me that no matter what happens I would never want to give him back. He is my son this isnt even an option.
5. How do children ever cope with knowing they could not be kept? When they see their natural parents having more kids, what do they think? Who helps the child in this situation? Both sets of parents? Little man just turned 2 so I am not sure how to answer this. K made the decision based on the fact that she has another son who is 11 months younger then little man and if she decided to sign over her rights to us for little man she would be able to give him a better life and give his 1/2 brother a better life too. It was not an easy decision for her in any way and I hope that someday she can explain to little man and we can help him to understand. I have a lifebook for him that explains what I saw that day and the case worker asked K to write a letter but she declined.
6. Can you say comfortably that some surrendering mothers could not cope with an open adoption or do you think that it should always be the standard?
I really don't know the answer to this. In our situation I believe K has times when being in contact with us is hard but she seems to work through it. For the second part I think it depends on the situation the adoptions of the past where people have no idea about their history have left many people in their 30's with a lot of questions.
7. Is there ever a reason (aside from extreme/illegal behaviours) to close an adoption totally? No. We decided that is little man doesnt want to have as much contact as we currently have at any point when he is older we will let him have a part in the decision. Right now he is 2 so he doesn't even know what is going on, when he is older he should have a say in our relationship with K.

7 Signs that your child loves you...

2011-02-08T22:32:00.002-05:00

Number 4 - Your toddler runs to you for comfort when he falls down or feels sad.
Kids this age may not truly understand the meaning of "I love you," but their actions speak louder than words.

I received this in an email from babycenter.com and it made me smile. I don't need a website to tell me the 7 signs my child loves me because I know he loves me but number 4 makes me smile. It happens all day long even when I am the cause of his sadness. I tell him he is not allowed to go in the fridge by himself and he is so sad he turns to me and cries on my shoulder. He drops a train on his own foot as he is playing he runs to me and says "up mommy". I can not count the number of times in a day I have the joy of getting to comfort my son. I love him so much and I know he loves me too.

Organize

2011-02-03T09:44:00.002-05:00

I like to think that I am good at organizing but I can not get a handle on our bedroom. I get it all clean and organized and then boom its like a bomb went off. David said this morning "our room has hit a breaking point" I havent left it purposely but maybe if he helps me we can get rid of some stuff and he can organize his stuff? I think that is wishful thinking. We need some tools to organize and help us stay organized. I think today I am going to go to walmart and see if they have anything that might help us. My ideas so far are a shoe organizer on the back of the door to hold my winter scarves and hats and gloves. A shoe organizer that we dont have to see the shoes because they seem to take over our room and a file cabinet for all of david's work stuff. I might check craigs list for the file cabinet or the thrift store. I am also thinking about another dresser even though we dont have a ton of room if we get another dresser we can spread our clothes out and maybe we can put david's work stuff in it. Of course I have to run all of this by David but these are just a few ideas. The other thing we have to do is figure out how we can move the rocker into our room because once little man gets moved to his toddler bed or twin bed I dont want the rocker in his room anymore. Anyone have any other suggestions for organizing?? Any ideas especially repurposing items would be gladly accepted. I am looking forward to getting our room out of the tipping point!!

Whats Next...

2011-01-27T09:17:00.003-05:00

I don't think I have ever had a new years resolution but I feel like this year there are going to be some exciting things that I want to accomplish or help someone else accomplish. The big one is potty training, our little man is going to be 2 next week and I have been researching potty training and talking to lots of moms. I thought 2 was young to be potty trained but it seems like a possibility so I am going to try to start this in the near future. Before we start potty training I think I have to move our little man to his toddler bed. I have lots of reasons that I don't want to move him yet all selfish reasons, it is going to be a lot harder to get him to stay in his bed for naps and bed time and parenting is going to get more difficult until he learns to stay in his bed. He is small and I don't want him to get hurt and I am sure he will be getting up earlier...I like to sleep! For me I can't wait until it gets a little nicer out so I can start getting into shape. I got a jogger stroller for Christmas and some awesome reebox easytones. I do love looking out at the snow but I am excited for the new way to exercise!! The other thing I am going to try to change in our lives is to cook with more fresh foods, I have a bunch of new recipes and I am happy with my progress as a cook but I want to cook healthier. I have the Jamie Oliver Cookbook and have tried some recipes. Alright time to play some wii sports resorts the airplane game...its my little mans favorite.

2011

2011-01-09T22:47:00.002-05:00

This has been a very busy start to a new year. We received our court date for the finalization to our adoption right before Christmas then we headed to California to celebrate Christmas. After a great vacation we flew home to NJ and on Friday 1/7/11 our adoption was finalized. Today we had our little boy dedicated to the Lord in our church and celebrated with family and friends. It has been a whirlwind and I am sitting here trying to remember the moments we have experienced with adopting our little boy. The court proceedings were very sweet and the judge was in a great mood. The one thing that he stated at the very end is "it is the same as if you gave birth to him." How cool is that?!? We have been on a rollercoaster for the last 2 years and now we look forward to the rest of our little boys life and we are his parents! The other thing that stuck with me is our parents, they have been "grandparents" since the day our little boy was placed in our home. But there is a change in all of them since friday when it was made official. They can't stop smiling and one of our dads said my "grandson, wow thats cool i havent ever said that before." Today at the dedication our pastor did a great job it really made me think about being a Mom and during prayer another mom went down to the altar and her 16 year old son came down to pray with her. This scene was not staged but to me it showed a bright future and the reality that our little boy with someday be our grown son! It has never felt like I was not his Mom but seeing the other mom and son praying together just brought me to tears of joy. I love being a MOM and I love my little family!!

snow and cookies

2010-12-19T20:18:00.002-05:00

This is the snow from our front door when it was still coming down. I didnt get a great picture of the snow this time. I will make sure I get one next time!

