It's fine here. We were in Williamsburg last night, at Great Wolf Lodge, and we drove back up to northern VA (Loudoun County) this afternoon. We made it in less than 3 hours, with no troubles at all. No snow or slush on any main roads, and not much on the ground either. It was fun to be at Great Wolf Lodge last night, all relaxed in front of the fireplace, while our older kids played games in friends' rooms, and our younger kids slept, watching the snow fall! Very pretty! We were a bit worried about getting back today, but I'm glad we just waited until 2:00 to leave, as was our plan. Worked out fine, since it gave the plows time to get out and clear the roads. There was so much wind that nothing really piled up big there--the snow was so powdery.

This is all so helpful! I have things to look into now. I don't think I actually really care about calling dh's cell--I just want to make sure I can contact him, so texting would be fine. Maybe I've been making a mountain out of a molehill all along! I did know we wouldn't be able to shop on base. That will be a pain, but hopefully we can figure out a few things at a local grocery store so we can at least bring snacks in the car or stuff to munch on for lunch if we are out. Eating lunches every day at a restaurant for 10 people will get pricy fast, although hopefully we'll be able to try donar kebabs and other cheap things I've heard people eat there. Next on my list is contacting the Ramstein car rental places to see what kind of vehicle we can expect. Thanks for all the help!

We are planning to take a space-a flight on military aircraft the end of January/beginning of February to visit friends who live near Ramstein AB. DH and I took a space-a flight to Germany on our honeymoon, which will be 25 years ago this next summer, so it's been awhile since we've been there, lol. I don't remember taking anything special--nothing to convert current, and certainly nothing to communicate with! Now we would be going with 8 of our kids, and we'll probably have to be driving 2 cars around (we'll only have to rent one because we can borrow one from our friends we'll be staying with). I'm really anxious about being able to communicate with dh if we are both trying to drive somewhere, find parking, etc. So what would you do for cell phones? We're on Verizon, and I have an old iphone, and he has a Samsung android something. Also, any recommendations for an electrical converter so we can charge phones, use laptops, etc? Unfortunately, due to stuff with dh's work, we're having to go the end of January instead of the end of Feb. when more classes have a winter break, so we'll have to be able to keep up with TPS classes, etc. We're hoping to go this year because at least we don't have anyone dual-enrolled this year! We space-a'd to Hawaii 4 years ago (to visit the same friends!), which was more complicated as far as the actual flights go, but at least everyone there spoke English, lol. For some reason, I'm a lot more intimidated by this trip. Any other hints? We're only planning on being there 10 days or so, and we're planning on staying around Ramstein, Trier, and Stuttgart areas. Thanks!

I know it's way too late for you, but I used a different icing recipe because I didn't have any heavy cream, and the rolls were still delicious! Did yours puff up enough for you? I thought mine looked small this morning too, when I pulled them out of the fridge, but after leaving them on the counter for probably 45 minutes, and then cooking them (I cooked at 350 for 20 minutes or so, like a previous poster said), they puffed up quite nicely. I printed off Quiver's recipe back in 2006 and kept it in my cookbook, but I had never made them! I've always used a friend's recipe, which is similar, but not identical. I think I liked Quiver's better, so we'll go with that one from now on--but I do like my friend's icing, mainly because I never have heavy cream on hand, and her recipe doesn't use it!

We didn't really have any big gifts this year, but I was also thankful for the unique gifts thread Kareni started. My 16 year old ds is hard to shop for, but I bought him the Illustrated World Encyclopedia of Knives, Swords, Spears, and Daggers, as well as The Knight Book: Warfare by Duct Tape, both of which were recommended on that thread. Both were huge hits! He has spent a lot of time making weapons for all his younger siblings so everyone can "duel" out of about $20 worth of PVC pipes, insulating foam, and duct tape. So fun!

Ahhhh, that was us last Christmas. We arrived at my parents' house, I took my 3 middle girls for haircuts at Great Clips the next day, and the hair dresser called me over to casually point out the black dots that were jumping. :scared: :willy_nilly: All 3 of my middle girls had them (which I knew they would, since they all slept in the same bed at that time), but the other 9 of us never got them. Still, my somewhat paranoid SIL and her 2 girls were also at my parents', and she made them go through the same lice treatment as my girls, just in case! I felt AWFUL about bringing this plague to my parents' house! But the "tea tree oil/coconut oil on the hair with shower caps each night, Terminator nit comb through during the day" regimen worked, and after 3 days we were clear. The only good thing about this was that we were gone for 11 days--so I didn't have to worry about stuffed animals, the couch, etc. here at our house. I did of course wash all their bedding when we got home! I won't lie, it was not my favorite Christmas. I can't even really laugh about it yet, lol. Maybe one day . . . I will pray that your lice are easily defeated! I am SO sorry this plague has come upon you at Christmas!

Yes, I have taken liquid calcium during labor, and I have found that really help with afterbirth pains. I didn't start doing the liquid calcium until one of my later births--number 8, maybe. I was expecting it to help my labor (I don't know that it had a tremendous effect there, but that baby was 10 pounds, 8 ounces, so I don't really know that anything would have helped, lol). But what I was amazed to find was how much less my afterpains were. Significantly so from #7. And I took it with my last 2 as well, with very few afterpains. I highly recommend it! I know exactly the dread you are talking about--I felt the same way! Just as bad, if not worse, than actual labor! I got the instructions for what to do from a blogger who I don't think blogs anymore. Here is the link to the old post though: Liquid Calcium in Labor.

We've already got several, although it is definitely less than we used to get. I love getting Christmas cards in the mail! I love seeing pictures of my friends' families, and I love reading what they have been up to (most of my friends send a letter too). Although I am facebook friends with most of them, I can't keep track of what the kids do, where they are stationed currently, etc., and I love just reading it all in one place. Maybe military people have kept up the tradition longer than most, since we know we're not just going to be randomly seeing each other around the grocery store? I haven't sent my out yet, but I will. I already have the (picture) cards, but I need to write the letter. I have written a letter every year since we married, and I also keep a Christmas scrapbook. Every year I put in the picture we sent out, plus the letter, and a few pictures from what we did that day. I haven't kept up with my other scrapbooks, but I do keep up with the Christmas one, and I love being able to see the kids' growth (and the growth of our family!) over the years, plus it's fun to read back over what we did each year--all in one place! I can tell Christmas cards are going the way of the dodo, but I for one will really miss them. And selfishly I am glad they won't be gone until my kids are grown. I love that I still feel motivated to write out a year-end summary. I'm not sure if I would do it if it weren't for Christmas cards!

This was also my third DS (who is now 16). He was young, but he was on Singulair since he was a baby--I sprinkled powder on applesauce. I thought it was just his personality to be so depressed, glum, moody, etc. But finally a friend, whose son was also on Singulair, told me about the side effects, and I told the doctor I was taking him off. She said those side effects were "only for teenagers", but I didn't listen to her. I can't remember right off the top of my head how old he was when I took him off--probably 8 or so--but I so wish I had done it years earlier. I think it reinforced negative pathways and responses that wouldn't necessarily have been there otherwise. One of my biggest regrets, for sure.

I always double that recipe in my 8 quart, and I've had no problems at all. I don't change the cooking time or anything. My kids love that recipe! *ETA* Okay, now I am doubting myself, lol. I actually "1 and a half" the recipe (so use one and a half boxes of pasta), but I think doubling it would fit.

I don't have kids at that level of Spanish yet, but I just wanted to chime in with another class option. In our small high school co-op, we had a family who was first in Hawaii and now is over in Germany, so we always had to have an online option. We did skype/google hangouts for a while, but we ended up using "zoom". It was $9.95 a month, which we all split, for one account, and then we set up recurring classes using the same sign-in IDs. It ended up working really well, with more options for muting, etc. than skype (although now skype may have improved services!). Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there as another possible option. And maybe in a few years, my next 2 boys will be ready for this class! :)

My son is a freshman engineering student there on that scholarship (and I'm the one Homeschoolmom3 talked to)! PM me if you want to get in touch with him when you are down there visiting. I am sure he would be more than happy to talk to you and your son!

We have been talking about this recently, as we are contemplating moving back to Ohio after 13 years in the D.C. area. While we have a very large house here (and next to no yard), I have never ever wanted to be retired here for good. Way too stressful and too much traffic! So assuming we do move, we've been talking about what kind of house to get. Although our oldest 2 are in college, we still have 8 left at home (ages 16-3), so we will have kids in the house for a long time more. We really can't downsize permanently at this point! I definitely want to have enough room so that kids can come home again to stay. My parents have a lovely house for that, and I love that I can go there with all the kids and not feel like it's a burden on them. My in-laws are borderline hoarders, and we absolutely can't stay there, and we also can't afford many nights at a hotel (2 rooms at least!), so we rarely visit. If we go, we stay for one night. Our oldest will be in the Air Force when he graduates, so we are not expecting him to be anywhere near us necessarily. We also want room for a future daughter-in-law and kids to come stay for however long if he gets deployed. In fact, we're not really expecting any of our kids to live near us, although of course we hoe some end up staying near. So probably people will need to come visit, and I want places for them to stay! I also hope for a main floor master, so that we could have bedrooms upstairs that we could use when needed, or close off when not needed. Here in D.C we have 2 separate heating/AC units, so we could do that and not use the upstairs one. But dh doesn't really want to build, and that's how we could really end up with a workable house for the long term. So who knows what we'll do?

