One time we went camping and the people in the next spot over spent all afternoon smoking marijuana(fine, whatever. We weren't really downwind.) and blasting techno music(so, so, so not fine). Luckily, they were very young adults/older teens and they needed help getting their fire started. And setting up their tent. My DH told them we were happy to help with everything if they would just turn the music down and exhale away from us. It worked.

When I asked my 5 year old what he wanted to learn in K, one of his top suggestions was to build robots. My first thought was Lego WeDo, but that is not in the budget at this time. Anyone have any other ideas?

She will be 3 in October and I have lost any hope that she might sleep soon. She was awake for close to 3 days after she was born. Mostly screaming. :) I figure I've made it this far, I can keep going! Thanks for all the tips and ideas. I'm going to try and figure out what works and makes the most sense for him and for our family. I have to figure out how to teach robot building...sounds like a new thread! Also, for anyone checking back-we have a National Park, a wildlife preserves and natural areas with nature trails, scavenger hunts, explorer backpacks, dip nets available, catch and release fishing etc near us. I was thinking trying to get to one of those places on a regular/semi regular basis for "nature study". My toddler does better outside and loves birds and my DS loves fishing and bugs. I thought it might be a good way to check off science. Thoughts?

He does. He plays by himself or with his younger sister for several hours, we have playdates and park days regularly, and most of the time I'm not in the same room with them. I expect them to play outside every day for a couple of hours and I am usually inside at that point. I

We break it up throughout the day. And I call game over anytime the toddler tries to sit on my head. I think that's fair.

We love picture books! I'll look into the DVDs. Thanks!

A lot of it is picture books. ;)

Who has been there, done that? My 5 year old will start K anytime I decide, I suppose. He'll be doing an enrichment program through a public school one day a week. I am guessing that means he needs to have OK handwriting. Beyond that I really just want to continue to read aloud for 2-3 hours a day, work on math which is currently MEP 1 and whatever games and puzzles catch interest, practice handwriting, begin to work on reading, field trips, and I don't know what else. An occasional unit study. I have a high energy toddler, only sleep for 3-5 hours a night due to said toddler, have a husband who works away from home most of the time, and...he's 5. He, of course, wants to learn Chinese, how to build robots, and spend hours a day on math. He could not care less if he learns to read right now. He will sit and listen to read alouds for a long time though. We're currently reading The Iron Giant.

If you've used this, what kind of loupes did you buy? Just the ones from the website or something else from Amazon or??

I am using the free app on my phone. It's probably inaccurate, but it's better than spending $100+ to find out I'm lazy. I've been typically getting around 7,000-8,000. Probably 4,000 of those are due to having a 2 year old.

We like Rat A Tat Cat Zingo Castle Logix Somebody Board Game Dino Tracks Math Game

The Are You A Grasshopper/Butterfly/Ant/etc series. The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs Creepy Carrots(my son found this hysterical at age 4 and still loves it, but a friend told me it scared her 5 year old) Oh No, or How My Science Project Destroyed the World Sneaky Sheep Monkey With A Toolbelt King Arthur's Very Great Grandson Hi, Pizza Man The Seven Silly Eaters The M.P Robertson dragon books Wordless or word light books like: The Knight and the Dragon The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher Journey by Aaron Becker(highly recommended!!)

School here got out before Memorial Day and kids will go back mid August, so school supplies sales now make some sense. I would have assumed they'd wait until after the 4th of July though. And that reminds me I need to buy pencils and pencil sharpeners. I bought a ton each last year, but they are long gone. Somehow.

A round the clock combination of Zofran and Phenergan helped some. But it mostly helped me keep things down a little better, it didn't do much to take the edge off the nausea. <3

I also enjoyed Godzilla. Which was the first movie I've seen in a theater this year. :o I also tend to like action/monster movies. Or movies with plot holes, impossible action sequences, or giant monsters. I'm looking forward to Guardians of the Galaxy because of the racoon and the use of "Hooked On A Feeling" for the trailer. Basically, I'm a bad person to ask! I do want to see Chef though.

