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Seeking Squirrels

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Everything posted by Seeking Squirrels

  1. No poll option for me, I don't remember my parents ever doing it but we do it all the time with the kids. We may be a dinosaur, a monster, a lion, a ghost.... DD5 loves to be the monster herself and does a scary face growl at us holding her hands like claws. Whoever isn't the monster/attacker hides under a blanket quietly then runs and screams when found. I think it's one of their favorite things to play.
  2. Spoily responses to your spoilers..... The explosion they ran away from was one part that really bothered me. They were pretty much surrounded, if they could get up and run off, plenty of others would have, too. DH believed Rey's parents were nobodies. My instant reaction when he said it was "he's lying". DH thinks Rey will go dark. I'm skeptical, but can see it happening as a result of continued communication with Kylo. Did anyone else feel that every life-threatening moment with Leia was a bit more emotional and edge-of-your-seat than it otherwise would have been due to Carrie Fisher passing?
  3. We saw it Thursday night at a Comic Con screening. I love doing those! I really liked it. I would much rather keep spoilers a secret for a few weeks than try to avoid them. I hate spoilers. But I have a friend who needs detailed spoilers, so I spent some time messaging with her about it!
  4. Funko Pops of all my favorite fandoms. Mostly Doctor Who, Marvel, and Arrowverse. Autographed 8X10's of my favorite celebs that we've had a chance to meet at Comic Con. Tsum Tsum's. I don't go out of my way to collect these, but I have ~10 Marvel ones. TARDIS anything. I have pillows, pillow cases, pajamas, t-shirts, tea sets, cookie jars, mugs, blankets.... Dalek stuff, too, but I have a lot more TARDIS. Hardback book sets. I prefer the library for regular reading, but when it's a favorite series or author, I like to have the whole set in hardback. I have a handful of autographed 1st edition of one of my favorite authors.
  5. Playmobil? Or calico critters. My DD5 is obsessed with Calico Critters. They're spendy but have a ton of pieces. Or there's Lil' Woodzez at target which is basically their version of Calico Critters and runs cheaper. Unless all of those options are too doll-like. But they might be closer to the animals she cares for in her pretend aquarium. My DD5 is also scared of bikes, but she likes her razor scooter. It gives her more control and ability to drop it and be off than the bike does. She doesn't go very fast, honestly she's probably much faster just walking, but she likes it and it makes her feel more included if she's outside playing with DD9 while she's on her bike. *BTW, my DD9 would be thrilled with a huge pack of paper and massive amount of tape!
  6. For us it's for simple, inexpensive gifts. Most of those things you listed I wouldn't put in a stocking. We do candy, some essentials, some useful but extra, and some small (think $2-$3) gift or two.
  7. Auto-pay on everything we can. Other small bills like medical bills DH does from his phone as soon as he opens them. Or calls for if it's something we need to get a payment plan on and then we set up auto-pay for that. DD9's theater can't be on auto pay so I pay it as soon as I get the email invoice. We cannot stay on top of it all otherwise.
  8. I'm most excited to give DD9 the Our Generation Vet Clinic. She wants to be a vet when she grows up and has been asking for this for a while. I found out my 14yo nephew has really been into reading lately and has started reading Stephen King and the like. I'm trying to restrain myself and not buy him All The Books but I'm quite thrilled to finally have another reader in the family so I'm not sure if I'll succeed.
  9. My girls have fires and we use the free time app for them. My complaint about Free Time is they can't access audible or music that's on the kindle unless we log them out of their account and into the adult account. I've considered abandoning free time and just locking down the adult account, but that's just not the same! In Free Time I can set it to only allow a certain amount of time per day and can also set it to require x minutes of educational apps before they can play just for fun apps. Then the kindle is the one shutting them down and I don't have to worry I've lost track of time while they're squirreled away with devices. We have old ones so no SD card slot which means seriously limited space. I'd be happy with them if we had more space, but since I'm looking to get new devices anyway, I'm not sure yet if we'll go kindle again or not. We probably will just because of price but it would be a much easier decision for me if it just allowed audible access from Free Time. They play on apps, some educational and some not. They have a few that read them stories. DD9 has a few e-books on hers. They each have a few movies from our disney movies anywhere account. They both stayed entertained primarily by their kindles when we just drove 12 hrs each way to Disneyland. *(I don't normally allow prolonged entertainment by electronics, but for travel I make an exception. It's a long boring drive and they were content the whole way. I call it a win.)
