I second Blue Lizard. My children w/sensitive skin use this. We also use California Baby products. They are WONDERFUL, but I think only available by mail.

My cousin, who lives in Northern, VA (real close to DC) pays $10/hr for someone to watch her children during the day. She has a 4yo and 2 3yos, although sometimes she'll take one with her, or the older one will be in school, and she still pays the same. That should give you a reference point to start from.

I used it with dd in first grade and we both enjoyed it. If you feel there is a lot of writing (which I didn't honestly) just make the lessons last more days.

I will second the Washington Suites. We stayed there last May and really enjoyed it. It's quiet, clean, they have a great breakfast buffet and it's in a great section of Georgetown. Lots of good shopping and restaurants, but close to all of the DC landmarks.

My dd 8 is having a cooking themed birthday party next week. My husband's making his great homemade pizza dough and each girl will get their own ball to make a pizza. There will be all sorts of toppings to choose from. In addition, we'll do either cookie decorating, cupcake frosting/decorating or some dessert based cooking thing (ideas welcome!). I'm looking for ideas for downtime (our smallish kitchen won't hold all the girls at once). Games, contests, activities, etc. Any ideas? I know you guys won't let me down :) TIA!

I used it for first grade and though my daughter is fairly mature, I thought it a bit dry honestly, and a little advanced. I would prefer to use library books that you can actually see and browse through to go through the different periods.

What about English for the Thoughtful Child 2? I haven't personally looked at it, but I think it's about for that level.

Got an email from clickschooling.com today that says 5 episodes of Liberty's Kids are posted at http://www.kewlcartoons.com/. Haven't checked it out myself though.

The Book of Virtues has poems, stories and excerpts from books organized by virtue (self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, courage, perserverence, honesty, loyalty, faith). There are stories for every age range.

My kids were having a very difficult time cleaning up before Christmas. In the nicest possible voice, I explained that this was most likely due to the fact that they had so many toys (mostly purchased by over indulging grandparents I might add). We told them they could pick 4 toys each (and could share with each other for a total of 8 really) but that all the others were going in the attic until further notice. It worked great...they really used their imagination and there were no more problems. They have a lot of them back now (given out here and there) but are good about cleaning up. But I must say, even though they clean up with they're finished laying, they still make huge messes while they're playing. They can't seem to play "neat"! Lately they've been making their own paper dolls and clothes and then they take the Legos out and make cars for the paper dolls. Now I walk through my family room and try not to look down :) I figure the alternatives are letting them watch TV or play video games all day so I try to appreciate it.

I never used this book, but it was recommended to me.

More rant...we too pay $500 a month for a $10,000 deductible. It's CRAZY! And ours goes up every year too. We tried Assurant but they rejected me because I had Lyme disease and it needs to be out of your system 6 months before they would cover me! On top of that, we pay $50 every month for accident insurance, which actually IS worth it because when my daughter fractured her elbow, it was paid for. Something to look into, especially with active kids :) It's a separate policy w/a separate company.

What seems to work for me is exercising every day, as it's SO hard for me to cut down my food intake. I bought a Walk Away the Pounds DVD and I do try to do it every day. I do the 3 mile walk and it takes 45 minutes. It's very very easy (I'm a mess with aerobics--two left feet). When I have extra time, I'll try to do some spot exercising/weights work. I also have to have a midmorning snack and an afternoon snack, otherwise I overeat at meals. I try to have sensible, low calorie dessert at night (currently a square of dark chocolate) so I don't feel like I'm punishing myself. I'd love to be involved in the "buddy thing" if you set something up. I have about 25 more pounds I'd like to lose.

My kids (5 & 7) are enjoying the My Father's Dragon trilogy right now. One of their favorites of all time was Tomie DePaola's autobiography titled 26 Fairmont Avenue. They must have listened to those CDs 25 times, no exaggeration! My husband and I enjoyed them just as much as the kids. It's really just a bunch of stories about him growing up. The library is full of great books on CD.

Just an FYI that Hearthsong.com also sells these. Haven't compared them to see if it's apples to apples, but Hearthsong is a little cheaper. http://hearthsong.com/hearthsong/product.do?section_id=0&bc=1005&pgc=1433&cmvalue=HS|0|Normal%20Search%20Result|P1

Specifically looking at Writing Trails American History for a 3rd grader. Anybody used? Thoughts? Thanks!

Braised Herb Chicken Thighs w/Potatoes Omelets Pork Schnitzel w/Noodles & Cabbage Black Bean & Vegetable Stack Veggie Fajitas

We watch little to no TV. But we do sometimes rent movies. We all enjoy musicals. The kids especially love Singing in the Rain, Sound of Music, Royal Wedding, old Shirley Temple movies. For TV stuff, we have some Davey & Goliath, Little House on the Prairie and Schoolhouse Rock DVDs and once in a while we catch reruns of Mr. Rogers.

As I am allergic as well, we have owned poodles and Lhasa Apsos. Do not recommend the Lhasa's...I know several people who have them including myself and none of them had a good temperment. However, the poodle's are very nice and not so high strung, especially as someone else noted, the standard poodles.

Dover Publications makes a series of books called Cut & Color. My 5 yo ds has Cut & Color Things That Go and it keeps him busy for hours! Also at makingfriends.com you can print out loads of paper dolls and all sorts of outfits for them. This also kept him busy over a series of days. Another messy one, but well worth it IMO is a big flat rubbermaid container filled with flour or oatmeal or rice w/a measuring spoon set and a measuring cup set. My kids loved this!

Mr. Bach Comes to Call (by the same people who did Beethoven Lives Upstairs), Magic Flute, Coppelia, Nutcracker, Swan Lake and other ballets. I just saw that Amazon has a downloadable Beethoven Lives Upstairs for $9.99.

Has anyone used this book for teaching? I'm starting with my 3rd grader next year and am wondering if someone could give their input. TIA!

I used Simply Phonics with my daughter and it worked great. My son wasn't quite as fluid so I switched to Progressive Phonics and also using old readers (like Dick and Jane) The extra phonics practice from PP and the extra sight word/repetition from the reader has improved his reading enormously in just a week. So for him, we'll stick with these programs.

As far as the coated pots, I only have experience with the Le Creuset and I am a huge fan. They are pricey, but they last forever!! They're super easy to clean and I use them all the time. So even though it's a tough investment to make, they are worth it IMHO. I do have a cast iron dutch oven by Lodge that we use over our fire and when we go camping. It serves its purpose, but I wouldn't use it on my regular stove day to day.

Living in CT now but grew up in Southwestern NH. Love it up there!