I'm in your shoes. DS13 attends youth group with a neighbor friend on Wednesdays and goes to the youth group functions at our church on Sundays. His friend's church is Evangelical Something and we are Episcopal, so occasionally doctrine doesn't quite line up. When these mismatches in theology occur, DS and I discuss them and i always tell him to go back and see what the Bible says about the subject. If it's not in the Bible, then it's just somebody's opinion and he should weight it accordingly. So I would just keep letting him attend and discuss the points that come up that are different.

Yes - you can definitely freeze gingerbread, both frosted and plain! We do this all the time. But if you freeze frosted gingerbread, it's better if you can do it flat on a tray. Otherwise, the frosting goes through a sticky phase again when the cookies are defrosting and it makes a big mess if they are overlapping. You can also make up the gingerbread cookie dough and freeze that if you don't want to make the cookies right away. (BTW - works for sugar cookies too!)

If you really really really don't want take your family to his house for Christmas, I would politely let him know you have other plans this year. It's tough to change traditions, but this may be the year to start a new one.

I leave a big handful of garbage bags in the bottom of each trashcan. This makes it easy for whoever is taking out the garbage to put the new bag in right away (and not forget!).

I would happily come and eat at your table! And I'm an avowed Carnivore! It all sounds very delicious!

Yep....this is why I keep a couple of "other" workbooks around for Math for when DD stalls out. We are just wrapping up a 2 week dive into Key to Fractions because she sort of plateu'd in the Saxon 6/5 math. Not exactly struggling, but not "getting it" as fast as she has been. It's been a nice little vacation, and now she's ready to go back. When we did carrying in adding, we used 1cm and 10cm blocks (she was about 5 then), as well as stacks of checkers. Physical manipulatives saved the day!

The Bronze Bow Treasure Island The Black Arrow Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer...not so much) the really really old Hardy Boys (not the new ones!)

One Gallon ziplock bags - the kind with the plastic tab you pull across (like a real zipper). Little fingers can close it themselves. I label the bags BARBIE, PONIES, etc and toss them into a small laundry basket. I think DD was about 7 before she could reliably get everything back in the bags when she cleaned up, but it made it MUCH easier to find the right bag for that one pink shoe! :)

Oh yes! My DD15 has ADD and has used small amounts of caffeine for years to self-medicate when she needs to concentrate. A half a can of coke or Mt. Dew will do it. She also eats something with it to keep from irritating her stomach. She takes a travel mug of hot cocoa with her to school each morning now that the weather is cold.

We do popcorn and bananas for our teens' youth group.

Red Beans and sausage! 1 pound sausage of your choice. 2 small bags of red beans. 1 onion. Chop sausage and onion, put in crock pot with beans. Cover with water. Add a couple of bay leaves if you have them. Cook on low all day. Remove bay leaves, sprinkle in pepper. Super filling, very cheap and yummy meal! We like it spicy, so we use hot sausage and add tobasco at the end, but if your family is more on the mild side, you can use a milder sausage and it works just as well. We also do burritos often - vegetarian refried beans, cheese, lettuce (when we can get it!), onions, olives and tortillas. Warm up the beans and load up the tortilla with your favs. Not-Your-Usual-Bean-Soup - I got this from my grandmother. 1 small bag red beans. 3 cups pinto beans. 1 onion. Put in crock pot with 1 large can chicken broth. Add water to cover. Cook all day on low. Add pepper to taste and serve. We usually eat it with corn bread, but I imagine that's not actually required.....

Books! Yes! Books! :001_smile: When I was a baby, my Aunt and Uncle gave me 2 treasuries of poems for my 1st 2 Christmases - "A Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson and and "Silver Pennies" by Blanche Jennings Thompson. Fast Forward many years and I am using these two little volumes for copywork for DD8. Treasures Indeed!

DD8's favorite gifts: American Girl books Scented Marker sets An apron and set of measure cups/spoons Jewelry box Cloth tote bag with her name painted on with fabric puffy paint

DS13 is an independent worker and can follow a list of tasks without much supervision. At 11, he had to be sitting beside me all morning in order to get anything done. So I agree - it is the age. And it will get better, but it may take a few more years.

I think Saxon works well. We don't do all the problems since DD8 doesn't need the extra review, but it moves along quickly enough to keep her interest and the explanations are easily understandable for her.

"He Who Must Not Be Named" "Tigger" "Rex" (Since he will obviously be the king of the house!) "Wrecks" DH says....does it matter what you call him since he won't answer to his name unless he feels like it? (Not a cat person....)

How much do you want to spend per kid?

Your instincts are right. Your baby is probably just working on a growth spurt and by nursing more frequently now, your milk supply will increase to match baby's appetite. And you will get enough sleep so you are both happy! If it helps, by about 3 months, my kiddos had all settled down into a pretty routine feeding/sleeping pattern and we all had a pretty regular schedule. Hang in there!

I'm 5'4", which is the perfect height for my front load washer to be inconvenient. Too high with the platform, too low without one. For now, I have a low stool sitting in front of my washer that I sit on to unload the washer and stand on to hang up shirts on the rod above (otherwise I can't reach). DH is thinking about a better solution but hasn't come up with one yet. Sigh.

an electric blanket with DUAL controls. I really think dual controls are the secret to a happy marriage. Oh....and a pair of cashmere socks, please, for my cold tootsies.

When DD was little, her immune system was compromised by a med she was taking (long story). Our family doc would have us take the last appointment of the day and have her wait in the car until the waiting room was empty before coming in. This worked great for limiting her exposure to sick people.

We are using the Hewitt syllabus and tests for History of US. It's just fine for scheduling, suggesting projects, and testing on each book. Excellent value for $14!

DD8 is allergic to cats. Our cat (which she has been around since she was 1yo) bothers her less than other people's cats. She take singulair at night, which really helps. And we put a plastic shower curtain as the top cover on her bed. The cat hates it and so doesn't get on her bed. As long as she doesn't handle the cat and it doesn't get on her bed, she does fine with just the allergy pill.

I've not seen one, but we cook the noodles without the salt/flavor packet and put either cheese or spaghetti sauce on top. Less salt for sure.

Without knowing what level your kiddo is, I'll toss this out there because it's a fun read. There's quite a bit of humor in there. It's a grad-level course - full lecture set. Great stuff for the plasma-junkie. http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/plasma/plasma.html