Real Families Talk Biracial Haircare {Post #4}

It's time for Round 4! I'm having a blast hearing from these awesome families. I hope you are enjoying it too! Today we hear from Melanie Coffee, an award-winning journalist who blogs over at She's Write. I am sure I've mentioned Melanie before - I had the luck of meeting her at the BlogHer convention this summer, when we sat at the same table for breakfast and then realized we're both mommas in mixed race families. On top of that, she loves wine and writing, so hey, we've got a few more things in common! Melanie and her handsome Norwegian husband are parents to two curly-haired boys, Logan (age 6) and Ethan (2 1/2).

Describe your sons' hair:

Sandy brown, finely textured and loose curls.

Are there any specific resources or tips you have found helpful, when it comes to learning to care for your kids' hair?

After a few mediocre hair cuts at a kids’ place, I found that I need to say to “taper the boys hair in the back” so that their hair lays right and when it grows out, still looks somewhat tidy, or at least nicely shaped. And, since they have wild curls when it gets long, I have them cut the hair around the ears because if not, when those curls grow out, the boys look like they have wings.

Any favorite products for your children's hair?

I don’t really have one. We use Aveeno bath and shampoo wash for ease and I rarely use any products beyond that. Though when Logan wanted a mohawk, I used his dad’s hair gel to create a fauxhawk.

What is your "go to" hair style for your boys?

How to Host A Holiday Open-House that Gives Back

Last year, I started fantasizing about hosting a holiday open house. "Fantasizing" is really not an overstatement. We had never had one before, and I had visions of our friends and neighbors, decked out in their holiday finery, stopping in to drink wine and munch on home-made sugar cookies by the light of our Christmas tree. Sounds perfectly lovely, right? (Just ignore the screaming children in the background, of course.)

I was planning it all out in my head when, thanks to a sponsored post I was working on at the time and a very quick deadline, our open house became something entirely different, but just as wonderful. We ended up hosting a holiday brunch which doubled as a collection for our local women and children's shelter.

I was so happy with how it all turned out, I decided it definitely needed to become a tradition. Except, given our weekend schedule this month and our holidy travel plans, we will be skipping this year. Bummer! But we will be doing it again in 2014 and I'm thinking it a charity-brunch may be a perfect twist on a house-warming party when we move this spring. Who says this has to be a holiday open house?

So I  thought I would share how to go about throwing your own holiday (or not) brunch / community collection, just in case you might like to do something similar. I mean, what captures the meaning of the holidays better than gathering with your favorite people and doing good for others? And this can be thrown together very quickly. Last year I planned our brunch in 48 hours - invitations went out Friday, brunch on Sunday morning. Although I don't necessarily recommend being so last minute, it did mean less time to stress about it.

I really wish I had some good photos of the event. Next year, I'll do a better job with my photography and share again! In the meantime here are 5 steps to hosting your own holiday open-house that gives back:

Real Families Talk Biracial Haircare {Post #3}

Today's talk about biracial haircare comes to us from Peggy, who is raising her 10-year-old grandaughter, Ayanna. Ayanna's mom (Peggy's daughter) is Caucasian and her father is African-American. 

How would you describe your granddaughter's hair?

Beautiful!  Thick. Dry on outer layers. Wavy, but curly near the scalp with tiny curls on the sides and nap of neck. 

What resources have you found most helpful, when it comes to caring for her hair? 

I've read so many blogs and websites that I can't keep track of all of them, but I really enjoy Beads, Braids and Beyond.  She gives nice tutorials that are easy to follow.

What are your favorite haircare products? 

More Gift Ideas for Kids Who Love Science & Nature

Last year, my now-7-year-old shared his recommendations for holiday gifts for kids who love science and nature. He's got a few more ideas this year, so here we go -  six more ideas for gifts that will cater to your kiddos' desire to learn and explore the world around them.

Some of the links below are affiliate links, but all opinions are 100% ours. These are all items that we have and love, or plan to give for Christmas this year. And I woud LOVE to  hear your suggestions! What should we add to this list?

1. Snap Circuits - These are electronics discovery kits that come with a book full of experiments to try. Zip got one for his birthday this year and, after a little instruction from his dad, immersed himself in building the most complicated experiments he could find. For now he just enjoys replicating the diagrams and seeing if they work (great for planning and problem-solving!), but there is definitely the potential to talk about how electronics work as well. We have the Snap Circuits Extreme kit, but there are a number of different kits.

2. A subscription to Sneakin' in Science - This is a "science-experiment-of-the-month" club that offers 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month subscriptions. I wrote a review a few months ago, and it is not exaggerating to say that Zip CHERISHES his subscripton. He asks every.single.month if his science project has arrived yet and was checking the mailbox every day last week looking for November's project (growing bacteria!).

5 Things That Nursing A Toddler Taught Me About Parenting

Several weeks ago, WhatToExpect.com invited me to write a post for their site, as part of a feature called Word of Mom. I wracked my brain for what to write, hoping something would come to me. WhatToExpect.com is geared toward parents-to-be and parents of babies and toddlers. What could I share that would be meaningful and helpful to parents of really little ones? How to get your toddler to stay in bed past 5 am? How not to freak out when your baby waits until he is 17 months to walk (like mine did)? Maybe...

It eventually did come to me (phew!) - 5 Things That Nursing A Toddler Taught Me About Parenting. The post is only a little bit about nursing, mostly about those parenting truths that nursing Bee into toddlerhood drove home for me, like the fact that we all do things as parents that we never expected we would and that is okay - lets give ourselves permission to learn from our experiences and change our minds. 

I am honored to have the opportunity to share my writing on WhatToExpect.com. I hope you'll check it out! 

5 Things That Nursing A Toddler Taught Me About Parenting