  10. I haven't read all the replies, but has she been fully allergy tested? My 9yo was tested for seasonal allergies when she was 5ish and it came back negative. Last winter she was sick all. the. time. She would be down for several days, apparently with a cold, then she'd be better for a few days, then turn around and be sick again. We went back to the allergist and they expanded their test and it came back highly allergic to dust mites of all things. Something so simple and sooo hard to do anything about; they're everywhere. She's on singulair now and doing so much better.
  11. I added it to the kids' christmas wish list on amazon, which both grandparents have access to. I got on after I saw your post to order it and it told me someone had already purchased it today. Grandma must be watching amazon deals!
  12. I picked up Splendor for myself and DH. The kids will be getting Evolution and The Magic Labyrinth (not the same game as Labyrinth which they already have and love). There is a new game just launched on kickstarter that I am super excited about: Squatch. My neighbor is one of the creators so we've played it a few times with them as test runs. It's always a lot of fun so I'm hoping it gets funded. I'm considering getting another logic/thinking single-player game. We have several already but the kids have nearly worked through all the puzzles on them. We spend an hour or two a week all sitting together taking turns on different games and it would be nice to add a bit more to our choices. We have: Rush hour, three little pigs, zoologic, animalogic, smart cookies, dinosaurs mystic islands, laser maze jr, code master, balance beans, camelot jr, q-bitz, and iq twist. I want something that will be along these lines but not the same thing in a different wrapping. I did some searching today and a few I'm considering are Gravity Maze, Cat Crimes, and Dr. Eureka.
  13. ~45 min 4 days a week. (5 days if we don't have Co op) Grammar & writing program ~15-20 min/day, 4 days a week Cursive ~10 min, 2x week Spelling - lesson 30 min/1x week, dictation from the lesson the other 3 days ~ 10 min. (So ~an hour a week) Fine motor is difficult for her so she *can* copy a paragraph but it takes her a bit and she hates it. If she dictates to me she can structure an okay paragraph with guidance. Left all on her own it's pretty choppy with simple sentences. Actual curriculum we're using: 20-45 min, 2-3 days a week. Plus a fair bit in extra reading, videos, and whatever she comes up with working on. History we do about 30 min, 3 times a week.
  14. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/662974-re-christmas-stockings-and-trinkets/ The forum search doesn't work very well. It's easier to use google. Just type Site:forums.welltrainedmind.com (search terms)
  15. I saw that. That definitely makes it more appealing, but would still cost up front even if it didn't end up working out. Thankfully we already have all the tiles because older DD does AAS. These are good ideas, I'll have to try them out! Awesome that I can access the first 3 lessons. I will be trying those as soon as she is ready for school work again (she's been down with croup). Thank you!
  16. While I may be a bit jealous that the other family was able to offer so much and I couldn't, I don't think I would let that hold me back from saying yes. Of course I would love for my kids to be able to have a ton of wonderful memories with us. I would love for them to remember when our family went to Paris or on a cruise or something. But if I can't provide that, I would rather they experience it without me than not at all. DH and I decided a while back that we wouldn't wait on opportunities in order to maybe involve the other parent. Kid really wants to see something in town but DH is working and we can't find a time for all four of us to go? I take the kids myself. He wants to be part of the memory, but it's not worth the kids missing it all together since he can't be. If something comes up while DH is at work (or alternately if he is out with the kids and I'm busy with something else), we don't say "Oh maybe next time when spouse can come along!" Nope, we give the kids whatever experience is on offer and try to take pics for the missing parent. If my child truly got on really well with the friend, I trusted the parents, and there were no major reasons to keep them home (such as missing something big our own family had planned, or if the destination were questionable), then I would let them go. If I were worried about the reciprocation aspect, I might say something about that. "Thank you so much for your very generous offer. Before accepting, I just want to make sure you realize that we will never be in a position where we can offer the same to your son, much as we would like to" Likely response "Oh we don't expect anything in return! We just want son to have a good time with a friend!" "He would love to go then. Thank you so much for giving him this opportunity. Please let me know anything I need to do to prepare him for the trip."
  17. It took me a few years to reach this point. I started with just not shaving in the winter and I would skip the bra if i had on a big hoodie, but still wore one in the summer under t-shirts. And shaved more often in the summer when I might wear shorts or swim. Then I started skipping the bra under t shirts if I was just running errands or taking the kids to the park, but would still wear one for things like family gatherings, going out to eat, things like that. It was a very slowly evolving thing for me to get to where I am now. I'm an atheist living in Utah, not wearing a bra is one of the last things I get looked at askance for!! :lol:
  18. Fake, pre-lit. The lights can be set to color, white, or alternating. The kids always mess with that so it varies. Ornaments are quite varied. Some kid craft ones, a handful my great grandmother made out of plastic canvas, some bulbs, and we get a new personalized family ornament each year and have since DH and I married so that makes up a big part of the collection now. A few random colored bulbs as well but I haven't replaced broken ones in a while so we don't have many. Our tree topper is a weeping angel! I love it! Hey, it's an angel, so it's traditional enough, right? Just don't blink ;)
  19. I guess I just don't care what anyone else thinks about it! I don't wear a bra OR shave. And I finally decided I don't care if anyone notices or what they think about it. When I first stopped shaving I would still do so if I was going swimming or going to wear shorts (which I very rarely do). Now I don't. If I don't know them, their opinion doesn't matter to me. If I do know them, I would hope that who I am as a person is more important to them than my undergarments or shaving habits.
  20. Same here. I gave them up and never looked back. Okay, I do still own one but only for 1 particular dress I wear to comic con that has low, loose arm holes.
  21. I don't think anyone truly couldn't comprehend it, more just that it is so far from the normal for them that it's not a situation they have encountered for thanksgiving. I was one who posted that we have copious amounts of leftovers. I completely get that not everyone can have such a thanksgiving and we are all incredibly grateful that we can. Actually part of the reason we have such an over-the-top thanksgiving is because my mom and step-dad like to give our family and my brother's family the gift of a few days of good food. We could absolutely not afford to do what they do. My brother's family even less so. But by them "oops, made way too much", they can send us home with leftovers and it's enough that it honestly saves us some money not buying food for those few days. I just wanted to clarify that we are not an over-indulgent family who believes in going overboard and/or wasting food. It all gets eaten and I am grateful for it and reminded of our day together every time I eat from it.
  22. We have several of those mentioned here (8 of the 11 named, plus one that's already on our christmas list). I guess I'm not sure how to classify what I'm looking for, I just feel like something is missing from our vast collection! My nephew wants the game Soggy Doggy for christmas. I was watching the ad for it to see what it was and I thought it looked quite ridiculous compared to all the awesome games we have, but DD came by and said it looked like so much fun. So maybe I'm looking for popular, pointless, annoying, make-the-kids-giggle games that I'm worried I'm denying my kids by always choosing what I consider to be really good, worth our time games. (But maybe not soggy doggy specifically, wouldn't the inside of the pipes and all get gross if the game sat on a shelf for a while?)
  23. 1- I also cannot process the food running out. We go to my mom's and we have so much food we split up the leftovers three ways so our family, my brother's family, and my mom/step dad can eat leftovers for 2-3 days. I can't imagine trying to make just the right amount of food so everyone gets enough but no leftovers. 2- If GF indicated it was still fine for him to come an hour late, then she should have made up a full plate for him before it all ran out. 3 - If this was somewhere the GF did not have any say over the food or felt uncomfortable claiming a plate for BF, then she should have made it clear to BF that she couldn't guarantee food. 4- Teddy is too extreme in the other direction. AFTER everyone present has had their fill, then if the host is amenable to the idea you could make up a plate to take away as leftovers. But definitely not before everyone has had a first run through the line.
  24. We have a lot of educational and strategy games both for adults and kids. But sometimes kids just want to play a silly kids game! I don't think we really have much of those. I am tired of candy land and aggravation being their go-to non-thinking game. Any suggestions for simple, silly, not-a-lot-of-thinking games for kids? They are 5 and 9.
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