As others have said: (1) Belonging to a CSA (2) Only buying in-season produce (my kids and DH go through huge quantities of fruit, so this is a big one for us) (3) Less meat (4) Cooking as much as possible, including -- when I have my act together -- baking bread. I also find that Whole Foods' 365 brand and bulk bins, as well as Trader Joe's are pretty reasonably priced sources for dairy and assorted staple/processed foods (oatmeal, cereal, nuts, canned tomatoes, chocolate [don't even try to tell me that's not a staple], cheese, peanut butter, etc.)

Yes. We just moved into a house -- after years in small apartments -- and decided that since we rarely entertain anyway, we'd get much more use out of the living room as a 'family study.' So half of it is a giant library table and bookshelves for DH and myself, and the other half is a big kid-sized table and shelves with all the school things. The house also has a den which has toys, a couch, some reading chairs, and all the kids' books. The dining table is for dining only, which is just wonderful.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner. I've almost never heard anything else. After reading the Little House books, though, my 6yo sometimes finds it entertaining to call lunch "dinner" and dinner "supper."

Wow, how extremely weird. She emailed you at 7:50 about an 8:30 pickup and got annoyed that you called in between because it was too early? That' just .... odd.

This past year (K) we started at around 7 and were done by 8:30 or so, including music practice. This year I think I'm going to try and get a quick workout in before DH leaves the house and then we'll do school during the baby's morning nap, so it will be slightly later, but not much. Late morning activities would be just ideal for us, but I haven't found anything yet.

Yes, and I thought that they were well worth the investment. I was not familiar with Asian math beforehand and the HIGs really gave me a much better understanding of how the Singapore program works.

One of my all-time favorite books is The Waiting Years, by Fumiko Enchi. I have never been in a book club but I could imagine this book working well in that context.

We also do the one joint account for everything and have been perfectly happy with that setup, but I can see how your particular situation is rather more complicated. Does your fiance have children as well? Do you receive child support? If so, it might be worth thinking about keeping that money, at least, in a separate account, if only for accounting purposes. But really, I have no idea what the recommended financial setup is in your circumstances. You might take a look at some of the financial planning books in the library/bookstore and see what they suggest for blended families. Good luck!

I placed an order for L'Art de Lire Level 1 in late May -- it has not yet arrived. I had been assuming that this was due to the Canada Post strike, but I have emailed and called the person at Nallenart multiple times over the past few weeks, just to get confirmation that the package was indeed mailed -- to no avail. Radio silence. Given that it is mid-July already, if I don't hear from her in another few days I am going to cancel the order and/or file a complaint with Paypal and order something else instead. I have been looking at Skoldo Primary French -- is there anything else I should consider? My oldest is a rising first grader and a very strong reader. I speak some French and we will hire a native speaker tutor but I definitely want something that has a go-along CD.

I think of those two books as having rather different messages, but for the latter, on the theme of self-sacrifice Horton Hatches the Egg and The Giving Tree come to mind.

From what I can tell, I don't think the judge necessarily had much of a choice. He is her father -- under Florida law a married woman's husband is the presumptive father of the child. (Here is the famous Supreme Court case upholding this principle: http://www.oyez.org/cases/1980-1989/1988/1988_87_746). And when if comes down to a parent versus a nonparent (i.e., the grandmother) the question is whether the parent is fit, not whether the best interests of the child would be served by being placed with the nonparent. (Here is the Supreme Court memorably slapping down a Washington statute that allowed courts to permit visitation by nonparents simply on a finding that it would be in the best interests of the child: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99-138.ZS.html) So the only question is whether he is an unfit parent. And I'm not sure that having married the child's mother at 16 would automatically make that true. Maybe, maybe no. But in any event, the article is wrong when it describes the girl as "another man's child." As one of the PP said, she may have a different biological parent (who presumably did not take the necessarily action when the girl was born to establish himself as her father, and that ship may well have sailed a couple of years ago, as in the Michael H v. Gerald D case I linked to above) but Coleman is her legal father.

