A restaurant near me used to serve the most delicious Mango Brie Quesadillas with Guacamole. Very simple to do - just mango slices, green onion and brie melted between two crispy tortillas, served with Guacamole. Also, ham, brie and crisp apples and nuts (walnut or pecans are best) chopped up together makes a wonderful spread for whole grain bread or crackers. Love Brie...want some now.

I am not sure if you mean that you would make a donation in the other person(s) name(s), but I would also tread carefully with that. I have some ethical issues that I hold dear and I (personally) would be very insulted if someone donated to a charity or 'cause' that I am opposed to a) because money would be given to something I object to and, b) it shows the giver doesn't really know me. If you are looking for meaning during the holidays, maybe you and the family can all donate your time - Meals on Wheels looks for people to deliver meals during the holidays, also many soup kitchens need extra help during this time. Once our kids are old enough, we plan to donate our time in this way as a means of helping out those less fortunate and also to counter balance the material excess of the season.

I make yoghurt several times a week. You will probably never get the same texture as Yoplait as homemade yoghurt is not that texture...it tends to me more viscous and thick rather than whipped and/or creamy. However, it all depends on what type of milk you use. For the creamiest yoghurt use half and half or whole milk. Also, if you want to avoid artificial colours and sweetners you can always flavour the mix with some flavoured stevia. Netrition (http://www.netrition.com) sells two brands of liguid flavoured Stevia and one of them has strawberry.

I got 145 point - Super Nutty, Ultra-Crunchy Granola Earth Mama

So far my kids have not been interested in audio books, so I am putting them off for a bit. I have to admit that I prefer reading to listening as well - to the point that I have to have the subtitles on while I watch a movie to be able to fully enjoy it.

I have to admit, I found this topic really fascinating...I didn't know anybody ever did this. I still don't know anyone who does. Occasionally my mother would read the end of a book she wasn't enjoying just to see if it ended well. With that in mind, I do think a book is meant to be read from start to finish. For me, the introduction and evolution of characters and the nuances of plots are vital to my enjoyment of fiction, and non-fiction is also generally written temporally and should be followed as such. Art is completely different and it's goal is to make you think and interpret, whereas a novel is the creation of the authour and is presented to you as a completed whole work. I have yet to encounter it, but I think I would definitely discourage my children from skipping around in a novel, explain to them that it is my belief that it is respectful to the authour to read his/her work in the way it was written, but I would also never make it into a confrontation.

as a scientist, this is near and dear to my heart. Most books are geared for college students because the general supposition is that younger students just are not doing it. However, you should be able to look at the text and see the main parts of a scientific paper and then explain them to your child. Each of the sciences has their own "style" but the basic parts are the same: Abstract Introduction Materials and Methods Results Discussion Conclusion If you need more help or want me to detail out the parts, just let me know.

Actually, she comments all the time about how wonderful he is, what a joy to have in class, how he listens and follows directions. She actually moved him so he is sitting between the two "bullies" to help improve their behavioiur. But, he is so tired of being good that when he gets home he is a terror - belligerent, overbearing to his siblings, and refuses to do the afterschooling that he asked to do (history, geography, art history, composer study), none of which is his normal behaviour. Our reasons for homeschooling are pretty basic - we don't think the school system here is very good, and I want the best for them.

Sorry, I forgot that I hadn't made a signature with ages, etc. So, my boys are S-6 (07/2003), X-4 (12/04), and the girls are C-2 (11/06) and L-8mos (2/09). We had planned on homeschooling, belong to several homeschool groups (in San Antonio) and most of their friends are homeschooled. However, my husband wanted to let S make his own decision about school, and when we went for the tour he decided to give it a try. One of the things that I have noticed is a definite change in the boys' relationship - they have always been close, but a distance seems to be forming between them now, whereas X is becoming closer to C because he now has only her to play with.

I am not weepy or emotional by any means, but I get really invested in stories and characters (I was very shy as a child and spent most of my time with books) and I remember bawling at the end of many books, and especially series. It felt like a loss in a way to be done, like I would never experience those "people" and "places" the same way again. Wow, maybe I am getting sappy ;)

I'm not sure if you or your husband had the surgery, but just to give you some hope - my mother in law had her tubes tied on medical advice after having 4 children in 4 years. She was a deeply religious woman and eventhough she had "permission" (or a dispensation or whatever it is called) to do it, I think she felt badly about it. Well, 10 years later, my husband (in his gamete form) made it through the tubal ligation and surprise!!!

We allowed our eldest to try Kinder at a local science charter school. He has made friends and enjoys the time there, but we are not impressed with the academics, and are dealing with some behavioural issues when he comes home. We are currently deciding whether to pull him out at X-Mas or not. However, during this whole process we have come to the conclusion that DS#2 will not (absolutely not) do well in a classroom setting or with standardized education, so he will 100% be staying home. DS#1, however, doesn't want to homeschool because his school friends will miss him. So, my question is: if we allow DS#1 to stay in PS, how does it work with one at school and one (or more depending on what we do with the girls)at home? What happens if the one at home outpaces the one at school? Does it cause sibling conflict? Does anyone manage this effectively? Personally, I would love to pull DS#1 but feel bad because his Kinder teacher is one of those truly wonderful teachers who loves her students and wants to do the best for him, and I am afraid that maybe I am just a control freak. Jennifer

My kids are 6, 4, 2, and 7mos so I was thinking of looking into these vidoes/cds/books for them: http://www.meimeiandme.com/index.html

http://www.talam.org/about.html

Funny, I would never think to pronounce forest, foreign, borrow or sorrow with any other sound that "or".

We are the Purple Door Schoolhouse. My sons wanted us to paint our house purple, and when we moved I ended up picking a house with a purple door, so it is very important to the kids. I also wanted something playful and easy to make a logo for, if I ever chose to make one. However, now my kids are demanding uniforms - purple shirts with logos, and blue or khaki pants. :glare:

These are wonderful. I will check them out thoroughly when (or if) I can get the baby off of me :)

Thank you for the site...it is great. Do you download the audio to an Ipod or something to listen in the car?

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a Fairy Tale Curriculum/Unit Study/Lesson Plan? This term we are doing Fairy Tales, and I thought I would wing it, but now realize that I would like to give them some fairy tales other than the basic Grimms Brother's ones, and maybe have some help planning it out. My kids are 6, 4.5, 2.5 and 6mos but they are pretty brave so creepy fairy tales are okay. Thanks

I was raised with very formal etiquette and it has served me well throughout my life. I plan on teaching my children formal etiquette (which is more than mere manners) and am getting certified to teach it to other children/teens/adults. I feel that not knowing it will disadvantage my children in the professional world, as a lack of etiquette can lose you a job/promotion, while good etiquette/manners can help make an excellent impression. How can it ever be a bad thing or weird to teach your children how to put people at ease, learn the art of polite conversation, and yes, how to scope their soup away from them (which we all do)? Yes, much of etiquette comes from a bygone age when you always held on to you knife so that your neighbour couldn't grab it, or when having the serrated edge of a knife facing your neighbour was an insult, but it is interesting to learn the genesis of these practices. Jennifer

Try Charlie's Playhouse. They have a 53 page bibliography on the topic. Jennifer