Congratulations!! I had #9 just 2 months short of 40, and #10 when I was 41. I did have gestational diabetes with those 2, but both times I managed it with diet and exercise, and I felt good at the end of the pregnancies. No complications during delivery or anything like that, and the pregnancies weren't any harder or anything. By that time, it wasn't like I didn't know what to expect, lol. Older kids are really such a huge help. It is SO different having babies with older kids versus all littles! And it is so wonderful to see my older kids interact with their younger siblings. It really warms my heart to see teenage boys on the floor playing duplos or army men with little siblings!

I was thinking about this thread last night! Dh and I were picking up one of our daughters from a friend's birthday party, and we were all standing around in the kitchen with the hosting family. I noticed this nice looking big dish drying rack next to her sink and commented on how it looked so much nicer than our really old, white plastic one that is stained from years of use. The other mom demonstrated how it could pull out to be even bigger :ohmy: and said she had just gotten it at Costco. I turned to my dh and said, "That is what I want for Christmas! It will make my life easier, and it is perfect!" So this afternoon, after a boys' basketball game, guess where he is headed? :hurray: Hooray for Costco and practical gifts! :lol:

I totally buy myself stuff for my stocking! The kind of candy and chocolate I like, plus odds and ends I have seen and felt I needed, lol. And then it's funny to see my kids reactions when I pull stuff out of my stocking, and I'm exclaiming over how perfect it is, exactly what I wanted! I'm SO not a gift person, so I don't really care that no one else gets me things (well, if we're with my parents, sometime my mom will stick something in, and last year my brother put in a really nice braided lightning charging cord, which was a real surprise that I loved, lol). I feel like it gives me an excuse to buy random little things for myself that I normally wouldn't, like good Ghirardelli chocolate bars, lots of Peppermint Patties, etc. It's just fun for me!

Family of 12 here, with the oldest 2 in college. We currently have a Ford 12 passenger van, as well as a Toyota Sienna and a Honda Odyssey. We got the 12 passenger van when we had our 7th kid and we no longer all fit in the minivan (that was back in 2009). But we kept the minivan because I could still drive it with the 7 kids because it is an 8 seat Sienna, and our oldest was 12, so he sat in the front seat. Driving around northern VA is much more pleasant in a minivan! Now we really only use the big van when we are going on a trip or to church--or when our co-op has a field trip or stuff like that. Now I rarely take more than a few kids with me shopping or to doctor's appointments. Our third son has his learner's permit, and when he gets his license, he'll drive the old minivan, and I'll have to drive the big van again if he is at a class or practice or wherever. We definitely won't give up the big van for many more years. It's nice to be able to fit a lot of people!

Just wanted to let you know that I just bought one of those illustrated weapon guides for my 16 year old son off Amazon! What a great idea! My son loves swords and knives, but I never thought about a book like that!

I feel your pain. I ended up having gestational diabetes with 3 of my last pregnancies, and the first time it was diagnosed it was right around this same time period. I was so stressed about it! I ended up managing it each time with diet and exercise. I found that walking or doing some exercise after both breakfast and dinner was extremely helpful, and the bonus was that honestly, I've never felt better at the end of pregnancy than with those 3 pregnancies. I wasn't so constipated, I slept better, and I just felt better! Plus, I gained almost no weight during those last 10 weeks, even though I hadn't been eating excessively or even junkily the preceding weeks. Also, I pretty much ignored my doctor's little plan as well and ate lower carb than they suggested. I did eat almonds in between meals if I felt I needed something. I also had the problem with my fasting glucose numbers creeping up. I hit upon a weird snack that highlighted for me the fact that everyone responds so differently to all this! I would eat 1/2 cup of (good quality, high fat) chocolate ice cream with a spoonful of peanut butter. Pretty much anything else, especially "recommended" snacks, like cheese and crackers or whatever, would give me higher fasting numbers the next morning, but this never did. LOL It was my reward, and I was so happy eating it every night! Best wishes, and I pray you will be able to settle into a good groove of what to eat/what your body responds well with soon! I definitely found a distinct correlation between my stress levels and my glucose numbers, so hopefully you will be able to let go of expectations and relax these next few months, which is soooo easier said than done, I know!

Wow, that is so incredibly exciting! Huge congratulations to your daughter, and to you!!!

