I make a similar thing but sometimes I make one that has cashews and/or macademia nuts in it. Very cheesy, not low-fat, but very healthy fats, not the palm oil and coconut oil in the original link. I can't stand the soy cheeses in the stores, but our whole family likes the almond cheese we buy in our health food store. I forget the brand. It's dairy free, lower fat, and pretty yummy. Too expensive to buy often.

Most of the ones we have gotten are like this! My favorite, though, is the one that has a brief blurb about each family member, then spends half a page either ranting about the president (when he was Republican) or a president and government love-fest (last year and this year). It's really quite comical, the crazy inappropriateness of it, I mean. :tongue_smilie:

I think they look flattering on some women. It is not so much the booKs that are a problem, I've noticed, but the back of the dress or just behind the upper arms having spillage in a not so attractive way. Maybe that is a matter of getting the right fit, but it must be tricky. I had an off-the-shoulder dress but it was not low-cut. At the time I was skinny and not busty at all. I would have looked terrible in strapless, though, it probably would have fallen down with nothing to hold it up, haha.

Don't have a pregnancy in the summer! LOL My only swollen pregnancy was the one where I was in the third trimester in the middle of summer. I think keeping active is good, not standing on your feet too long in one spot, but getting regular exercise interspersed with putting your feet up. I have talked to ladies who had it so bad they wore those specisl support hose that you can buy in the drug store, especially if you have to stand for long periods of time.

90-100/60 is not "low", it is actually very normal and healthy. As evidenced by how most young women have "low" blood pressure. I would love to keep my 90/60 into old age.

I have FLL3 to use for next year with a third grader. He's very bright and he really doesn't need the repetition in FLL1 and 2, but we've gone through it, consolidating a lot. I think it's great when kids can be advanced but I'm curious what the benefit would be to getting ahead in grammar at this age? Not that it's bad, it's just maybe not necessary. :lurk5: for other replies.

I like the goals for art, music, and reading, reading reading lots of books. The learning the letters, and numbers for my kids, came through reading books and signs, the cereal box, helping me dial numbers on the telephone, etc., all without much effort. It has taken until 4.5-5 for two of my kids to know all of the letter sounds, even though I've talked about them since they were little. I'd add phonological awareness games to your list. You might also want to check out Charlotte Mason's first volume, "Home Education". You can read it for free at amblesideonline.org. Even if you don't end up using her ideas for school aged children, this book is wonderful for preschoolers. It helped me get outside the "academic box" of what was important for young children to learn, and helped me see all the other skills that were foundational to the academics that come later. So rather than learn how to write numbers to 100, which will be easily learned at age 5 or 6 or 7, you take them outside and learn to observe nature in great detail. Talk about shades of color, similarities and differences, describe scenes, learn names of local birds, trees, and flowers. Anyway, it's very interesting, and also talks about positive ways to instill good habits in children.

I'm not sure what you all consider "extended". I consider toddlerhood til about age 3, so for that definition I didn't nurse past toddlerhood. DH is fine with it and knows all the reasons, including health reasons, that it's a good idea.

We had lock downs in high school 20+ years ago. From what I remember it was usually bomb threats.

For women even 1/2-1 drink per day increases the risk of breast cancer.

That sounds like a crazy situation! I think my DH would have to do something, because I would not be pleasant to be around for the fourth! visit in one year. He'd be more worried about my sanity than the relatives -- it sounds like you are immensely patient and hospitable, more so than I. Most of DH's family does not lift a finger to help, even so much as clearing their own plates, while they are here. I don't say anything because the visits are so short, but try to remember the behavior and be an extra good guest, even when I am at their house!

Did you ask her? I've been told the Wii exercise programs arent' very challenging, but I don't know. The best program is the one that she will actually do!

Agree. IME with this type of thing, this type of "relationship" was modelled to the parent, and yet they don't see it when they are repeating it with another generation. Something to watch for.

This is exactly what I was thinking. All of it. It sounds like while you are rightly opposed to pushing your dd into choosing a career so early, you are also opposed to certain paths for her life from the get-go. I wonder why. Of course you are entitled to your opinion, but your dd may feel differently some day. I don't think it is too early at all to visit with different people in their workplace. In fact, I have been thinking about how I can arrange some experiences like this for my son. A wise woman of many told me not long ago, that it is a good idea to get them thinking about their lives as adults, and giving them exposure to what is out there for ideas, BEFORE hitting puberty with all the hormones and self-doubt and focus on peers. Not that they have to have their life mapped out, but to plant seeds about what some future goals might be. P.S. There are women doctors, both for people and animals but especially for animals, who are able to work on a very part-time basis and have families, too. Most of the vets we have had have been women who worked daytime hours, only a couple of days per week.