This is what I have been doing a lot of lately! I am a little cookie baker! I really have been enjoying making Christmas Cookies!

traditions

2010-12-15T12:17:00.002-05:00

With the Christmas season here it makes me think about traditions. What traditions do I want to keep, add or change for my family as our little one grows up. In reading a fictional book about Christmas I learned about putting out reindeer food to show them where to land. By adding some glitter to oatmeal it sparkles and shows the reindeer your house. I thought this was super cute and would like to make it a tradition. Growing up both David's family and my family opened one present on Christmas Eve and it is jammies. I like this tradition and hope to continue this with my family. Our little one really loves trains and we have been to two homes this year that have a train around their tree. I think maybe next year we will get a train to go around our tree, I have been looking. The most important tradition I would like to have is reading the Christmas Story of Jesus Birth, our little one is still small but I want to read it every year and in my house as a child that is when Baby Jesus came out to be in the manger. My mom would keep him hidden until Christmas eve and when we read the story he would be place in the manger. We dont have a "child" safe manger scene but I will set ours up on Christmas eve and let little man put Baby Jesus in the manger. I am so blessed by my family and being a mommy. What traditions do you have? Does anyone have a way to serve at Christmas? We buy presents for an outreach through our church that is an amazing ministry but would like to do more. 11 Days til Christmas!

Santa

2010-12-02T22:41:00.002-05:00

What does Santa say? Ho Ho Ho.... Do you want to go see Santa? NO is the answer I get everytime. Despite the NO and head shaking we decided to go and visit Santa. Turns out Santa is a jolly old man who likes to give out high 5's and thats cool. Santa still says Ho Ho Ho but he also understands that kids now a days need a different approach and a high 5 was the way he got my little one to smile. Last year Santa was a very scary man with a beard and this year he was a guy with a beard who gives out high 5's. Thanks Santa we have plans to put out some yummy cookies and milk for you and some snacks for your reindeer too! Merry Christmas!

thankfulness

2010-11-22T22:22:00.002-05:00

Being thankful is something that most of America focuses on this week with thanksgiving on thursday. I have so much to be thankful for and for the last few two months every day David and I have thanked God for our miracle of getting to adopt our son. I love being a parent and every day I try to teach our little man to say thank you and to use his manners. This may seem silly to some but it is very important to me to teach thankfulness. We have been using sign language along with trying to teach words and the sign for thank you is one of the first signs we taught him. I am amazed at the rate his words are growing and so thankful for the opportunity to be home with him.

hey did you know...

2010-11-11T08:55:00.002-05:00

We woke up this morning just as Dada was getting back from working out with Pop we opened the door and waved to Pop and little man yelled DADA and then Pop beeped the horn. I am sure our neighbors were thrilled since it was 7:30am. Hahaha they should be up already, right? After Dada was ready little man and I were snuggling watching a show he says to me, "Hey did you know that he is our son?" I just smiled.

National Adoption Day

2010-11-09T16:27:00.002-05:00

I was very happy on sunday when our pastor mentioned it was Orphan Sunday and spoke of the need for foster and adoptive homes in our county. Our journey has not been easy and I do not believe it is over. Right now we are focusing on our little man and we will see where we go in the future. I am bubbling over with love for our little man and just sit and watch him try new things and grow. I am not ready for him to be 2 and not be a baby. I realize he is already a big boy and not a baby. I am excited for our adoption day even though we dont have a date yet I know it is going to happen and I can't wait to adopt our sweet little man. I am so excited to see him grow up!

November 1st

2010-11-01T22:06:00.002-04:00

Ok seriously where did 2010 go? I can not believe it is November 1st. I dont know if it is since we have become parents that time seems to fly by but really our little one is going to be 21 months tomorrow. Which really means he will be 2 in 3 months...I think I just stopped breathing! As I am writing this I am just trying to remind myself that I need to remember all of the moments. We just celebrated our 2nd halloween and he was so cute and so much fun. I dont want to forget anything. I was looking at a picture from when he was a few days old and it doesnt feel like that long ago. I bought a book to write his story in and I haven't started writing...I need to get on the ball! Anyway I had a friend comment that she reads this and I just wanted to say thanks for the encouragement. I try to be disciplined about blogging but sometimes days just get away from me. I am so thankful for my friends! Now I am going to dowload all the halloween pictures to snapfish and order them for free when i buy 2 8x10's - 100 free prints with code scaryprints if you order 2 8x10s. I'm pretty excited :)

fall fun

2010-10-23T20:55:00.002-04:00

We got to go to our zoo today for a little costume parade and fun. It was a big chaotic but still fun, seriously what did i expect a 1 year old and a 2 year old in a wagon for 2 hours....they were over the wagon before the parade even started. I think they both had fun and we had fun too. My mom is here and she really liked seeing all of the kids in their costumes. We have some big plans for while she is here including the pumpkin patch which has a hay ride, going to see the amish, swim school, trick or treating and i'm sure we will find more exciting stuff to do. I am sure little man is going to have a great time with Nana :) When he woke up today she was still in bed and he didn't know she was here. I asked him if he knew who came on an airplane and she said Boo I'm in here. He started giggling it was so cute. The fact that he sees my family mostly through skype it was super cute to see him so excited to see her!

change

2010-10-13T21:09:00.004-04:00

So every once in awhile I have to mix up our furniture or pictures and art work in our house. I think it has something to do with the fact that I moved a lot as a child. So today I decided it was time to move the pictures and art. We got a new collage frame at target over the weekend so I had to fit it in and that meant I got to rearrange. I really love the new frame and I am most excited about the pictures of our little man that I put all on one wall. I will take some pictures tomorrow and post them.