Yes! My ds is in his first year there, and he also loves it! I'll send you a pm as well!

Seriously!! These kind of threads pretty much give me a panic attack! Gifts are so not my love language (nor my dh's), and I would *much* rather have something that I find very useful, like Lanny said above. All these ways to be a better gift giver assume you have tons of time to go to specialty shops and search around for special things. I have 10 kids, teach all the high school and junior high science classes at our co-op, and avoid shopping like the plague. Even spending hours on the internet is simply not possible. Honestly, one of my biggest fears is that one of my sons will marry someone whose love language is gifts, and I will forever feel like a giant failure because I'm not able to find her the perfect gift. And when I think about all the grandchildren we will most likely have-- :ohmy: :svengo:

We've been to the GWL at Williamsburg several times, and we've always had a good time. The staff has been nice, and everyone has always had a great time! But we've never been to any other GWL, so I can't compare, lol.

We have had 10 babies, so we've had a bunch of meals brought to us (which we are extremely grateful for!). But we had the same experience with pasta and red sauce. So. Much. Pasta. and Red Sauce. It was definitely a standing joke with our older kids! Now I never bring pasta with red sauce, figuring at least my meal will be a break. I usually do a soup as well, with bread and a salad. I just brought a chicken/black bean soup with homemade cornbread and a bag of kale salad from Costco to our cross country team's coach and her family, since her dad just passed away. They have 8 kids, so I'm sure they are getting a lot of pasta a red sauce too--it definitely is easy for big families, lol.

We have 10 kids, ages 20-3. I never planned on having a big family (well, I wanted 4, which I thought *was* a big family), but as we had more kids, we found we liked them, and also that we really weren't much in control of the timing as we thought, so we just stepped back. I have uncomplicated pregnancies, and our kids have, with the exception of #8, been happy babies who are good sleepers at an early age. I know that played a huge part in us continuing to have babies. I was 24 with our first baby and 4 with the last. When I had #10, it was September of my oldest's senior year. That was really hard for me, doing all the newborn stuff, as well as college applications, academy nominations, scholarship applications, etc. I felt like it was time to be done at that point. I remembered a conversation I had with a friend at church who was the oldest of 12. She said her mom was nursing a 6 week old at my friend's wedding, and that she wasn't really able to focus her attention on my friend, the bride. So my friend decided that she would have kids that were all in the house at the same time, but stop once kids started moving out. I thought that was a good plan. So we had almost one year with all 10 kids at home before oldest went off to college. Dh got snipped, so I do think we are done, although he never went back in to be checked, and if I were to get pregnant again (I'm 44 now), I would be okay with it. I only have 1 brother, and while we are very close, I would have loved more siblings. I pray that our kids will be friends and support each other when grown. I have seen beautiful examples of this. I have also seen examples of large families that aren't so close, such as dh's family. They aren't enemies or anything, but they definitely aren't close. I am hoping that decisions we have made about things we emphasized will lead to a somewhat different outcome, although I know there are no guarantees. But dh's parents really set the kids against each other by making everything a competition, and they also have led by example in always ascribing the worst possible motives to other people's actions, and choosing to escalate situations instead of smoothing troubled waters, as it were. We have taken a different approach, lol. We are definitely not wealthy, and there are many things we can't afford to do/choose not to do (i.e. Disney vacations), especially compared to others here in northern VA. But dh is a retired lt. col., and he now works as a contractor, so we are more comfortable, with more ability to pay for extra things, since he retired from active duty. We have done things like fly to Hawaii space-available on military aircraft, so I don't think my kids feel deprived. And even though this is a really expensive area to live, there are a lot of other homeschoolers, so there are also a lot of other opportunities, and some of them are not prohibitively expensive, like the cross-country/track team they are on. But I can see different attitudes even now in my kids, as far as how much they appreciate opportunities they have vs. how much they feel they missed out by us not being able to do stuff. Some things are just a personality thing, and some of my kids are definitely more "Eeyore-like", as far as how they think. Maybe they will grow up wishing they only had one sibling--but they are also the one who loves their baby sister the most, and I think that relationship has been so positive for them. There are always positives and negatives, and hopefully my kids will be able to look back as adults with perspective. Last night we went to Chuck E Cheese with just our 4 youngest kids (8, 6, 4, and 3), since the olders were off doing things with other friends. It was so weird to realize that we were just a regular family--even though I would have said I felt so overwhelmed when I just had 4! I am so glad I don't have an empty nest now that my oldest 2 are gone. Having a big family has definitely been what God has used to grow me and sanctify me. Sometimes it is more stressful than other times, but my kids are all such blessings, and I LOVE watching them grow up and being there for them!