I would not let the 3 yo have an iPod. My 7 year old is getting a shuffle for Christmas, but this is the first year I have considered it for him, because he hasn't always cared well for his things in the past. I also didn't want him using the earbuds til now. Have you seen these? http://www.sweetpeatoyco.com/ I have no idea whether this product is any good, but it is a more durable option.

DH and I for each other 3 nieces/nephews music teachers brothers and SIL's parents and step-parents DH's colleagues (small group of them) small homemade gifts for close neighbors DH does not exchange with his sibs and their kids (thank goodness!) because they live a distance and we don't see them at Christmas, or much at all any other time. We do an end-of year gift for Sunday School teachers of the kids, but not at Christmas.

History-- first winter the Pilgrims spent in N. America, or George Washington/Valley Forge/crossing the Delaware. And the obvious how Christmas is celebrated in other countries. There is a very good book on this by Kingfisher. They also have a great book of Christmas story selections. Science-- snow, freezing/melting points, why cars need snow tires in the winter (friction), which way cars skid on ice. Hibernation and which animals do this, Audobon and how he figured out that some birds migrate in winter and did not live underground as some used to think. For copywork perhaps selections from the Bible, Dickens "A Christmas Carol". We are also reading the latter aloud (we always read Bible). I'm trying to figure out the same thing!

I'd try the Eat to Live diet and ask the doctor to check numbers again in 6 weeks. This is near-vegan, but also a good portion raw, and extremely limited on cooking with vegetable oils.

Yeah, I think it depends what it is specifically. My DH called me on this a couple of times. It wasn't that he minded what I did with the kids during the day, but that he felt I was trying to dictate what he could do with the kids. Things like--I limit tv and I don't want ds's to spend many Sundays and Monday evenings watching football with DH, even though he thinks this is the way to build memories with the kids. Or him buying things for the kids that he didn't discuss with me, that I might think they are not old enough for (or thinking that he buys them too much "stuff" in general). I have to let some things go but in other areas we have had to come together and decide what we want for the kids, together. I don't know what you did before becoming a SAHM, but I worked for years and was in charge of others and in large part, in charge of my own work environment. So, I tend to want to be the same way at home. DH gets to be the boss at work, and I feel like, if I can't call most of the shots at home, then I feel like an underling in my own home. I had to have a heart to heart with him about this.

I like them for extra practice but don't time them. We don't do them as written so I"m not sure if it is worth the cost. But, I save at least one page of each step as a master so I can make more copies if needed, and use them for my other dc later on.

Well, if you are already doing copywork from history and science, add a short narration twice a week with comprehension questions, and you are already doing the equivalent of WWE1. If your first grader can do copywork, wouldn't she be able to handle WWE1? Whether you want to wait or not is up to you. No reading of the selections is expected until at least WWE3.

True, it''s a good idea to soak if your body does not already eat beans regularly. Once you get used to them, though, eliminaring soking helps. There may be some that take much longer, but I cook mostly white, black, kidney, and garbanzo. They might need an extra 15-30 minutes of cooking IME. i

probABLY 3 with supervision? 5 or 6 without needing to ask (started vacuuming bedrooms independently).

They don't have to be soaked. I've read cookbooks that say they turn out fine without, and it's true! They might need to cook a little longer, but soaking not necessary.

I am wondering if my 7 yo needs to finish WWE2 or if we can move on to 3 or do WT1 or ? I'm trying to figure out what's important and don't want to miss anything. We are halfway through WWE2 and he has had no problems. The only thing he doesn't get is missing some of the minor details in the passage--I'm not worried about sticking with WWE for this, because we do lots of narration in other subjects and for his independent reading, too. But he can summarize well. He can usually do a great job without me asking the "summary questions" designed to lead him to the most pertinent points. Today I did an experiment (inspired by another post here about what someone did with her second grader) and has him read an Aesop fable on his own, and write a summary narration. He was able to do it easily, with spelling errors and one mechanics error. So--he needs dctation and we will continue copywork. But is there a reason we should plod through the WWE2 when he is able to move on?