:bigear: I'm down about 30 lbs in the last year. We are getting bored with the Wii Fit though!

Word of caution, wait until December before you start to use it up! We were in the same boat last year and ended up using it all by before the year was up. Things came up that we were not expecting! Contacts and glasses are a good way along with any sort of dental/orthodontic work!

Well, my daughter does her best math while sitting on the toilet. :lol: It gets done quickly and correctly so I leave it be!

According to my eldest, baby kittens come out of the mommy's mouth. The look on her face when I told her where babies really come out was priceless! :grouphug:

I get up between 6 and 6:30. Hubby and I exercise. I have a cup of tea and devotion time then I take my shower and get dressed. Normally by the time I go up for my shower, the girls are awake and I have them start their chores. If they are not up, I open their doors and they get up shortly after that. After I'm showered, I go downstairs and and we make breakfast while the girls finish a few chores. After breakfast we do a few more house things and then start school. We are normally starting by 9 am. The routine seems to work well for us. I feel like I'm ready to go and got some of my most important non-school things done for the day.

http://lifeasmom.com/2011/08/how-to-make-a-personal-planner-that-rocks.html I quick idea on how to make your own planner! I wish I would have seen this one about 2 weeks ago- would have saved me a bunch of money!

Magic Tree House A to Z Mysteries Secrets of Droon (my daughter just discovered them and loves them- you might want to preview them though- they do deal with wizards)

Both- we have our daily chores- mostly taking care of their room, themselves and the pets. The last chore is "Help Mom". They have to come to me and ask what they can help me with. That is when I assign jobs based on what needs to be down that day. We do it after breakfast and we all work together to get it down- even me!

I've only heard the ones by Jim Weiss and we love it. He has a great storyteller voice!

We did Vol 1 (well, most of it) last year with a 4 and 6 yr old. It was their favorite subject! I had them color while I read aloud to them. The 4 yr old didn't get as much due to her age but she still enjoyed it and we were building habits. The 6 yr old LOVED it! She really likes history though! If I thought something wasn't appropriate, I would ad-lib a bit to gloss over it. Overall though, we all liked it. We will be doing Vol 2 this upcoming year with more narration added to it.

I've recently lost 30 lbs and hubby has lost 50 ish lbs. We did it the good old fashioned way of more exercise and more fruits/vegetables! We were wanting to change our habits to have a healthy lifestyle! We weigh in on the Wii fit daily- it helps keeps us accountable and when we start to creep back up, we know we have been to relaxed. We exercise at least 5 times a week and try to do something active as a family on the weekends- hiking, bike rides, etc. We reach for fruits/vegetables as our snacks. We do smaller portions and don't get seconds unless we truly are hungry. Our meals have more fruits and vegetables with a healthy portion of lean meat and whole-grain. It took us almost a year to do this but it was worth it. I've also noticed that we are more energetic and healthy! It is also more of a habit for us then a fad now!

I haven't read all of the responses so this may be a repeat. I've hear of others using the claw tips with success but not sure of details. If they are cheap, it might be worth trying! I've used a spray that I've bought at a pet store. The point of the spray is to put a smell on whatever area you want the cat to avoid. The cat doesn't like the smell so leaves the area alone. It might be worth trying that for the carpet. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of it!:confused:

Scraphappy- Thanks for all of the info- that was very helpful! Do you remember about how much time a week was spent on it? I would love to hear from others!

Has anyone done this? Thoughts? Time commitment? Cost? Good? Bad? We are thinking of having our oldest daughter start the Jr. Lego League this fall but we haven't found anyone who has done the younger age! Thanks!

Thanks for replying! I think the cucumber slices would work- I can't get the silly man to try them though! LOL! I think I've almost got him convinced to do some cool tea bags on his eyes though! The poor guy looks awful!

We just got back from our mission trip in Trinidad and Tobago. We are pretty sure hubby got sunburned on his eyelids. He is so uncomfortable and they are swelling- especially in the morning. Any ideas on what we can do to help him be more comfortable?

:lurk5:

We are leaving on an international mission trip soon. I'm needing to pack snacks for the plane ride there and back. I need something that is portable, won't melt, doesn't require cooking and is fairly healthy! Give me your best ideas?

Books on tape!!! They are a must for our family on any sort of road trip! I will also pack a back pack with things for each girl. I try to hit up the dollar store or the dollar bins and get a few new things for them!

We will have a long layover in Miami, Fl here in a few weeks. It will be about 9 hours long. We are trying to decide if we should leave the airport and go do something for a few hours or just wait it out at the airport. If we do leave, what would you recommend doing? We want it fairly close to the airport- we'll have to rent a car or hire a taxi or something.

This is my opinion and others may disagree with me. I feel 4 yrs old is to young for CC-they just aren't ready for the high intensity morning. My youngest started last year with just a few weeks before she turned 4. Because of that, my director gave me the option of whether I wanted her in the nursery, in a class or to start in the nursery and then join a class 2nd semester. We opted on keeping her in the nursery the whole year. Now looking at her at almost 5, she is ready for CC. Waiting a year is probably best!

I agree with the above posters. We will be starting our 3rd year and we've enjoyed it a lot. There is good and bad as with anything. However, with how young your kids are and how far you are driving, I would wait and see if something opens up closer to you next year!

I second her product! I love holding the pictures in my hands and am not a big fan of digital scrapbooking. Her system is so simple and easy to use. I'm totally caught up on this year and spend only about an hour a month on it!

So, what are your best creative and low cost ideas? It's snuck up on me and we have got a crazy busy week/weekend and short on funds! HELP!!

I still adore MacGyver!! I was so excited when I found that Netflix has all of the old episodes! As a bonus, my kids now love watching them! Looking back, he is so cheesey but I still can't help adore him!