My DH has for short term things, like a year long job that functioned as training for a better (blue collar) job. It was fine, but it took it's toll monetarily and in other ways. He would prefer not to do it again if he did not have to. I would prefer the same thing. I'm guessing that you are going to get a wide variety of answers. They really don't matter so much as what seems to matter to your DH, which is that he would not want to do the longer commute. If he's willing to add on, maybe sit down and talk about budget, time tables, and what you can do to get that in the works quickly? I'd try to nail down the addition rather than push for a longer commute, because in my marriage, pushing for the non preferred option just leads to more disagreement. It's no fun. I hope you find a workable solution!

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Splash park Regular parks Taking the kids camping for the first time Aquarium Science center Library reading/activity program Free fishing clinics at nearby state park Scoffing at what is considered a lake, but swimming anyway Pool occasionally Try to convince husband of the need for more camping Some minor hiking once the places I like to take the kids are free of flood water and rattle snakes Possibly Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park, but might wait until fall for that. Fires in our fire pit when it's not windy + s'mores Gardening Whatever free things I can find that are toddler/preschool kid friendly More parks

That's, uh, well. It's something. Hope they love it. OP, get one of those and add some pink flamingos and those plastic geese with bonnets and then decorate them for EVERY holiday. Along with the dollar store stuff. ;) I saw a garden gnome on Think Geek that looked like Godzilla eating an actual garden gnome too.....

I'll see what actually happens when I get there, but for right now my answer is, "depends on the kid and depends on the movie theater". I grew up in a nice suburb outside of Kansas City(on the KS side) and I worked in a discount theater as a teen I wouldn't let my kids go to alone at 10. Or 15. That might be an exaggeration, but still. On the other hand, in that same town was an old, gorgeous movie theater that had 4 screens. It was very nice, was in a major shopping area, and had a large lobby. My mom would drop myself and a friend off while she read in the lobby or shopped in the center. And now I'm wondering if that theater is still there. :laugh:

My SIL and I share the same first name. We're not creepy or weird. :huh: It just happens to be a pretty common 80s name.

We have no HOA, but our next door neighbor wishes we did. She's taken it upon herself to attempt to BE the neighborhood HOA. No one really cares for it, but they sort of let it go. She complained a lot to other neighbors and to the city, but never once talked to us nicely about her issues. Although, I would have told her to pound sand for most of them. She doesn't like our van, doesn't like that we fixed a dead spot in our front yard with seed instead of sod, doesn't like anything. Well. One day, during the summer while I was pregnant with my second, on partial bed rest, and had a husband working 70 hour weeks doing physical labor she got mad about the brown spots in our lawn. Which we were watering in accordance with city laws, but it wasn't going fast enough for her-she complained and told the city we weren't taking any steps to fix the dead lawn and that we were violating the percentage of living plant material we had to have. This wasn't true and the worker realized that pretty quick. She also has cats that she lets roam the neighborhood which I found out is illegal in our city. I went over to her house and quietly told her that for every complaint she directed our way I would call the city and complain about her cats. Who do roam in my yard daily. She could choose the kind of neighbors we were going to be. She could quit gossiping about us, quit complaining, and quit looking for things to be annoyed by or I could be just as gossipy and annoyed as she could. I just happened to have an actual legal leg to stand on. She's shut her trap since then. I don't suppose your neighbors have cats? :lol: ETA: Our home was a vacant for 2 years foreclosure when we moved in. The lawn had seen no care during most of that time and it took work and time to bring it up to snuff. Which is why we had brown spots and dead spots, the lawn was undernourished for a long time.

Why? What do you imagine is happening that makes it creepy and weird?

My FIL loves his, but all he needs to use it for is to water his small container garden and hose of his 8x*8 patio once in a awhile.

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