REI Kingdom 8 is AMAZING. We have never looked back. Its a breeze to set up, fits our family of 6 with plenty of room, and it's just dreamy. We got ours during their memorial day sale, which made it a little less pricey, and we got the garage attachement as well - it makes camping so convenient. We put a little toddler potty in the vestibule so no one has to go tromping around at night. Seriously, this tent is the bees knees. We've had it a few years now and it still looks brand new, even with lots of southwestern/sandy/cactus camping and crazy wet rain camping (we stayed totally dry, btw :D ).

I have this! I forgot that I bought it awhile ago. Awesome :D

After hearing so much great stuff about him this week, I'd love to read some of his books. Where should I start??

What kind of skin do you have? Oily, dry, combination? Sensitive, tanned, wrinkled, pale, red? The kind of skin you have will dictate the kind of care you give it :) I have combination skin, tan moderately, and almost never get acne. So, I wash my face periodically with cleanser (in the evenings, when I remember, which is a few nights a week), and every morning I splash water on it and then put in a creamy moisturizer (that has SPF, I think it's Oil of Olay?) because my face feels dry without it. That's it. If I had another skin type, though, I would probably need to do more to get the same results that I currently have.

I think I recall us having similar backgrounds and I totally agree with your points. A lack of knowledge of church history combined with feeling I was quite mislead by my church has ended with me seeking elsewhere. It also has me doing quite a bit of catch up reading on early church fathers, other denominations/religions, and making sure my kids have a basic awareness and remember to always check sources, even at church ðŸ˜

Beware. That way lies danger. :D

As someone who grew up in a very small, very conservative, non denominational church, I can say that I was *not* taught *anything* about other denominations, only that they were wrong, we were right, and we were probably the only ones going to heaven. For heavens sake, I thought Methodists used a different bible when I was younger because I friend quoted a verse to me that I didn't know (one my denomination glossed over). It wasn't until college that I realized how much like me those "other people" were, and it wasn't until *adulthood* I realized that Catholics were Christians and actually held very reasonable views and didn't just "worship Mary and dead people" like I had been told as a child. A lot of this comes from living in a small, homogenous area and not leaving and it takes time to shake off those judgements you grew up with. Eta: meant to quote you here, sorry!! And just quoting to explain that there are some who honestly grow up not knowing different,y and do try to educate themselves about others.

I once worked with an older woman who had the most delightful west Texas accent. I just adored it and all of the sayings she had for everything. She was just cute as a dadgum button.

I'm from Indiana, and have a fairly standard flat Midwest accent. I've been in Texas for 13 years now and have mostly kept my own accent (living in a big metroplex helps with that) but when we visit DHs family in a more rural part of East Texas I gain a bit of theirs. It gets worse the longer I live here and the more often we visit, but I love Texan accents and don't mind. :) Oh, It drives me nuts hearing any actor do a Texas accent on TV. They always assume we sound like we are from Alabama or Mississippi. Um, no. Southern dialects are quite distinct when you take the time to listen. Sheldons Mom on The Big Bang theory comes to mind, it is the worst.

Austin is the polar opposite of Dallas. If Dallas is New York, Austin is California. Actually, lots of people in Austin are from California - lol. Huge music scene there, great food, lots of flair. It's pretty great and weird.

No original point to make, however, I've been doing a lot of questioning of my beliefs lately and I appreciate each and every point y'all have made. Seriously, it's given me a lot to chew on and think through. Also, Snermione? NO. Dramione all the way.

That sucks and I am sorry :(

I'm so glad to hear this went well! I've been seriously considering it, as I went from a DD before kids to an H after kids. My back is shot and my shoulders, too. DH would be terribly sad, but understands :) I mostly just wanted to wait until I knew I was done with babies, so I could breastfeed them all without worrying about problems. Best wishes for smooth book mending :)

I use three different math programs because my DS8 is ADHD and he needs different approaches to learn different concepts. CLE is to give him the daily review that he just HAS to have to retain the information. Beast Academy is just plain fun and it assists with the more cerebral-type math, Life of Fred is just hilarious and reminds him that math is fun and isn't just endless rows of addition and subtraction.

We are on the fence again about meds, after trying and then quitting twice, so this was quite helpful! DS8 is at a point where no matter what we feed and how much he wants to focus, his little body just can't. I think we are probably going to make an appointment with his doctor again pretty soon. Thankfully, she understands my hesitancy and is very cool and calm about it all (and is a fellow homeschooler with ADHD kids!).

I've used it for about three visits and have almost $30. When it "checks for competitors", it checks 70+ stores, though. That is WAY more effort than I choose to do on my own. Totally worth it for me!

That's funny, I like my books to be very spelled out. I don't like sitting and wondering what happened. I like things tied up into bows :) . Now, I will read books that aren't all straight lines and wrapped up endings, but I like the ones that are that way the best :P

In my world, almost no one died. So when I hear someone mentioning the dead people I have to remind myself that they are actually right and I am just living in denial. I also thought Harry was rather suited to Luna. :D

(whispers that she always thought Hermione and Draco would make a rather interesting, if not baggage-laden couple....)

Oh, I forgot, from my house in N Fort Worth, I can make it to Waco in 1.5 hours. From the airport, maybe 2 hours. 3 hours would give you PLENTY of time.

I do this drive all the time (I live in Fort Worth and my Mom lives in College Station, we meet in Waco a lot), and it's a super easy and pretty pleasant drive. Getting out of DFW will be a bear (traffic is nuts right now), but the rest of the drive is easy peasy. If you'd like, you can PM me and I can give you my cell # in case you want a better route out of town than GPS give you! And I agree, you MUST stop in West, TX at the CzechStop gas station for kolaches. They are fabulous. :)

Ours is Chapman Youth Academy. You know, CYA :lol:

I knew this was the right place to ask :) . I hadn't even thought about most of these books! I'm compiling a list now :)

Fantastic! I hadn't even thought about Henry Huggins!! In my head I think of him as part of the Ramona series and I forget that he has his own books. Thanks!

DS7 is just now at that cusp of reading for enjoyment, rather than reading because it has been assigned. This is when I started reading the Ramona books, and when I had my daughter start them as well. What would be something like those for boys? He still needs to see a few pictures and he loves action.