HaHa, my mom grew up in KC and does the same thing, as did her father. "Warsh" as in, "I need to warsh my car." Interestingly, she pronounces "Walsh" as wash. So there you go... add an "r" to wash, take the "l" out of Walsh. :lol: I say s'mores, no sh. My kids say "suh-mores" .

Are you thinking of a series that would be used in a public school? Just for interest, this is the basal series I grew up with in the 70s-80s. It's by Houghton-Mifflin, and was widely used at that time. My DD has the 1st grade book, Secrets, in her room. She thinks it's special because it was the book I used as a child. :) It's a collection of stories and poems, etc. I'm not sure if things have changed with this sort of reading program or not, but FWIW, I can't imagine it being a good fit for the dyslexics here. A struggling reader would really struggle with this series. http://hmr.posthaven.com/

It's so interesting to me the way things have changed over the last 30-40 years. When I was 10, most of my friends were around that height. I specifically remember being at the end of 4th grade (so 10.5) and being 48 inches tall/48 pounds. I thought it was neat to have all of those 4s, ;) Most of my friends were maybe just a tiny bit taller--nothing really noticeable. I'm now 5'3.5", so definitely not tall, but fairly average. I grew 2 inches in college, so 5'1" at my HS graduation. My older DD has been my size, age for age, all of her life. At every single Dr. appt, I've heard about how small she is. At least I've been able to say that she's exactly the size I was at that age, which usually ends the "concern." I'm not saying that you don't have a reason to be concerned if you feel like something may be wrong, but that was a pretty average size for a 10-year-old girl not that long ago.

That's fantastic! Congratulations!

I'm so sorry. I will definitely be praying for your precious family. May the Lord grant His peace, comfort and mercy over Jenna, and may His love and protection surround your whole family. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

We saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Deadmen Tell No Tales last night. It was actually a pretty fun movie. I think it was the third one that I didn't like. I thought it was just too dark, if that makes sense. This one was lighter. I was worried DD10 would hate it/be afraid of it, but she loved it. The main villain was super creepy! It was still pretty gory, but all of my kids have an appreciation for special effects, so they see it from that angle. My kids are mega-Beatles fans, so their favorite part of the movie was "Uncle Jack." ;)

Praying for your son. :grouphug:

I am suffering from the exact same thing right now. It is so incredibly frustrating. ( and painful!) My gallbladder was removed 18 years ago, but yet the pain I feel is in the exact same spot and is somewhat similar. Pain that feels like intense hunger occurs at the same time. Ironically, I am married to a fantastic gastroenterologist, so I've tried everything, lol. This also means I'm acutely aware that modern medicine has its limits. Not everything has a cause that can be identified and fixed, at least not at this point in history. New discoveries are made everyday, so I'm forever hopeful. My DH is insisting on endoscopy at this point to rule out anything serious. I've had stomach pain all of my life. I remember being doubled over in pain on the school bus. This particular pain comes and goes. Right now, I am going through "a spell" as I call it. It goes on like this for a few weeks and then suddenly subsides. Then months later, it happens again. I am nearly incapacitated when this happens.

We keep a tub of Sani-hands in the car. Whenever we get back in, everyone uses them. Showers every night. No shoes in the house. Zinc. Frequent sanitizing of all light switches, door handles and faucets. Two of my kids have immune deficiencies, so we do everything we can. It's still not enough some times.

Confession: I have a home like this. I don't have any outside help. I used to, but my house just wasn't getting as clean as I like, so now I do it. I've read every book mentioned, plus a couple dozen more, lol, mostly because I like cleaning / home keeping books. They're relaxing for me. :huh: I prefer daily tasks plus zone cleaning. Several of the books mentioned can give you the basics of that: FlyLady (her original book), Sidetracked Home Executives (I like their original book, as well.) Also the youtube channel linked above, How Jen Does It. She's one of my favorites. All of those include info on zone cleaning. If you don't know what sorts of tasks to do in your zones, then those listed above will help. You can start there, and as you get better at it, you'll see things to add that are specific to your house and family. So here's an example since you mentioned windows. This week, my zone is the main kitchen and hearth room. That means, in addition to keeping up with my usual routines that include basic cleaning, I spent a little time doing the baseboards, the light fixtures, the underneath parts of the table, etc. as well as cleaning the windows in my kitchen and hearth room only. I went out onto the porch and did the glass on the outside of my sliding door and also the walk-out porch door. The other windows, baseboards, light fixtures will get done when it's time for their zone. I don't clean the insides of light fixtures until the bulbs need changed, only the outside. FlyLady insists that everyone only has 5 zones, so that each zone gets done each month, but my house is huge, so I have more. That means that I will only be doing the detailed type of cleaning in each zone every 2 months, which is fine for my house. She also says not to spend more than 15-30 minutes in your zone. Also, if you have a lot of clutter, just work on getting rid of things in each zone, then start cleaning after you've decluttered. If you've never read Home Comforts, it's definitely worth your time. I love, love, love that book! Here are a few others I've enjoyed: Bonnie's Household Organizer Confessions of an Organized Homemaker Unstuff Your Life Is There Life After Housework? (this one changed the way I do several things) Clutter's Last Stand I definitely don't want to spend a huge amount of time cleaning, but I'm aware that I spend more time on it than most. Part of that is the size of my house, but part of it is that it's worth it to me. I'm not sure why it matters to me, but I've always been this way. And while other people walk in and think my house is "perfect", in the back of my mind I'm always thinking about the things I'd like to improve upon. That's actually a tendency I'd like to get rid of. It's a nagging perfectionism that is just part of my personality. :glare:

I've taught First Holy Communion prep twice in our parish. This is how our church sees it. As a community, we want to support the children as much as possible. The Catholic school connected to our parish teaches all religious education content during regular school hours. So for those children, First Communion prep is done during school time. Both groups have an opportunities to attend reconciliation during the times they are normally attending religion class. So nothing "extra" is required of the parents.

Praying for you here. May God's peace and mercy be upon you. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

I love to relax in front of an old TV show! So do my kids, lol. My youngest is starting to sound a bit like Ricky Ricardo... "What is that THIN?" DD10 has an American Girl doll named Tyler, after Mary Tyler Moore. The Dick Van Dyke show is one of the all-time favorites here. My DH and I have been watching Bob Newhart. He got me the complete set of DVDs for my birthday last year. The men in plaid pants and giant collars are really something!

Wow, it looks great! My daughter just cut her waist length hair into a pixie. It's adorable, but she did not like all the attention surrounding it! :)

Apparently saying this silently to one's self was part of the Latin mass years ago and many people still do it in their own language, although it isn't supposed to be said aloud. When we attend Spanish mass, there is a song that is sung during the sign of peace. It always catches me off-guard.

That's so hard. I hope it works out well for for them.

I have been on the Disney Cruise too many times to count... :huh: My DH and I have been twice by ourselves. :mellow: You will have a fabulous time. Find your passports, get a swimsuit you can feel comfortable in, and enjoy your trip. We never do an excursion in the Bahamas. Sometimes we go over to Atlantis. Since you'll be able to head for the adult side of Castaway Cay, you won't be overwhelmed by the crowds at the family beach. There is also lunch served over there. It's great.

That's fantastic!

How wonderful! Congratulations!

We saw it tonight and loved it. We're planning it to see it in IMAX next week. I read that Emma Watson had to prove that she could sing to get the part. We had a good discussion on the way home about beauty and beastliness both being on the inside. And yes, Gaston was perfect!

We need to meet there sometime! I know! It's weird! They built a garage on the side near the Art Institute, and the entrance is underground now from the garage. It's so strange. We're a couple of hours away now, but still visit fairly often. The Plaza is really different, too. Some of the landmark stores are now gone.

Wow, this brings up memories for me! I went to UMKC, and most Fridays, a friend and I went to Gates for lunch. It stressed me out, too, and I was a regular! Walk in the door, and BAM! The Nelson... my favorite field trip as a kid and one of my favorite places to take my kids as a grown-up. It's weird to me entering through a garage, but that's progress (I guess ;))

Wow, her things are gorgeous! I'm saving her shop!

My older DD had a few, but it's younger DD who is AG obsessed, lol. She has 7 dolls so far. Her room is full of her "set-ups" and I just, in fact, took pics the other day of it all because I want to remember this time. She has Lea's fruit stand, the OG kitchen, the AG dining set, a sewing set, a gardening set, several beds, Julie's bed, the OG wardrobe, a lemonade stand that she turned into Grace's "French Treats for Life" stand (that's her made-up name ;)) several pets and their things... it just goes on and on. She loves to craft her own things for her dolls. Her sister makes jewelry and charms from clay, so that gave her the idea to make doll food from clay. She has gorgeous cupcakes, sandwiches, petit fours, macarons, and a bunch of other stuff. She also makes jewelry for her dolls from clay. Two of her doll's beds were made from the doll boxes, and she made a stand-up wardrobe from a box and the string that came on an AG bag. It's adorable. She also makes stop-motion movies with her dolls. She's figured out so many things with them. That's a different sort of play all together and not something a lot of kids would be interested in, but my youngers are influenced by their older film-making siblings in this way, so it's just an extension of play for them. There are some Youtube channels devoted to crafting for your AG dolls. My dd's favorite youtuber is AGoverseasfan. It's a girl in Australia. I'm not sure how much crafting she does, but she has a huge collection. Do you have a subscription to the AG magazine? They have ideas in there, too. In the last issue, there were miniature AG magazines to cut out and staple together for your dolls. Have fun with your crafting! There are endless possibilities!

I'm praying for you. :grouphug: