Mel's Box of Chocolates

SUBSCRIBE to never miss a piece of chocolate   Be Sweet, Follow Mel on Twitter

Happy Earth Day!! In celebration of Earth Day, I thought I would share this fun craft idea with you.  The other day at school Dylan made a Grass Head.  Isn't it cute? I decided to do it with my class as an Earth Day craft and thought you may enjoy doing it with your kids too.   The detailed directions can be found at CraftBits . SUBSCRIBE to never miss a piece of chocolate Be Sweet, Follow Mel on Twitter

Visit 5minutesformom to see more Wordless Wednesday pictures. SUBSCRIBE to never miss a piece of chocolate Be Sweet, Follow Mel on Twitter

As many know, I've been on a weight loss journey since January 2007. By November of that same year I had lost 40 pounds and while I had not met my goal weight became pretty content with where I was.  I was in a healthy weight range for my height {be it way at the top}, I felt awesome, and I finally enjoyed clothes shopping.  It was good!   Part of me though was disappointed that I didn't meet that magical number.  Now I must say while I did have a goal number, I didn't focus entirely on it, but rather my focus was more on clothing size.  I had a size 6 in my mind and that really was my ultimate goal.  So I decided I would keep going. But, other than a half pound here, nothing here, nothing there, maybe another half pound somewhere, and even a gain every now and then, nothing really changed.  I was maintaining, but never really any closer to my final goal.  My heart wasn't in it. My motivation had left. I was too comfortable. Flash fo...

When I visited Gifts From the Heart the other day I was touched by Alli's post on how Everybody's Different .  The great thing about the blogosphere is, just as Alli says, that we are all different.  When you take time to read a variety of blogs you become exposed to different lifestyles, beliefs, religions, politics, parenting styles...the list can go on and on.  While I read many blogs whose author's lives and beliefs are very similiar to mine, I really enjoy reading those whose are so different. They are the ones that often challenge my thinking and allow me to see something in new a light.  I like that! After reading Alli's post {you really must read it for yourself} and reading those of the links she shared {yes, you must follow her links too} I was inspired to share with you some of the things you may see if you were to come visit me. In our house... you will find two working parents, one child in a public school and another at full time daycare. Our day...

This has been my first Saturday at home without anything to do in over a month.  Boy did it feel good to just sleep in this morning!  Can I tell you how much I enjoy having two kids old enough to get up and make their own breakfast {aka pour their own cereal} so that I take my good ol' time getting up? I like this! I must confess though when I say "without anything to do" I don't mean that quite literally.  As we all know, a mom always has something to do.  After I finally left my bed and had some breakfast and coffee myself, the kids and I blasted music and had a bit of a cleaning fest.  I wouldn't even have let a pizza delivery man come to our upstairs as it was!  Am I the only one that takes over a week to unpack from a vacation??  We still had four suitcases spread around our bedroom from our Florida vacation last week.  I am happy to report though that everything looks much better {mom you would be proud}, although more cleaning will be ta...

One of the highlights of our spring break vacation was watching the shuttle launch from Kennedy Space Center.  Monday morning {4-5-10} we got up before the crack of dawn to head to the beach to see what we could see.   The kids and I huddled together on the cold sand waiting for the launch. Finally, the sky lit up as the shuttle made its way to outer space. If you listen carefully you can hear a fellow shuttle observer say "GO USA", and I have to say that you definitely felt pride for your country standing there watching such an amazing event happen before your eyes.  It was awesome. After watching the light disappear in the sky we jumped back in the car to go find some breakfast.  The excitement of the morning was a bit much for Zoe! There are only four more launches scheduled before we say goodbye to our space program.  Sad. But, I'm glad that my family got to experience a launch from that close of a range.   Memory created! ...

SUBSCRIBE to never miss a piece of chocolate Be Sweet, Follow Mel on Twitter

Each year we plan our vacation during the week of spring break.  It works the best because Dyl and I are out of school and it is right before hubby's busy time at work {he works in the boating industry at the beach so summer vacations are out of the question}.   My favorite vacation was when we flew out to California, around the San Diego area where I was born, and just explored.  We visited Disneyland, Legoland, and the famous zoo, but also took time to just enjoy the California sunshine driving up and down the coast stopping wherever our hearts desired.  Of course, I must say that was also by far the most expensive vacation we have went on too and like everybody else we have cut way back the past couple of years. But that brings me to What I Learned This Week ... you can have an awesome vacation without spending an arm and a leg. Last week was our annual vacation and we headed down to Florida with everybody else apparently as 95 south was quite the pla...