time management

2010-10-12T23:44:00.002-04:00

***Please let me know if you have any ideas or experience that may help me.*** - - I am blessed to work from home and be able to stay home with my 20 month old son. I have a schedule that I am to work 4 hours between 8am and 5pm and then an additional 2 hours or more after 5pm. I am very thankful for my job and the flexibility. However I have started to feel guilty that although I am home with our son he does not always have my full attention. This is what our day looks like now. Wake up 7:30 snuggle and watch a few minutes of a show then change diaper and have breakfast. I try to work for 1 hour at this time in our day while interacting with him during breakfast and then he plays for the rest of the hour. This time consists of him bringing me toys to play with and he plays trucks on the floor near me or even types on his keyboard next to me. Then we go outside or have a play date or run errands. Lunch is between 11 and 11:30 then its nap time. He usually sleeps 2 hours and I work as much as I can. So I have completed 3 hours of my 4 hours. This is where I feel bad once he gets up from his nap we usually play or do some sort of an activity. Then at 3:30 or 4pm I set him up to watch a show sometimes he sits through 15 - 20 minutes other times he just gets right up and plays. I am looking for suggestions on how to entertain him for 1 - 2 hours during the day while I work. I understand children watch TV and it isnt the end of the world for him to watch tv but is there something else I could be doing? And the TV doesnt hold his interest. I have searched the internet and mostly found things like playing blocks, puzzles, coloring. Does anyone know of any websites that have preschool lesson plans for free? Do you think that would work with a 20 month old? Let me know what you think!! Thanks!

yum good chicken

2010-10-05T22:05:00.002-04:00

Our second foster placement was a sweet 3 year old girl, she did not have very many words the words she did use were gibberish. Every once in awhile she would include a real word. The second day she was with us we took her over to see Grandmom Betty to have lunch. When we got in the house there was a delicious chocolate cake on the counter. At this point we have heard her say NO and point her finger at whatever she does not want. As soon as she saw the cake she clearly said, “I WANT CAKE!” We tried to get her to eat a variety of other foods and explained that once she had 1 bite of another food she could have cake. She would not budge and trying to be consistent neither would we. It was a bit scary, if we gave in to her demands on day 2 what would be ahead of us. We really had no idea how to parent this lost little girl and the one thing that stuck with me is a child will eat when they are hungry. She did not want to eat anything except for that cake so she was not really hungry. She had eaten a good breakfast and to skip lunch would not be the end of the world. The other tricky part of this was we were being watched by David’s grandmother and sometimes grandparents have a way of giving in to their grandchildren. Luckily Grandmom was on our side and months later still talked about how hard it was to see us struggling with Lily but that we did the right thing. The rest of the day involved taking Lily to the doctors office and it was not a fun visit. She was already unsure of what was going on in her life and the doctor was not very sympathetic to her situation. Since we had very little notice that Lily was going to be staying with us we decided to head to Target to buy her some clothes and necessities. She fell asleep in the car on the way home. Before dinner was even ready she climbed right up into her chair and got her utensils ready. She was hungry and boy did she eat. All through out the meal she kept saying “yum good chicken” – it was meatloaf. So for Lily we knew she would eat it as long as she thought it was chicken. She ate all of her dinner that night and finally got her cake. We still find ourselves saying “Yum good chicken!” - when we eat meatloaf. She has left an imprint on our hearts.

our first placement

2010-09-28T21:52:00.004-04:00

We had a meeting last week with our adoption case worker and the subject of our other foster care placements came up. It brought back many memories and I have decided to share them here. In a summer that started out very sad we had a bright little boy who came to stay with us for 2 weeks while his foster family went on vacation. We accepted the foster care placement for Steven a sweet 8 year old boy, when the worker called to let us know he would be coming over she kept saying to make sure we had house rules in place. Seeing as this was our first ever foster care placement we started to get worried we were in over our heads. Steven arrived and we decided to make house rules together. We had a fun filled 2 weeks and learned a lot about being parents. (we felt like long term babysitters.) This little boy thrived in our home, he was very well behaved despite what we were told. He really bonded with Mr. Dave and enjoyed calling out, "Hey Mr Dave" when he wanted to make sure he had David's full attention. We found out very quickly that Steven had a weak stomach and was prone to puking...before he got sick he would announce loudly " I'm gonna puke". The other exciting thing we did was an indoor camp out , we set up our tent in the house and had smores from the microwave. Steven was so excited he kept jumping in the tent and out of the tent. We settled down for our s'mores and after one bite he stands up and says, "S'mores have chocolate, chocolate has dairy...I'm gonna puke!" And boy o boy did that kid puke! As I think about this little boy most of the memories are just of his big smile. He has a great little laugh and we had a fun two weeks with him. My dreams for my life have always included children and the amazing impact each of our foster children has had on me will stay with me for the rest of my life, even if I dont get to stay in contact with them.

so smart

2010-08-27T11:14:00.002-04:00

Before nap time we read a couple of stories and I let my little one choose the books. Well we were reading Good Night Beach and some how i skipped a page with out realizing it. He knew he started whining and trying to turn the page back. So i realized and went back to the page we missed and tried to continue from where we were...he would not have it. I had to read all of the pages after the missed page in order. I was amazed that he even knew we missed a page since I didnt even realize. He is so smart!

