We had trunk or treat tonight. DD had her own cookies in her special tupperware container. Then we went trunk or treating were I tried to guide her to safe food. She knows skittles are safe so she asked for 1 pack of those in the car then waited till we got home. Then I switched unsafe (which we gave to baby brother who was sick and didn't get to go :( )with safe candy. Thankfully she won't eat much candy so most of it will disappear a few days after Halloweem :)

My dd has a long name and so many people INSIST on shortening it....if I wanted it short I would have done the short name. I don't mind if in the future she wants to shorten it...its her name but no one else should dictate what my child is named beyond my dd and me.

I heard it will be worse than Irene...and we are still fixing the mess Irene made :( not looking forward to it.

I think the best we can do is offer the opportunity and be open to their interests. That said I realized how valid the 10,000 hours thing probably is. When I was 14 I started doing ballet...I was short and stocky and had not danced before 14. I knew it was not a career just a passion. I ended up dancing for 10 years through college and even for 1 year after college. Then I stopped to be a mom. Just recently I tried an adult ballet class. The teacher was shocked....she said she had never seen anyone dance the way I did unless they were teachers. I had put in 10000 hours and had actually become pretty good even if I never used it again I learned valuable skills like self discipline (try going to be by 10 pm every night in college with night owl roomates that takes more than self discipline lol). So I think the journey is the key and the hope is when the passion hits 10000 hours will just happen, with support from us.

For a lot of people it is not a huge problem just a yucky smell possible toxic inhalation. For a mom of 2 asthmatics it can mean having an asthma attack. Also its the fact that some other person can cause me to have to breath their known cancer causing agent in order to enter a building or enjoy playing at a park with my children is not right. They have the right to kill themselves, they do not have the right to kill my children with their addiction.

Sounds like a scam

As for calendar I like Cozi but it seems to run really slow for me....so I am switching to apple calendar because it is on all my Mac devices.

Felt it in Vermont! It went appears to have felt far away from the epicenter.

I too wish that the concentration on Mormon Mommyhood was toned down a little....as an infertile couple in the LDS world it is very, very, very difficult to have so much of the focus on stay at home mommyhood ect. I know that a lot of that is ward/area based but still hard. There were a couple of wards I was in when the only groups met during the day when I was working...and I was working to afford the opportunity to be a mommy. And I never realized how hard it would be to finally be the mommy and still have to work in order to pay of the process it took to be a mommy when EVERY OTHER young mommy was staying at home playing (ok not really but it felt like that). I know a lot of that is my own struggles but there is so much culturally in the church regarding mommyhood that anything less than Stay at home mommy can be very isolating. And don't get me started on the birthing babies being like the priesthood/closest to God stuff because then why would some very amazing spiritual woman never be given the opportunity even if they have been able to be married. Although I don't know how much of that is doctrine vs. cultural interpretation to doctrine. ETA: Which is why I think the change in age is good because it helps to removes some of the cultural stigmas that have been attached to women. Showing they can CHOOSE which path is best for them rather than the appearance of falling into it by not being married by a certain point in time.

I would charge....but I would try to rate it at an amount below the going rate that is fair to all. That way you are doing them a favor by doing it less than others but still get compensated for the work.

I do really like having the 1910 expansion for Ticket to Ride....it made the game more fun with more destinations.

It is hard to untangle things when kids are little. My dd had symptoms that looked like lots of things including rad. Turns out she was having seizures and ADHD that were inhibiting her a lot and causing those behaviors. But we had learned about attachment and many of the basic things that help attachment kids are great for all kids like wearing them ect.

Books EVERYWHERE....under the end table covered with a pretty table cloth. Under the beds.

You can also PM me if you would like :)

Hoping this works HERE is a song I am using to teach my children the books of the OT. (otherwise go tohttp://www.lds.org/cm/catalogsearchalpha/1,17929,4958-1-2,00.html and click on G and then the top choice Genesis, Exodus) Disclaimer: This is from the LDS.org site. This song does not do anything but list the books of the Old Testament to music but it is from the LDS children's music book.

It premiered tonight and this season looks INCREDIBLE!!!!! Can't wait to see what is going to happen and all the new characters they have planned.

Another vote for not normal...my dd was a rager. We had daily hour plus violent rages over everything. She has been diagnosed with ADHD and Epilepsy...and the raging stopped within 1 week of increasing the epilepsy med. It was a miracle in our family. I found that I had to push and push to get someone to take me seriously though so be ready for that but as soon as a medical professional saw the behavior they realized that it was outside the norm. Good luck it is hard to mother a child who rages.

Yes keep it...the little slip up in paperwork is how I found dd's birth mother on Facebook. Most states don't "allow" searching until the child is 18 but then at least he will have a starting point. Plus if there were ever a severe medical issue it would be easier to find her at that point.

My dd was basically closed for the last five years. Then I found her birth other and Facebook and messaged and she responded (when she was ready after a while) that she was ready to see us and it was AMAZING!!!! Ds was open and it did cause dd to ask more about her birth mother and there were tears but both birth,others have taken an interst in both our children not just the one they birthed. They want to be open with the family. I love open adoption!

Corduroy! Also the amazing grace series. The people could fly is a compilation that my kids enjoyed. Christopher Paul Curtis! Mildred Taylor (roll of thunder hear my cry).

My, just turned 5, nephew is 1 1/2 years into his leukemia journey. If you would like to PM me your info I can pass it on to my sister. I know she has a blog that she started when he was diagnosed.

The problem with primary is that they are volunteers with no training and in some cases they are there to grow themselves. Primary presidents are regular women who are just trying to do what they do and I am sure have lots of concerns with the children in their "care". I think the problem is that as a mom we KNOW that there is a reason we are asking something and usually if we are asking it then it is very IMPORTANT to us. The hard part is getting other to realize how IMPORTANT it really is. (I am a food allergy mom, I have asked multiple times to know what food is available at primary activities so that my dd can bring appropriate options....I was blown off and had to confront the primary president about it at church and it was similar she didn't get how important it is that safe food be available and that I want to help with that but must know ahead of time). I think this is a time of grace, she probably didn't really get how IMPORTANT this was to you. But I would also be very aware of what is happening so that you can continue to show that you are trying to "help" too and not just be a problem.

More than likely you will still have to complete ICPC (interstate compact on the placement of children) which requires a lawyer. Also you will have to fulfill the legal requirements of both states to some extent which I don't know what each state requires. Good luck.

I just want to point out that the strike is not about the money...the main items they are objecting to is the evaluation of teaching based more than 50% on student achievement on a standardized test...when the majority of the students in their schools are on free or reduced lunch indicating that it is a very financially poor area. The other it appears is based on health insurance which as with everyone is going up and thus they are working longer hours and essentially getting paid less than when they were working shorter hours with better benefits. http://news.yahoo.com/chicago-teachers-strike-talks-fail-030846765.html

We got the photo pass plus and it has practically paid for itself between amazing pirate league photos, 3 dining with pictures and space mountain 4 times it has been great. I don't think I would not do it without the plus ever again.