WONDERFUL!!!! It's such an overwhelming feeling of happiness and relief once they get home! Enjoy your time together!

cathmom - do you have any recommendations for programs where the parent does speak German?

Thank you for your responses! I'm not really teaching it at the moment. It's more so DD4 and I can look through it and I can say the words for her. There's also the nostalgia of it as my mom had the German, French, and Russian ones when I was a child, and I spent countless hours pouring over them. It's out of stock on the UK site. Maybe I can pesuade my mom to part w/her copy (or at least give me the ISBN). I will most likely pick up the recommended dictionary since it does have more content. Thank you!

Is this OOP? Are they redoing/updating it? I cannot find it on the Usborne wesbite at all. I did order a paperback version used from amazon, but I wowuld really like the hardback version. Thanks!

The things I regret purging are books we hadn't read in a while (will have to buy them all again at some point), and baby clothes/nursery items. That being said though, we can fit everything we own (including DH's motorcycle) into a 26' u-haul. 2 yrs later plus 1 more child, we'll be able to do it again w/only minimal purging (we're moving to NY once we sell our house).

I would much rather suffer "Death by War and Peace" or "Death by Ovid", than "Death by PowerPoint." After sitting through 7 fun-filled weeks of training for my fed gov't job, I find PP a particuarly successful torture device - especially when it was filled with poorly written/edited slides that contained outdated information. Anywho...a classic education is timeles, not dated. Technology is constantly evolving and the basics of it are very easy to learn on the fly. Understanding the nuances of a political speech is not so easy.

I lived at home between the ages of 20-22. I had my own auto insurance policy and paid rent to my mother.

I told DD when I was around 7 wks along. Mainly b/c DH was deployed and I was having horrendous morning sickness. I figured that watching mom toss her cookies constantly would be an additional stressor if she didn't know the reason.

I've been eyeballing this, so thank you for your review! Will you be posting updates as you progress through it?

On a flour tortilla (rolled up). DD likes dipping animal crackers in it

Lambchop. :)

Start w/the exhibits at the front of the zoo first, then work your way back. The bldgs up front tend to get crowded as the day goes on.

Vegetables, fruit, raw honey,various pork products, and baklava. I will miss the pork and baklava when we move b/c they are the absolutely heavenly.

Yep. I do not like reading large dox online. For me it was worth the expense as it is making it a lot easier to figure out how to use/navigate the program.

I haven't read the replies, so I apologize if this has already been mentioned. It's not for growing veggies indoors during the winter, but having a winter garden: http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Harvest-Handbook-Production-Greenhouses/dp/1603580816/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284814840&sr=8-1-spell http://www.amazon.com/Four-Season-Harvest-Organic-Vegetables-Garden/dp/1890132276/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284814840&sr=8-3-spell

www.starfall.com worked really well for us. I don't know if it would count as a game though. SuperWhy has an ABC game - http://www.amazon.com/University-Games-Super-Letter-Preschool/dp/B001SOZDFO/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1284664467&sr=8-9 AlphaBug Soup - http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Alpha-Bug-Soup-Word/dp/B00004WKQR/ref=pd_sim_t_15

Both DDs bathe 1-2x per week unless ODD (4) has been swimming, getting dirty, or it is insanely hot/muggy outside. For me, I shower on most days except in the winter, when it will be every other day.

We gave up cable several years ago and love it! We will never get it again. We have Netflix, and DD has a bunch of dvd's, but the tv is off a lot more than it used to be.

When you rinse, are you massaging your scalp at the same time to help remove the BS? I will admit that I have somethat thin hair, but I use probably 1/3 c BS and around 1/2 c of warm water when I wash. Never had residue. If you have problems w/the BS b/c you have thick hair, you could try washing your hair w/rosemary - steep several sprigs of rosemary in hot water (like making tea) for 10-20 min. Then use that to wash (making sure to massage your scalp).

That's a good take on it. Maybe I should reread it as an adult and not an 18 yr old fresh out of military school. ;) It is well-written. If it wasn't, it would not have evoked such a response from me.

Into the Wild - this is the only book I can say that I HATE WITH A PASSION!!!! It was required reading in one of my college lit classes. The professor had such a shocked expression on her face when I ripped the book to shreds. The kid is a self-serving, egocentric, holier-than-thou jerk who needs to have some commen decency and sense beat into him. I cannot stand that the book glorified the entitlement of this kid. And when I found out they made it into a movie, I about snorted fire.

DH thinks I'm absolutely gross, but I love SOS. It was my favorite breakfast at military school and in the military. As for the HH, I've only had it once, and while it was yummy, I'm in the boat that stuff in the box is usually a scam, and I can make it cheaper by purchasing the raw ingredients seperately. But in short, you do what you gotta do to feed your family. It might not be pretty, but any food is better than no food.

Thank you! I tried gently guiding her to do the questions, then go back to the coloring. I'll just keep trying! LOL...4 pages is what I restrain her to. She would do twice as many if I let her! The same thing happens w/math as well. I have to stop before she's ready to stop as lessons can go for an hour if I don't.

...a 4 yr old to complete 4 pages of Get Ready For The Code A? Upwards of 30 minutes (sometimes longer). Why, you ask? Because the drawing of the monster (we're doing M at the moment) needs to be colored, then there needs to be a daddy monster, and a baby boy monster, and a baby girl monster, and the daddy monster is grumpy so he needs a plate of cookies, then every other monster wants cookies....And this is only one page. I think keeping K4 to 1-1.5 hrs at most is not going to happen.

I've enjoyed the episodes I've watched. My only complaint is that the host is a bit on the peppy, getting-in-the-way-of-the-experts kind of guy.