memories

2010-07-27T13:02:00.003-04:00

So I have been thinking a lot about my memories from childhood. I am not sure why, but it has been on my mind a lot how I made the friends that I still have friendships with today. I moved around a lot before highschool and I actually don't have any childhood friends that I am still in contact with, there are two girls from when I was a child that I have reconnected with via myspace and the internet but it isn't like we are real friends. The friends I am still in contact with 1 was made in 8th grade and the others in 9th grade. I can remember moving to Long Beach and my new school, the worst part about this move was the school required uniforms and when I went to get registered I was not in a uniform and I had to start school that day. Talk about making a kid feel out of place. I have a hard time remembering much about school when I first moved to Long Beach but I can remember how I followed the same group of kids home everyday and we walked the exact same way toward 2nd street and then they turned down 1 street before mine. I remember listening to their conversations and trying to figure out if any of them were related. It ended up that 2 were stepsisters and everyone else was just friends. I am not sure how it happened but I ended up walking with them and finally having friends. Only one of thes girls I am still in regular contact with...it is so crazy that I don't remember how I went from walking alone to walking with other kids. I have been thinking a lot about how people treat other people and why the world seems so dark. When I was the new girl at middle school why didnt any of the kids in my classes talk to me or reach out to me? I know one of the classes there was a language barrier since I was placed in english as a second language by mistake. But what about all of the other teens? By this time in life what our parents have been teaching and modelling comes through. There are people like the group of 5 girls who were nice to me that are the exception but the groups and clicks start young. And if no one looks beyond their group as we grow up I think we stick to ourselves and we miss opportunities to make friends and to help people. I feel that my experience as a teen has helped me to become the person that I am today but i know that I have missed opportunities to help people or to just be a friend because of life and being busy. I hope that God will continue to place people in my path who just need a little love and that they will allow me to show them God's love.

writing a book??

2010-07-16T11:02:00.002-04:00

So i love to read and my husband recently asked me why i dont want to write a book, since i love to read. I have been thinking about this a lot since he mentioned it. In the morning I usually go for a walk with my baby and we look at birds, airplanes, car and all of the fun yard decorations in our neighborhood. Today our walk got me thinking about an idea for a book and I might try to work on an outline. Every time I think of an idea for a book I cant seem to get it out of my head and onto paper and I always think this has probably already been written. The main idea is two moms from totally different backgrounds live in the same neighborhood and become friends. The story will chronicle the mishaps and joys of motherhood and friendship. But I need a BIG problem and I havent gotten that far yet...maybe one has to move to a 3rd world country...or one has a house fire and how they move forward from that. See I have too many ideas....maybe I will just work on the characters for now :)

first bloom

2010-07-09T12:18:00.001-04:00

We planted sunflowers in the spring and they are all starting to bloom. This is the first one!

camping

2010-07-08T11:38:00.002-04:00

Our little man and I tagged along over the weekend camping in Mary & Jim's camper. He had so much fun camping and I enjoyed watching him explore. He is growing up so fast! He is 17 months old and he loved camping. We played at the park, went to the beach, played in the pool and the water fun zone, went for walks and bike rides. He is not a fan of the bike helmet but after his first bike ride he didn't fuss anymore. I am amazed at how quickly he learns things. He is starting to communicate more and doing some signs. He just started shaking his head NO and we ask him to say no thank you and he does the sign for no. I cant wait for our next camping trip! We had so much fun! The best part was he loved the fireworks, when the first one went off he put his hands up like what? Then started to clap! He is so stinkin cute!!

swimming lessons

2010-06-28T09:11:00.005-04:00

We start swimming lessons tonight at the Cape May Pool, I am pretty excited!! It is a mommy and me class and our cousins Megan and Connor are taking them too! Hopefully our little man has fun!

another extension

2010-06-24T21:30:00.003-04:00

I am trying hard to stay positive about everything going on with our family, but after being at court yesterday I am sad. It is very hard to be a foster parent and I do not recommend it to the weak in spirit or heart. I have a lot of love to give but the "system" knocks me on my butt every once in awhile and it is hard to stay positive. We have been waiting for the permanency hearing to take place since Feb, it was postponed in Feb to allow for more time for our little man's birth mother to complete services. We had a meeting at the division of youth and family services office last week and they prepared us that the new goal for this case would be termination of parental rights once we went to court and the judge made a ruling. It seemed easy enough, well when we went to court the defense attorney's now states they need more time to get their own reviews because they don't agree with the reviews by the law guardian. We were only dealing with the birth mother up until this court date but now because his birth father now wants to try to get custody we are not sure what is going to happen. So we are praying that the judge will really listen to everything and determine the best interest of our little one is with us, where he has been for the last 17 months 26 days (by the time they go back to court).

so loved

2010-06-20T23:52:00.002-04:00

On saturday after our little guy got out of the bath he climbed into the arms of his dae-dae. I was concerned with getting a diaper on that bare bottom and all he wanted to do was be held by dae-dae. The diaper can wait it was so special to see my two boys having a little snuggle time. Today we went to see Pop down at the ferry when his boat was coming in and our little man and dae-dae ran through the field and chased the birds. I love to see them play and be crazy boys! I am so amazed at my husband and his love for our little man.

america's got talent

2010-06-15T22:06:00.002-04:00

David and I started watching America's Got Talent and it is an interesting show. I have enjoyed watching the different acts and tonight the magician "michael grasso" was very cool! There were a few other acts that were really good too. I auditioned to be a character at disneyland when I was younger and that audition process was gruelling and overwhelming. I feel for all of these people who are brave enough to audition and I can only imagine what the process is like. To just sit and wait for your number to be called is draining and then you still have to perform. I did get hired as a disney character and really enjoyed that job. It was worth the audition process!

cooking

2010-06-11T18:21:00.003-04:00

So I have been trying new recipes lately and I decided to search online for some other healthy recipes. Last night I made ground turkey enchiladas, but after opening the can of enchilada sauce I tasted it and realized it would make them too spicy for me. Does anyone have an alternative? I thought about using tomato sauce or paste? But is that wierd? To tell you the truth i just put cheese on top and they were tasty. I think the next time I make enchiladas I might look for a recipe that has a white sauce I remember having them when I was a kid. Tonight i made Chicken Ravioli Carbonara with Broccoli. I had never heard of "carbonara" before but this dish was good! I am bummed there weren't any leftovers for tomorrow!

new car!! well suv.