I was just looking at those last night -- I'm not particularly worried about modesty, and I wear a regular one-piece suit for my own indoor swimming workouts, but I've started taking the kids to an outdoor pool and the additional sun protection along with the bikini line concealment are both quite appealing. I noticed a woman at the pool yesterday wearing a swim skirt and she looked quite cute.

Great suggestions -- thanks! I wonder if I have any beads in the house ...? We practice every day, but it is the least favorite part of my day.

[quote If you want great stories, there are several books by the McKissick family and the Pinkney family where the stories are universal but the kids happen to be 'brown'. This is a great suggestion, thanks. I am always on the lookout for books in which the characters just happen to be nonwhite without it being a Big Production. (Now if I could just find some books in which the parents just happen to be of different races, I'd be all set ...) Agreeing with the Vera B. Williams recommendation upthread - we liked Scooter. And IIRC, the Nate the Great series revolves around a little Benetton ad of friends -- white, black, and Asian

:iagree:

Both firstborns here. Also both Tauruses. We're not the most relaxed couple, but things get DONE around here. :001_smile: I do think we tend to be rather too hard on our oldest, probably because of our own birth order.

Wow, nice dress! She looked great. I hope the marriage works out. And thanks for the info on what citizens of Monaco are properly called. Learn something new every day.

Sounds like you're confident in your decision -- good luck! We actually moved from NYC to Tennessee this very morning. (I have to change my location.) It was the right thing to do -- the job opportunity for DH was just too good to pass up, and it will open many more doors for us in the future -- but I have to admit that I cried as the plane took off from LaGuardia. All my family and most of my friends are still there, and I will just miss so, so much about the city. Sigh. But I'm heartened to hear that you've been able to make a good life for yourself in FL. I'm going to do my darnedest to do that here, too.

It was a such a rite of passage, wasn't it? I think my favorite Knuffle Bunny book is the second one, but this one is so poignant. I also adore the Alfie books by Shirley Hughes.

Our cleaning people here were like that -- the woman is one of those people on a personal mission to eradicate dirt from the earth. Best. Cleaning. People. Ever. Alas, we are moving and I practically cried when I said goodbye to them last week.

Yes, I am very glad that I had mine at 33, 36, and 38. Because if I had had a baby at 25 it would mean that I had married the wrong man. I count my lucky stars every day that I held out for the right person. I should note that while both my mom and MIL were 30 when they had their first children and 33 with the second, which was shockingly old for the time, virtually everyone I know has had all of their children in their 30s or even early 40s. So while you can't fool Mother Nature, of course, from a social standpoint I don't feel at all out of place.

The rule here is 6 am, sigh. My oldest has always been such an early riser, and the middle one gets up with him because, hey, party time! The baby gets up with the sun, so right now that's 5:15, but at least the older two will stay in their room until 6. My oldest also has problems with heartburn so i really have to give him breakfast ASAP, but otherwise I would consider delaying it all until about 6:30 or even 7.

I agree with using Chrome or Firefox instead of Safari. I use Thunderbird for email and am very happy with it. Macs are incredibly user-friendly; I doubt you'll find it much of a transition at all. Take the computer out of the box, plug it in, turn it on. All will become clear :001_smile:

This sounds great -- I just checked out your blog, too. I actually have something quite similar planned for this coming year, although I'm going to start with one-week units and see how things go before possibly extending the time frame (my oldest is 6). Like you, we're going to rotate through geography, history, and science, and I'm also going to do some religion units. Glad to hear it's been working out so nicely for you!

i flew first class with a baby on a domestic regional flight recently. I'm pretty sure everyone else there quailed when I walked in and plunked us down in our seats, but my baby wound up being way less annoying than some of the other adults. (Yes, Mr. Self-Important Talking Loudly on Your Cell Phone While We Are Trapped on the Tarmac -- I'm looking at you.)