Cherish My Daughter

Hey Mocha Family, One of the most difficult aspects of homeschooling for me is working with multiple kids and availing myself to everyone.  Multiple kids calling my name, though they see me explaining something to another sibling, can be so frustrating. I've learned to give myself a break by turning these situations into teachable moments.  We can all wait our turn and I always make sure my kids have some independent work to tide them over until I can get to them. Sometimes a kid is having a bad day in general or has some area of school they don't enjoy.  We set the precedent for what is acceptable at the beginning of the school year, so I work hard to stay calm and stand my ground during meltdowns.  I confess that I'm not always successful, however, in the above video I show you how I managed to bring my daughter's calm back, during our first melt down of the year.  This episode challenged me after a long vacation with much less structure than usual.  ...

Hey Mocha Family! What's more exciting than starting my own set of locks?  Watching my 19 year old son start his.  My only regret is seeing his hair progress from a distance since he is campus bound.  Thankfully there's not much to do with locks.  In fact, most of what I had to share with The Only One (my son) is what NOT to do.  The short list is as follows: 1. Hand in lock disease. 2. Sleeping with a naked head. 3. Washing and conditioning with anything creamy. 4. Over twisting. 5. Covering wet locks. For anything I may have forgotten, I am so grateful for Michelle George's book, The Knotty Truth, where he's sure to find all his questions answered and more.     Be blessed!

Hey Mocha Family, My greatest epiphany on my first day of homeschool is a little ridiculous since I should know this already. Prayer works! I typically pray when I'm in trouble or confused, but one of the most effective ways to apply prayer is to ask God for strength, guidance and wisdom ahead of time.  A subbie, turned friend texted me to encourage me to pray on my first day of homeschool and I know it made all of the difference in the world. I am asking if you guys are interested in seeing parts of my homeschool day in a vlog.  Let me know in the comments down below. Be blessed!

Hey Mocha Family! I announced in the video above that I miss my locks and will probably start a new set when my hair is longer.  It's a loose plan.  Who knows? Sometimes I really miss my locks and can barely stand to watch videos of myself wearing them.  Yet I can honestly say that I love the short fro and the way it makes me look.  Maybe I need to consider some sort of braid extension style so I can go back and forth between both looks. Time will definitely tell, but I find it to be exhilarating to change my hair up fearlessly, whether it means chopping it all off, or adopting a style that was considered deviant by some people not that long ago.   I love the way things have changed for us and could have never imagined it when I started my natural hair journey in 1994. Be blessed!

Hey Mocha Family, I hope you enjoy touring our homeschool room for 2016/2017! We have renewed our commitment to HOME schooling, and I think this new location gives the perfect vibe for a family striving to learn together.  There's nothing wrong with setting up a dedicated school room, but for me, I needed to make the physical change. I am looking forward to pulling my little ones into my lap again.  I don't want to neglect my number one asset in educating my kids.  I'm still "Mom". Be blessed!

Hey Mocha Family, This is a great back to school style! It holds up really well if you tie it down every night.  I love mixing up box braids, cornrows and flat twists. Suddenly a very simple style has a lot of visual interest, and Mom appears to have put in much more time and effort than she did.  The cornrows help the edges stay neat longer, while holding the strands securely in a protective style.  Be sure to try fun hair accessories and positioning the braids in different ways to change up the look! Be blessed!

Hey Mocha Family, Some of you have noticed how much better my skin looks and want to know how my regimen has changed.  I am back to answer your questions. Back in the day I regularly got on camera bare faced and my acne struggles were there for the world to see.  My camera wasn't that great so I didn't feel super terrible about it.  In January, I started using a camera that showed so much more detail than I was comfortable with.  Did you notice I started using not one but two layers of coverage? My blemishes were cringe worthy while editing. I think that one of the biggest misconceptions around is that acne will disappear for everyone once puberty ends.  My skin was perfect until puberty, but I can't say I've been able to consistently enjoy clear skin since then until now. I have made some changes and share them at length with you in the video.  Leave me a comment to share what you think.  If you've got some additional tips or found success...

Hey Mocha family! Is it silly to make an analogy between taking down small box braids, and labor at the end of a pregnancy? Honestly, I feel like I go through the same process of dreading it, surviving it, and forgetting about it so that I can choose to do it again!  Lol!  The analogy fails when I confess to having mixed feelings about pregnancy, whereas, I really enjoy the braid up, finding the repetitive motion and development of the style  to be extremely soothing.  I'm not sure why the repetitive motion of removing the braids and watching the style unravel (with plenty of lint and shed hair), doesn't bring me the same satisfaction. I still dread the take down but have found a number of things to be useful in getting us all through it. Hope this helps someone! Be blessed!

Hey Mocha Family! I'm taking this one step at a time and feeling very optimistic about how things are looking so far.  If that changes, you'll be the first to know! Right now, I am taking down the final head of box braids and saying goodbye to our summer hair vacation. It had to end a week early, but not because I backed away from all of the fuzz.  I realized that my girls would be in drama camp all day for the next two weeks, and then we hit the books full force for school. This week was my best option for the lengthy take down. Don't miss my next video where I'll share how we fared and the condition of their loose hair. Be blessed!