2010-06-09T13:51:00.002-04:00

So we decided it was time to get me some new wheels! After much searching I found a few prospective suv's and vans. The dealership was a joke and we walked out when we were ready to sign the deal because they were messing around. We then received 5 phone calls from different "higher ups" at the dealership. Amazingly they were able to lower the APR to fit our budget after checking our credit score again. It makes me sad how the car sales business is run. But it makes me happy that we walked out and ended up with the deal we wanted on our new to us 2006 Isuzu Ascender (it is the same thing as a trailblazer or envoy) I love my new car and it seats 7 so if anyone wants to come visit you dont have to rent a car...we have plenty of room!!

ten years

2010-05-25T23:11:00.004-04:00

wow! ten years ago i walked down the aisle at long beach 1st church of the nazarene and said "i do" to david bruce! i can not believe it has been 10 years. i watched some show that the people were celebrating 20 years of marriage and they had two children who were in their teens and it made me think about the future and where we will be in another 10 years. our lives have been an adventure and i cant wait to see where God leads us in the next 10 years! i am so blessed and so in love with david.

ten years ago i was planning a wedding and looking forward to a bright future. today i am waiting for a court date to see what will happen with our foster sons and our lives. i am still looking forward to a bright future and i am amazed at Gods love, guidance and direction in our lives. in the past 10 years we have been on 4 short term mission trips, driven cross country 3 times, lived on the west coast and the east coast, become foster parents, enjoyed our families and we are on our way to being debt free. Praise God for loving us and taking care of us.

i love you david bruce macomber jr you amaze me!!!

some funny things from our trip

2010-05-25T11:03:00.002-04:00

Our little guy loves to... eat dirt, eat rocks, play in leaves, carry around sticks. So camping was so much fun for him. We brought bubbles for him to play with and he loved them as well. What we didnt think about before going was bed time...how do you put a toddler to bed in a tent outside not in a crib or pack n play? well it worked for us because he was so tired. we went into the tent and that was pretty exciting, we had a little mat and sleeping bag all set up and we let him roam around the tent for a little while. he got to the point that he was so tired he couldnt even stand up he would try to stand up and then just sorta collapse on his back and kick his feet. this was aroun 7:45pm then all of a sudden we hear a bugle horn play the intro to taps and a boyscout leader (we were lucky to have 3 boyscout troops at the campground) came over and invited melissa and jason to a flag retire ceremony. well as soon as the bugle was done the baby sat up and started clapping. he was so excited! the bugle went off a few more times and each time he clapped for it! finally he fell asleep and slept through the entire song when the ceremony was held and he slept through a game of jail break that was being played right next to our campsite. 6 am came awfully early for us but he just hung out in the tent and played with his toys until 7:15 when the lovely bugle horn went off again with the start of the races song. he of clapped for them again! he is such a silly boy!

camping with a toddler

2010-05-24T09:59:00.003-04:00

so we decided to do an overnight ten camping adventure with our 15 month old. we all had a great time but i think he had the best time out of everyone. the two best things for a little boy dirt and water. we drove to bushkill falls, pa about 3 hours away and then set up camp at valley view campsites a group camp area with no running water or electricity. they have latrine bathrooms which was so stinky. after setting up camp we had lunch and then headed to bushkill falls for a hike. we decided to do the red and yellow trails which should have been about 2 1/2 hours. our little man was in his hiking backpack and he loved it! about 1/2 way through the hike we got to a water fall that had a little pond. so we decided to let him get out of the backpack and of course he wanted in the water. it wasnt too cold but he was soaked after about 10 seconds. he loves the water and did not want to continue hiking. we still had an hour of hiking to go and he went back in the hiking backpack. after a little more hiking we came to the main falls and everyone was in awe. the falls are very beautiful and it was a wonderful day. we headed back to our campground and enjoyed the great outdoors! we cant wait for our next camping adventure!

food revolution 1

2010-04-20T11:18:00.002-04:00

so i have been on a cooking healthier kick and i ordered the jamie oliver cook book. it has a lot of recipes that scare me, mostly all the fish. but i am going to be brave and try them. last night i made the cauliflower cheese which is an alternative to mac n cheese and it was really good ( i left out the anchovies though) !! i also made turkey burgers with his "a cracking burger recipe" i am excited to see what else i can make! both of these recipes were fairly easy but i wouldnt have been able to finish if melissa joy hadnt arrived because i had a very needy little one who wanted to be held. dinner was yummy and then we headed to the beach for some play time and exercise! life is good!!

spring

2010-03-17T11:13:00.002-04:00

so spring is here! last night was the first time that i noticed the time change because it was the first sunny day since the time change. it was so nice to have our front door open for most of the day and enjoy the sunshine coming in the windows. i didnt mind the snow this winter i actually liked it and enjoyed being snowed in and having a blizzard party :) but now i am excited for spring...living in a land with seasons is pretty cool. i am glad that i can appreciate the season changes and not take them for granted. something that is even more cool about where we live is in the off season winter, spring and fall it is very quiet and you can really enjoy the nature that surrounds us. in the summer it gets more crowded but then you can people watch and that is great! especially the french canadians in their banana hammocks (yuck) hope the spring season is full of flowers and sunshine!!

california

2010-01-25T13:05:00.003-05:00

my parents moved to the border of san pedro/palos verdes since i came home last and i love their new house. despite the bad weather we had last week (even in rain the view is amazing) i am enjoying my time here with my family and so happy for my parents that they found such a nice house. today we went with my mom and her friend terri to the dog park at the bottom of their gated community and the dog park is right on the cliffs of the pacific ocean. so amazingly beautiful. seth is enjoying the sunshine and he loves to watch the dogs play. i will try to get some pictures of the view now that its not raining. :)

photo blog

2010-01-07T10:19:00.001-05:00

http://www.davidmacomber.com/photoblog - - if you dont already check in daily on david's photo blog you are missing out. he started this up again after a short break and he plans on updating it everyday. enjoy!

2010

2010-01-04T16:13:00.002-05:00

so david asked me if i was going to call the year two thousand ten or twenty ten? I think two thousand ten works for me...i didnt call last year twenty nine. i seriously can not believe it is 2010! i am going to be 30 this year (pretty soon) and david and i will celebrate 10 years of marriage and we have had seth for 1 year! time goes by way too fast! i think my goal for 2010 is to keep living on a budget and to pay off our debt. we have been chipping away at it and we are getting close. i coupon shop and try to save money on groceries and i dont buy anything unless we need it. (most of the time)

2nd dish

2009-12-29T22:56:00.002-05:00

so tonight i made another dish from my new cookbook...page 186 turkey meatloaf and broccoli with cheddar cheese sauce. so the whole 30 minute meal thing is lost on me...i made the meatloaf last night because it is impossible to cut a bunch of "hidden" veggies for the meatloaf with an 11 month old trying to crawl up my legs. so i cut up all the "hidden" veggies and put them in the turkey loaf - zucchini, red bell pepper, scallions. the other secret ingredient replaces bread crumbs - smoked almonds! i think these made this meatloaf so delicious!! the cheese sauce was very scary to be because i tried this one other time and ended up having to throw the pan away. so as i was mixing all of the ingredients i think i may have held my breath. the cheese sauce i made with no fat cheese and it still tasted sooo good! i also made some mashed potatoes and we put the cheese sauce on those too!! all in all i am pretty excited that i liked the meatloaf because it was very tricky hiding all of the veggies in the mix and the almonds! i cant wait for my meatloaf sandwich for lunch tomorrow!! i wish the 30 minute desserts actually sounded tasty and weren't so hard because i could have really used something sweet after dinner. Tomorrow i am just making an old trusty not sure what yet probably pasta...david will probably be disappointed.

first new dish

2009-12-28T23:45:00.002-05:00

so for christmas a very exciting gift is my new cook book...get real 30 minute meals rachael ray
tonight i made my first 30 minute meal - - turkey club salad with avocado dressing (i substituted chicken for the turkey) the first thing i have to say is it took me an hour I do have a 10 month old to chase after but i think i might just be really slow at cutting veggies. (slow is good so i have all my fingers still) the best part about this meal is the dressing it is very simple 2 ripe avocados, zest of 1 lemon, 1 garlic clove, 2 tbl red wine vinegar and 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil. I always add sourcream to make avocados go further but this is a much healthier and better way to do this. I think it could have used 1 tbl red wine vinegar because that was a little strong. the worst part about this meal was the bacon - - it was turkey bacon and it would not crisp. i realized i bought a different type then what was recommended so next time i will buy ready crisp bacon! i am so excited for the next recipe to try and maybe someday i will actually make a meal in 30 min...probably not. the salad was very filling and very tasty!! the dressing would work great for a taco salad or any mexican meal. enjoy!

leavin' on a jet plane

2009-07-28T02:56:00.002-04:00

why does it seem like everytime i am going on a trip the night before is chaos? i try not to procrastinate i even set out everything i wanted to pack last night but some how i ended up awake at 3am "finishing" packing. tomorrow is a first for us and for our baby...first plane ride with an infant for us and of course his first plane ride ever! He is teething so our adventure might be a bit rocky, hopefully he sleeps a lot. He is a very cute baby so whoever sits next to us will probably fall in love with him and not hate us!! We can only hope. So as I was packing i put 3 books in my checked luggage and one in my carry on. David quickly brought me back to reality and said "you really think you are going to read 4 books?" i haven't read much since november when Bobby came to stay with us and i had high hopes of catching up on some reading. but i am glad i have a husband who calmly explains that i shouldnt add any weight to my bag. so i brought 2 books and hope to read at least 1. we will be in california for 2 weeks and i am looking forward to seeing my family. i miss them sooo much.

amazed

2009-07-06T08:33:00.002-04:00

i am so amazed at our 2 year old he has so many words now and he is so smart! when you ask him who is the cutest or smartest he now says "me"! i love it!!

first father's day

2009-06-21T08:14:00.002-04:00

today is the first time i am celebrating that my husband is a father. when i woke up to the baby crying i went right in as fast as i could so david could sleep. then i looked over and he was already gone for church. i came out to the kitchen changed the baby and made him a bottle. i sat down to davids computer and he had a word document open with a story he wrote last night. i went to bed before him because he went out for a jog and i tried to stay awake until he got back but gave in to sleep. he didnt make it to bed until after 4am, i dont question when he stays up late he is by nature a night owl and he will get to nap today. any way back to the word document it is titled "first fathers day" and as i read it tears welled up in my eyes. by the end i was full out sobbing!! i am amazed by my husband everyday he is the best dad! being a parent is the hardest but most rewarding job in the world. i love my husband more everyday.

too long

2009-05-14T13:34:00.002-04:00

so now that i am addicted to facebook i dont blog as much. i guess i just figured no one is reading so why write. but i realized i like to write even if it is just little notes here and there. i am enjoying being a foster mom - - "fissa" is what we have bobby call me and he used to just not call me anything but he recently started calling me "mama" he knows i am not his mama as he points at her picture on our fridge and says mama and dada. so i am not sure why he calls me mama maybe because fissa is too hard for him to say? I always say not mama - fissa and he giggles. I love this little boy so much!! he started weekend visits with his family 2 weeks ago and the first week was really hard but last weekend when he came home he was pretty good, other then crying for mama and dada and now poppop at bed time. his family is probably going to reunify in june once school gets out. we are going to miss him so much but we are happy for his family. being a foster parent is hard but worth every minute!!

:)

2009-03-09T00:31:00.002-04:00

Just a few funny things...

