Author Archives: Melissa

Christmas Play

*Found this in my drafts also.

Last Christmas, the children did a Christmas play the week before Christmas. They did a great job! It was based around the story of the candy cane.

Hannah walked down the aisle to music and presented the big candy canes.

Alex was a shepherd boy and the cutest one at that!!

Matthew was the choir conductor who happened to be the husband of the woman that thought of the idea of the candy cane.

And Sam was that woman. The children did a really great job and my kids had a lot of fun doing it!

Big Helpers

Hannah is 3 1/2* and Leah is almost 2*. They are big helpers all the time!! I’m sometimes surprised at what they are capable of doing. They love to help anyone, anytime. Sometimes we don’t want their help…so I really try to make sure that I find “jobs” for them that are age-appropriate.

One thing they can do is take the clothes out of the dryer and put them in a laundry basket. And then drag/push the basket to my bedroom which is where I fold the laundry.

What do your little ones do to help out around the house?

*I wrote this post in Feb 2010. I don’t know why it’s still in my drafts. Hannah is now 4 and Leah is 2 1/2. Besides these jobs, Hannah now also empties the bathroom trash cans, and picks up her own bedroom, puts away her clean clothes, as well as helping whenever I ask it of her. Leah likes to help with anything also – especially cooking. That girl loves to eat!

Friday's Homeschool Feature – Science Jim

I’m very pleased to link up with Mandy this week for her Friday’s Homeschool Feature!! Thanks for doing this, Mandy. I look forward to see what other homeschool features get posted.

This past week Samantha and Matthew participated in an online science class.

Science Jim has series of classes that are held weekly for $5 per week (or so). These particular ones are $5 per week. I found out about these classes and signed up through CurrClick Curriculum.

This current series is based on what is happening in the Winter Olympics. The first week was gravity and this week was on speed. I think next week is friction. You can jump in for any week though. Science Jim uses DimDim for his classes. You can see him on the bottom left here. In the middle is where he shows pictures and other media for the class.

On the right is a chat box where students can ask questions and also answer his questions. Out of 5, I rate this class a 4. It started out slow but got very interesting. The kids enjoyed his real-life experiments that he was doing. Plus he gave them ideas of experiments to try themselves (which Matthew did do with his Legos).

Another reason to mark it less than 5 is because of the chat feature. It is wonderful that the kids can ask questions and he can answer them right away. However, even though Science Jim reminded the children to not “goof off” or “get silly” in the chat box, many students still did. This is distracting to others that are watching as the chat box keeps moving. Plus Science Jim is trying to keep an eye on the chat box so that he can answer questions. I was disappointed that so many children – homeschooled children! – were doing that.

All in all, it was great…something different to do in their week…and something to look forward to each week. We’ll be finishing this series out for sure.

PSA: Military Wives not Single Moms

I’m sure this will make some roll their eyes. But that’s okay. It’s my blog and just hope that you might see my heart in this.

Military wives are not single moms while their husbands are deployed.

I think it’s offensive to single moms to say that. I know when you say, “I’m a single mom right now,” you’re not saying it to be offensive. But that’s why I’m posting this to let you know, that to a single mom, it can be hurtful.

See, I was a single mom once. For 5 years. I know the difference.

When I was a single mom, ALL the decisions were made by me. All the money had to be made by me. There were not 2 heads in which to talk things out, or debate, or figure out the best route for the family. There was just me. There wasn’t someone else helping out financially. There was just me. When my daughter was sick, and I didn’t work, that meant I might not be able to pay the insurance that month, or the electric. Deciding on what to do in those situations is very stressful.

When you’re a single mom, you don’t get a break from the stress of being THE ONE that both you and your child have to count on. Now it’s not that I didn’t have family around me. I did! I’m really glad I did. But ultimately the bottom line is that it was all me.

As a military wife, when my husband is deployed, I still don’t work. I’m free to just take care of the children and enjoy the fact that the paycheck hits the checking account 2 times a month. (Even if I did work, there is knowledge that I didn’t HAVE to work.) I still have my husband there to help with decisions. Yes, the day to day living falls on me, but the life choices regarding our family does not fall on just me.

It just isn’t the same.

A friend told me that it’s hard when her husband is so involved with the children, taking them places on the weekends, family devotions, just really being very involved, and then to have him leave and not be there doing that. I know it is. And the more involved the dad, the harder it will be. But the knowledge of what he does, who he is, the love he has for those kids, that knowledge is there. His children will not forget that. The family can still function as a family knowing that dad will return.

Out of respect for true single moms, please don’t call yourself one. Say, “My husband is deployed right now.” Or something similar. Because you are married. Even if he is not physically present, you are not single.

Thank you.

Military Homecomings – Part 4

This post is the final in a 4 part series about Roy’s homecoming last September. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

When we had gone down the field, the buses had just arrived on base. However, the Marines still have weapons to turn in and any last word to be given needs to be passed.

While were waiting on the field, I kept hearing other family members on the phone with their Marine. Talking about how the Marines were on the buses. They were coming soon. And then we’d all rush to the white line. And then nothing. I won’t get into the details as to why there were delays…there just were. And it was awful. The kids were getting grumpy. It was cold. Leah was clinging to me and wouldn’t go back to sleep in the stroller. I felt awful that my friend had been up all night.

I had reached a point where I didn’t want Roy to come home right then. All I wanted was my bed. Sleep. Maybe we could try again the next day?

Yes. Well. It doesn’t work that way. I’m thinking all these things in my head. I’m picturing him getting off the bus and the kids fussing at him or not wanting to hug him or talk to him. I pictured myself grumping at him for being “late” when it wasn’t his fault!

I took a few moments and prayed. Just prayed for patience. And peace. And to be able to just focus on the moment.

Thankfully it wasn’t much longer after that and we heard that the buses were on their way.

We stood at the rope line and waited.

We heard the buses first….and then saw them. There were 10 buses. Which would he be on???

We waved and waved hoping that he would see us easily and be able to find us!! There were lights but it was still dark out and all those Marines look the same in their uniforms.