We've tried sooo many. My favorite is the Boots and Barkley brand from Target. I refuse to another brand, and it just so happens to be cheaper than most brands.

Hello again! So my soon-to-be 8 year old second grade twins just started AAR 3. They completed AAR 2 between last school year and this (we started it in the spring). I pulled them out of public school first grade after winter break, so they initially learned how to read at school. We are on the 4th lesson of AAR 3 and it's still very easy for them. We are learning the phonics rules for the OA and OW sounds. I teach the rules, they kind of zone out while I'm teaching it, but then we read through the flash cards and worksheets and they just blow through them. It literally took 5 minutes today as I skipped over a lot of the lesson when it became obvious that they could read the words without any problem. I assume it will get more difficult as the lessons progress, but at this point it does feel a little pointless and definitely like overkill. I know the phonics rules are important to learn, but I was a natural speller and reader and don't recall any of these phonics rules. My girls have have always been rather strong readers. They picked it up easilery and have no problems reading the stories in the AAR readers. I don't know if I'm just trying to organize my thoughts or if I'm asking for advice. I guess I'm just looking for opinions. Anyone else have a similar experience? I'm wondering I should try to have them read through the entire group of flash cards and start the lessons up where they get to a point where they are stuck?

Count me in as another who hates being on the phone. When I do have time, I just want to relax, not chit chat on a long phone call. I'm much much better with texting or email. Fortunately my sis is the same way. We can go months without talking but I know that doesn't mean she doesn't care.

So many.... Switzerland. Primarily the Bernese Oberland region in the Alps. Its insanely beautiful. Croatia. Also stunning. The coastline is breathtaking, especially near Dubrovnik. Turkey. Some of the friendliest people on any of our travels. Delicious food and gorgeous architecture. Bavaria. Pretty much anywhere. Cute storybook villages and great food and beer and, most important, apfelstrudel :) Slovenia. Very mountainy and gorgeous. A hidden gem! Ljubljana is such a charming capital and Lake Bled is beautiful.

We loved Rome in the winter. Much less crowded and still warmer than where we are from. I've been to Munich and Vienna in February and it was freezing. To the point where walking around outside was nearly impossible because it was so cold. Turkey in February was lovely. Umbria (Italy) in March was nice. A little dreary, and many small hill towns felt kind of empty, but we still had a great time. Ireland in February was chilly and dreary but not too bad. Paris in January was also almost pleasant. Obviously weather can change from year to year but these are my experiences. I prefer off-peak as I'm not a fan of crowds and waiting in hours-long lines in the heat.

Travel credit card comparisons - https://www.johnnyjet.com/travel-deals/travel-credit-cards-from-our-partners/ https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/top-credit-cards/nerdwallets-best-travel-credit-cards/

The Starwood Card used to be one of the best cards around for quickly racking up points to use towards hotels or other travel-related credit even if you never stepped foot in a Starwood branded hotel. Just by signing up I believe we ended up with a great bonus. But that was a few years ago. The credit cards change so often. I follow Johnnyjet.com and he usually has great up-to-date travel credit card information.

I use them to make Pad Thai occassionally

Travel for us is a priority and, like mommyoffive, we use various methods and hacks to keep costs down because its fun getting deals even though we can afford it. We got back from 2.5 weeks in Europe in April. We opened up a Barclay card to get enough miles for a couple of free tickets during off-peak season (and promptly paid it off). We use VRBO, which saves money on eating out. I like VRBO because we prefer to stay in smaller towns and pretend to be locals :) We also are willing to drive to a couple of different airports. We are from Charlotte but flew out of Atlanta. We've used skyauctions in the past and scored a 7 night two bedroom timeshare condo in Williamsburg for under $300. Our two bedroom VRBO in Grindelwald, Switzerland was less than $85 per night with views of the stunning Eiger mountain outside our windows and balcony. Our two bedroom VRBO in the historic center of Ribeauville, France was approximately $70 per night. As a child my family couldn't afford to travel much and vacation were usually camping. Nothing wrong with that, and I have great memories, but I've always been fascinated by travel and ached to see the world. Once I got my first taste I was addicted. We won't have any more children partly because we of it. I'm hoping to instill that taste of wanderlust into my girls.

I have both a Vitamix and immersion blender. It's definitely easier to blend soup directly in the pot with the immersion blender, and I find it much easier to control the consistency. I tend to prefer chunkier soups. My Vitamix is awesome but even on the lowest setting I will end up with a puree. But if you don't use immersion blenders often, the Vitamix will be fine. Just be sure t lift the the plastic top off and start low so the steam can escape. BTW Immersion blenders are pretty inexpensive and I use mine more often than I thought I would.

The booths seem to be everywhere around here, no exaggeration. In one shopping plaza there will be booths at both entrances to the grocery store and, in that same plaza, both entrances to Home Depot. Go across town to another grocery store or a Walmart and its the same thing. In our town with a population of about 25,000. Evenings and weekends. I have no idea if its the same troop(s) or not but that's why I mentioned every weekend.

Thank you both! I fully intend to do my part in being involved. I just personally find the cookie tables set up outside nearly every shopping center to be annoying and a bit (OK a lot) much. I only "need" so many boxes but then I feel guilty not purchasing, and around here they are pretty much everywhere. I just don't want to have to take part in that.