- To hold his cell phone up to his ear, bobby puts his arm straight out and uses his shoulder.
- When the baby cries bobby puts his hand up and says “take it easy”
- Bobby loves to hide, he also loves to be scared.
- I have fallen asleep sitting straight up and I have fallen asleep typing on my laptop…lack of sleep just catches up with you. (my dad can sleep standing up)
- I never thought i would be happy to sleep 3 hours in a row :)

i am really enjoying our boys...i thank God for all 3 of my boys every day!!

life

2009-02-18T21:01:00.002-05:00

so life has changed a lot for me...we have two foster children now and the newest addition is 2 weeks old. life is now all about him...keeping track of eating and pooping :) waking in the night to feed and change..and our other guy is doing great with the transition...he is still the star of the show and he knows it. he is good with the baby being gentle and he loves to give him kisses. life is good...God is good and i am so thankful for having both of these boys in my life. we dont know how long we will have them, so right now we are just loving on them the best we can! with lots of hugs and kisses!!

2009-01-12T13:01:00.001-05:00

Melissa Mae

love dare

2009-01-07T10:37:00.001-05:00

david and i got the book love dare for christmas. i just started it yesterday i will let you know what i think after the 40days. so far i am looking forward to reading and then acting on what the book gives as a love dare for the love of my life!

ny

2008-12-21T21:27:00.002-05:00

i am going to Ny tomorrow!! so exciting! i helped davids uncle plan a day trip to the city for his wife, daughter and two grand daughters and i get to go along. i am very excited...just finished writing down all of the addresses to the places we plan on visiting. we are going to see the rockettes, the tree at rockefeller center, fao schwartz, american girl store, macys and i am sure much more! should be a great day...hopefully no rain! (i have bad luck it usually rains when i go to NY) Even if it does rain it will still be fun.

2008-12-12T23:54:00.000-05:00

This is pretty cool.

Desert i am in arizona

2008-12-09T19:01:00.001-05:00

Desert i am in arizona for work and it is so different from new jersey. Lots and lots of houses and sand and pretty mountains in the distance.

GIVING

2008-12-01T13:24:00.002-05:00

I just read an article about giving..this stuck out to me "Giving what is in greatest need is an excellent way to make a huge difference with just a little as it has the largest impact. In most circumstances, giving anything is helpful and always appreciated." http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Generous-on-a-Limited-Budget

quiet

2008-12-01T10:28:00.001-05:00

it is very quiet when our little guy isnt here. he is at gramma marys while i work. so crazy how our world changes when we get a foster child. he is just so amazing!!

Mornings start a lot earlier

2008-11-30T09:24:00.001-05:00

Mornings start a lot earlier now that we have a little guy!

2008-11-29T21:59:00.000-05:00

I love christmas!

foster placement

2008-11-24T09:46:00.001-05:00

we are pretty excited to have another foster child...it is wierd because of the anticiptation and the unknown. so today somewhere between 4 and 5 pm we will become parents to a 18 month old little boy. it is a short term placement at this point so please pray for us. we learned that it is really hard to say goodbye.

snow

2008-11-18T10:58:00.001-05:00

i had the joy of spending time with my friends daughters. i spent more time with the younger daughter and she told me she was praying for snow and that she is sure it is cold enough. i thought poor thing dreaming of snow its never gonna happen. then i just saw the forecast and it actually says chance of snow!! i am just amazed!!

Just filled up my car

2008-11-15T09:35:00.000-05:00

Just filled up my car gas is $1.90 Per gallon

45 degrees

2008-11-11T10:10:00.001-05:00

its crasy that 45 degrees doesnt seem that cold to me. living in southern ca for most of my life 45 degrees was frigid! now i go out in with out a coat....its sweatshirt weather! haha! so crazy!

great weekend

2008-11-10T08:45:00.001-05:00

despite bad weather this weekend i had a great time with robert and janet. we climbed the lighthouse in cape may, went to sunset beach and collected stones. went to a bbq and bonfire and just enjoyed our time with our friends. i am so thankful that they can stay extra days atfer njea and hang out with us!

good morning

2008-11-05T07:42:00.001-05:00

i am up early trying to get a few hours of work in before we drive up to atlantic city to hand out with robert & janet hyde!! they are here for njea (something for teachers) anyway i am so excited to see them and spend the day being a tourist!

vote

2008-11-04T10:05:00.001-05:00

dont forget to vote today!

igoogle

2008-11-03T10:14:00.001-05:00

so i just made my own homepage for google and i can now update my blog on the google page! it is pretty cool. i can see the weather, snapfish, news and i am sure i can set up more stuff. but i have to get back to working!

2008-11-01T14:06:00.001-04:00

This is the corn maze we went to today! So awesome!

grocery store

2008-10-28T09:57:00.002-04:00

so yesterday i went to shop rite which is a bigger and more diverse story then acme (where i ususally shop) two weird things i saw while shopping. the first was a whle package of chicken feet. really people eat just the feet. it cant be much meat! and the second was a refrigerator (?on sp) in the dog food aisle. i couldnt believe it!! i dont have a dog and i might never have one but if i ever do they will not eat food from the fridge!!

2008-10-21T17:15:00.000-04:00

This little guy was living behind our couch.

yum yum english muffin

2008-10-14T10:44:00.002-04:00

where do these yummy breakfast food items come from? i love them with a little butter or a little peanut butter and honey. yum! we had english muffin pizzas for lunch on sunday and now i get to have the left over english muffins for breakfast!! yum yum!

life

2008-10-13T14:09:00.002-04:00

so life is interesting to me....i enjoy my life very much even though sometimes i complain. i am so blessed and i thank God for my family, friends and church. yesterday was a great day at seashore community church of the nazarene and then after church i went to my friend amanda's championship soccer game...her team won! i only know amanda because her family is our pastoral staff and i love her family so much!! our pastoral staff is awesome! i didnt go to any of her sister Jenna's games but next time for sure!! go bulldogs and waves!