One of the hardest parts of being a working mom is deciding when to stay home and when to go to work, meaning when to take kids to daycare.  I'm not talking about every day of course, I've already told you how working makes me a better mom.   Yesterday, Zoe and her bicycle had a run in.   See, she has been dying to ride her bike on two wheels and while she can ride on two wheels wonderfully on her smaller bike, her new Christmas bike is just a tad too big for her feet to touch the ground comfortably.  So to give her some stability, but still allow her to practice her two wheels daddy raised her training wheels.  She was pedaling her little heart out when things went amiss.  As I was watching she tumbled in the grass with the bike tumbling right with her.  At first I didn't think much of it as the grass was very soft and Zoe is queen of jumping up and yelling "I'm ok."  But, this time she didn't jump up, but rather was grabbing her ey...

SUBSCRIBE to never miss a piece of chocolate Be Sweet, Follow Mel on Twitter

In case you missed it, I'm on vacation.   In Florida.   Where the sun is shining and the weather is perfect.   Hence my lack in posting!   One may even think with all this relaxing and vacationing that I would have time to post, but not happening. Instead of posting, I've been busy doing other things like... Spending a day on the boat with the family, watching pelicans fly, horseshoe crabs float, fish swim, manatees dive, dolphins jump.  I also listened to my kids squeal as they played in the spray of the water coming off the boat. Watching my son turn into a fisherman and listened to him tell his fish stories. Seeing the same son bravely launch the kayak into a canal by himself and paddle up and down. Enjoying watching hubby and Zoe do the same! Finding a lagoon by the ocean and waded throughout it with the family, thrilled that I could see my painted toes the whole time. Holding my breath as Dylan and Zoe body surfed on the pou...

SUBSCRIBE to never miss a piece of chocolate Be Sweet, Follow Mel on Twitter

This weeks challenge is all about the FEET. Now I'm not a big foot fan unless we are talking pedicures or shoes, but as I was uploading my pictures from our car ride yesterday I knew I had the perfect picture for this challenge. While I was taking my turn driving, hubby took the opportunity to hang out in the backseat with Zoe.  He took off his shoes and propped up his feet to enjoy a book on his nook.  Zoe took the opportunity to get comfy too and as she propped up her feet and began reading her book, she took a deep breath and declared, "This is the life." I captured the moment and couldn't agree with Zoe's statement more. This is the life and I'm so blessed that it's mine. You Capture is being hosted by Keli this week as Beth is busy adoring her brand new baby. Go check out all the other feet on display! Next Weeks Theme: Comfort SUBSCRIBE to never miss a piece of chocolate Be Sweet, Follow Mel on Twitter

Every spring break we make the annual trek to Florida. We’re very lucky that we have family who live near the beach and only 45 minutes to Orlando so there is always plenty to keep us busy, plus a free place to stay…yes, we are spoiled. This year was no different. We packed up the car and on Good Friday headed south on our 14 16 hour trip. Of course we started off 3 hours late. I could tell you that it was because my hubby had issues setting the alarm clock for 3am, but to be honest I was happy that I got a couple extra hours of sleep considering I was up until midnight, the night before, folding clothes. The trip was pretty uneventful and we were moving right along, that is until we hit the middle of South Carolina where we came to a STOP.  Now we were given warnings as flashing constructions signs told us of an "incident ahead" and declared "to be prepared to stop" but we chose to ignore them.  We wanted to be blissfully ignorant of what we were abo...

Wow!  What an insanely busy month March was. I can't believe we are already 4 months into 2010.  Absolutely unbelievable how fast time goes these days.   March was especially hectic as I was only home one full weekend and that was for my hubby's b-day .  The rest of the weekends were spent at Bloggy Boot Camp , FitBloggin , and most recently at The Golden Inn for Smores at the Shores girlfriend getaway.   The best part of all the events was meeting so many of my blogger buddies in person.  AMAZING.  Each event was vastly different, but all of them exactly what I needed.  Bloggy Boot Camp inspired me to get back on my blogging track and taught me some great tricks to implement, FitBloggin inspired me to get running again and focus some of my blog time on fitness, and Smores at the Shores allowed me some time for just me.  It was perfect to end the month by relaxing, eating delicious meals, enjoying a massage, and just sitting ...