UPDATE! Yesterday evening was really fun... dh came home and we headed out with our youngest dd to the field where we had a new bull calf. Baby calves have to be tagged (for identification) and banded (castrated), and we have to do it the first day or two or they cannot be caught. So we ended up kneeling in a wild rose thicket (HUGE thorns) while messing with this calf and dealing with an angry mama cow. Then my dh and dd walked the field, while I fixed supper. We all ate and dh and the kids cleaned up while I showered. Dh and the kids had a wrestle which ended up with my dh getting busted in the nose by my ds (3) 's hard head :). After that we all worked on a puzzle and it was pretty much bedtime. We all enjoyed our evening very much! Thanks for all the suggestions!

my kids love the I spy books and the Can You see what I see books.

the issue is my dh IS bothered by it. He only is home at the earliest by six and the kiddos are in bed by 8:30. He worries that he misses out on stuff.

mine too...

I get "plankeye" pretty doggone often.

surfing the WTM boards???

sorry for the choice of words re: "rat race". Dh and I know lots of people who run ragged all year long to this or that sport, and then complain that their kids are strangers and they don't have enough time together. That is what I was referring to. My dh is an introvert who works long hours. It would be torturous to him for all of us to run around in the evenings to practices and games. Thanks for all the suggestions....

dh and I are disgusted by the evenings that the whole family spends staring at our individual screens. We're missing out on our kids growing up. However we refuse to join the rat race of team sports that will take our family in different directions in the evenings too. So what do you do with your evenings to bond with your kids and relax? My family was in the sports rat race and seldom spent evenings together, so I am drawing a blank. (my kids are 13, 9, 6 and 3)

hmmm.... since you are dealing with a man, discuss it in these terms.... your kids are soldiers in a battlefield. No commander takes green recruits and dumps them on the battle field without proper training. That is what I do with my kids in homeschooling. I am training them to hit the battlefield and be effective. I don;t expect them to forever stay a green recruit in training. But I will not toss them out there and expect them to be equipped to do the job right, until I have spent some years teaching them the basics and a firm foundation of what our family believes about stuff. I shelter my kids pretty well when they are small. Around the time they are 2-3 grade we are involved in more stuff. They are around kids that are homeschooled, private schooled and public schooled. We get that interaction from sports, and 4-h mainly, but I am sure there are other opportunities out there too. One also many times forgets that there are lots of varieties of homeschoolers out there. Not all homeschoolers are Christian, and even under the Christian label there is quite a bit of variation.

I clean up the kitchen so that it spotless the night before.... I pick up the house and throw in a load of laundry the night before. Then (this is what helps most) the kids are not permitted to leave their rooms (except for bathroom needs) until I come get them. I try to wake within 30 minutes of their wake time, but the fact that nobody is popping into the bed with me or bugging me while I am trying to get dressed and put in my contact lenses helps me quite a bit;

I do now that my children are older,....but when they were little....not so much. Just so much neediness before I was really awake, Now they are old enough to give mom space till she wakes up, and that seriously helps...

you pray that God will really "get" somebody in the sermon on Sunday.... and then He plows your taters instead? :) hope you had a great weekend!

oh wow.....I am going to the Co-op this afternoon for some stuff. I bet I look at the beans!!!! Those are gorgeous! I am growing scarlet runner beans for their looks...hopefully we eat some too. I found them in the flower seeds!

I was 10-12 when I struggled with sleep issues. I remember lying awake at night worrying about the craziest things. I think your mind plays tricks on you at night when you cannot sleep. The oddest things seem so logical and likely. Would running a fan for some white noise help?

blank stare with the dh and the kids. Till they just kind of shrivel up inside. (you have to have the gift of "the look" for this to work)

totally agree with this:iagree: and really, no matter how sick she is of him, given that they have 5 children together, she WILL have to deal with him. His faults will still be issues because they share children. She may be trading the bad for worse. She needs counseling.

yup...would be tractors and big farm truck.

' hahaha! We only have older vehicles. Sounds like somebody's trying to get the consumers over the barrel.

Dh is considering this, due to high fuel costs. Is it time consuming? Is it financially cost effective? Any tips?

"Don't feel obligated...we are glad you will be able to come. However, (child) is really into (fairies, building sets, Legos, Dora). I try to pick something my child does not have a lot of to avoid the "Wow! what a nice gift, I already have one of these." gaffes that my children tend to make.

dh has quit driving his awesome manly truck to work and now drives my banged up old (but fairly fuel efficient) Ford Taurus. This turn of events happened the day he filled the truck with diesel for over $100. An equal number of miles in the Taurus costs $45-50. I'm still stuck with the mini-van (which is even less cool than the Taurus) but I only leave the house twice a week. (gas has run between 3.50-3.75 typically here in the past month)

patty looks alot like the Speckled Sussex we raised last year.

I've never done this but here is a suggestion: Fabric stores carry metal eyelet kits. Could you make a big old metal eyelet at various points across the top and then hang them on hooks that are anchored into the wall?

this is admirable.

I am almost done with my dd's easter dress....just have to sew on buttons and cut open the button holes. For the first time ever in 8 years of homeschooling, my oldest dd is completing a science course. I got my flower bed weeded this week.