17 days

2008-10-01T22:47:00.002-04:00

so i have been in california 17 days with out david and i thought i was so tough...but i really miss him!! lucky for me he is in the air right now on his way to california too! we will be celebrating my sister and joshua wedding on saturday! i am so excited for him to be here!!

2008-09-27T12:35:00.000-04:00

my mom got us tickets to see bye bye birdie last night. We had great seats and the show was amazing!

starling diner

2008-09-24T11:55:00.003-04:00

this is the most amazing french toast in the world i want to learn how to make this. the website for the restaurant is the starling diner

work out

2008-09-16T13:42:00.002-04:00

i went with my mom to her gym and worked out with her personal trainer. oh my goodness i am not going to be able to walk tomorrow. it was a great work out!! i miss aerobics so much and the work out we did i could do at home...so i plan on doing it when i go back to nj. i get to go to the trainer 3 more times with my mom. very cool!

Spirit airlines sucks

2008-09-15T01:25:00.000-04:00

My second flight was ft lauderdale to lax how much sense does that make?

Rode almost 9 miles on

2008-09-14T00:07:00.001-04:00

Rode almost 9 miles on my new bike on thursday! It was so fun, forgot to get a picture of it. It is red and has gears! My first bike ever w gears

2008-09-12T19:22:00.001-04:00

I drove this big truck tonight it even has air brakes!

water park fun

2008-09-11T10:35:00.003-04:00

we got to go to the water park thanks to nick lassor!! thanks for the awesome day at the water park here is a video of jason being crazy on one of the slides.

changes

2008-09-09T07:57:00.002-04:00

After

2008-09-07T14:59:00.000-04:00

Last sunday i went to see wedding singer on broadway in atlantic city this is how close we were! It was so much fun!

pictures to come

2008-09-05T07:43:00.003-04:00

so i did rearrange our living room and i tried to post pictures but they wouldnt work. so i will try to do it again today! i dont know which way i like it better. but its just nice to have a change. the new way the longer couch is directly facing the tv so more people can have a better view. but we rarely watch tv. it will be good for movie nights !

2008-09-02T23:35:00.001-04:00

Before

change

2008-09-02T11:24:00.002-04:00

do you ever just feel like you need a change? i think my unrest or unease goes back to when i was a kid and we moved around a lot. so now every 6 months or so i start to get a itch to change something in my house. i dont want to move, even though i do look at realtor.com a lot! (cause i want to buy a house some day) so i am sitting in my living room thinking how i can change stuff around. i am working so i wont be able to do anything now. but maybe this week...then i can vaccum the couches and the area where they sit. the only bummer is our cable cord is short so i cant move the tv unless i put it in front of the window and behind the door. so i probably will just switch the couches. i will post before and after pictures once i actually change stuff around. maybe i will move the art work too! it drives david crazy but he always loves the end result!

2008-08-27T08:38:00.000-04:00

Working.

i make phone calls

2008-08-26T15:12:00.001-04:00

all day long i make phone calls and after 6 hours of making phone calls i think i am starting to go crazy! the last call of the day i reached a man named george all i needed to know was if a check was received for records. he told me he had to go to another place to find out and placed the call on hold. i was on hold for 15 minutes. nothing like the last call of the day lasting forever!!

verse of the day

2008-08-26T12:17:00.002-04:00

proverbs 31:5 - She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at days to come.

i am blessed with friends who are amazing! i am so glad that i have friends who love the Lord and love me too!! whatever is in our future God is in control and that is pretty cool.

last campground

2008-08-25T14:28:00.002-04:00

i went to seashore campground for the last time this summer. i take pottery to 4 local camp grounds and this is one of the best campgrounds around. it is always bittersweet to see summer come to an end. but i am so glad that i got to meet Nancy through Art & Soul and bringing pottery to the campground. she is such a great lady and wonderful friend. i am already looking forward to coming back to seashore next summer. thanks nancy!!

8.22.08

2008-08-22T17:43:00.002-04:00

blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. luke 6:21

today has been a hard day but this was my devotional verse. thank you God.

summer

2008-08-19T10:12:00.001-04:00

so summer is almost over..sadness. i think i am going to the water park tomorrow. pretty excited!!

hope

2008-08-14T14:04:00.003-04:00

1 corinthians 13:13b (message version) Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

i have loved "s" and i know God loves me and her.

there is HOPE in that!

sad

2008-08-14T11:22:00.001-04:00

just got a call that our little "s" might be going tomorrow. please pray for us and her. thank you.

circus

2008-08-12T11:31:00.002-04:00

so we went to the cole brothers circus last night. little "s" loved the cotton candy and the popcorn and especially the motorcycles which she pronouces "moto kykles". or course the motor cycles were first so after that she kept asking for them. the elephants were last and she could have cared less. she just wanted to see the motorcycles one more time. the circus is over priced and cheesy but she loved it!! the $5 cotton candy and the $5 popcorn were a big hit!!

monday

2008-08-11T09:00:00.002-04:00

i have a case of the mondays!! i dont feel like doing anything. our little friend "s" called me into her room at 7. then we snuggled for an hour and finally got up at 8. i wish we were still snugglin'.

501 posts

2008-08-03T22:20:00.002-04:00

pretty cool. i just saw that the last post i did was my 500th thats pretty cool. so today we went to the beach and our little friend had a great day. she loved every part of the beach and was so tired when it was time to go home she didnt seem too upset to have to be leaving. she fell asleep on the way home and was a little grumpy due to all the sand in her pull up. she loved the water and she even made sand angels. both david and i missed out on our naps but it was worth it. maybe next week she will take a nap! fat chance.