Well it may be hokey (although I don't remember it being such) but we liked the food. The fried chicken with honey and pecans was so good. Steer clear of Paula Deen's Lady and Sons :)

She is scrumptious!! How sweet!!

I'm interested in putting my girls in Brownies/Girl Scouts but....I don't want to stand outside Walmart or Home Depot selling cookies every weekend. I known that probably sounds bad, but it is what it is. Do you have to commit to selling cookies (outside of asking family/friends) if you join?

I big puffy heart love Savannah! I live in Charlotte and Savannah is our favorite weekend getaway, although sadly it's been about a year since we've been. For a fun meal consider The Pirates House. It's supposed to be haunted but I never saw a ghost ;) The food is buffet style but very good. For a nicer meal, The Old Pink House is lovely. It's pricy, so if it's above your price range and you are kid-free you could go downstairs and have a drink and appetizers in their bar. For a casual breakfast I love Goose Feathers and visit every time I'm in Savannah. Great baked goods and coffee, but they have hot breakfast selections as well. There is a fun, funky kitchen gadget stop nearby that I love to browse. One of those hop on/hop off trolleys is a great idea to get a sense of the history and layout of the historical center. But be prepared to walk. Just walking the streets, ogling the beautiful architecture and live oak trees and hanging out in the squares is what Savannah is all about. Walking is the best way to see the center. Bonaventure Cemetery is really neat. Forsythe Park is beautiful. If you are there on a Saturday morning there is a very nice farmers market in the park. SCAD owns many historic buildings in the center, and many are open to the public as small art galleries. If art is your thing you would enjoy it. I agree with the PP...I would avoid the touristy riverfront area. Not much there except mostly not-great touristy restaurants and shops and, after dark, a bunch of drunks coming out of the bars.

I always make sure my snacks are packed with protein and some healthy fats, which fills me up. I have hypoglycemia and can't go hours without eating so I definitely need a snack in the afternoon. You want to avoid empty calorie snacks like crackers, chips etc. I like a small handful of nuts, grapes and a piece of cheese or a Lara bar, the only "granola" bar I eat. I also make my own peanut or almond butter protein balls. They are super easy, no-bake and you can find tons of recipes on Pinterest. I can't eat yogurt anymore, but when I did I always made sure it was plain full fat Greek and I would add my own fruit (usually strawberries).

Congrats!! I'm totally jealous! What an amazing experience you will have. Hopefully you share it with us! :)

I'm in Charlotte, NC and love it, and was going to recommend it, but then I read the part about the snow. We do technically get snow...if you count an inch as being enough :p The mountain areas, near Asheville, get more snow.

We have flown Turkish Airways, which flies to Amman, to/from Istanbul and were very pleased. The food was great for airline food, and a stop in Istanbul would win huge bonus points for me as it's an incredible city. Otherwise I usually choose Western European carriers (BA, Lufthansa, Swiss Air) because, in our experiences of traveling overseas the flights are usually nicer. I have heard great things about Qatar Airlines. Just an FYI be careful with any type of code share flight. On our last flight to Europe we purchased Swiss Air tickets, via the United Airlines website, as a code share and found out, after the fact, that we were unable to reserve our seats in advance. Fortunately we were traveling with small children so Swiss made sure to get us seats together, but it was stressful not knowing if we would be seated as a family and I've heard horror stories of children getting separated from their parents on flights because of the inability to reserve code share seats ahead of time.

Thank you all for the suggestions and for agreeing with me! :) My girls are small for their ages, and have very slender frames. I've had problems in the past with Gymboree and Jack and Jill not fitting them well, mostly in the shoulder area. I haven't tried in awhile though, so I will have to revisit the stores. I completely forgot about Children's Place. The one closest to me closed earlier this year and I haven't been to the mall in awhile so I can hit up both Childrens Place and Gymboree. Love Mini Boden! We have had several cute dresses from them in the past. Not sure why they slipped my mind. Our Nordstrom carries the line so I will check it out. DH works for Belk in their IT department. He kindly vented my frustrations to one of the head buyers for the children's department. Not sure it will hold much weight, but it was nice of him to try because he was even less impressed with the selection than I was! :) I love their J. Khaki brand for cute, basic pieces but even that selection dwindles in the big kid section.

I love Hanna Anderssen. It's expensive, although they have decent sales. I prefer less expensive items for just hanging around the house or when my daughter is at the (very messy) pottery class. Thanks for the suggestions eternalsummer! I will research the brands you mentioned. Never thought to check ebay. Good idea!

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Yes!! How did I forget to mention the shorts?? Yikes. It's depressing. The dresses aren't much better.

So my twins are just now entering the big kids clothing section at the stores and I seriously do NOT like the options. I do not like how they lump sizes/ages 7 with a 12, 14 or even 16 year old. My girls are still very much little girls. They like princesses and unicorns, dresses and shirts with pretty flowers and sweet animals...you know, "cutesy" clothing. Now we are stuck weeding through "boho chic" clothing and shirts with silly hashtags that look much more appropriate for a tween or teen. They grow up too fast as it is. I'm not a prude but I would prefer that they dress like little girls for a little bit longer! I went to Kohl's today and mourned our Jumping Beans days. We didn't find a single clothing item they wanted after I had to explain to them that the display of cute Disney shirts were no longer in their size :( Any ideas on where to buy cute age-appropriate girls clothing? I've tried Belk, Kohl's, Old Navy and Gap. I have had some success at Target.