I requested to join. Thanks for setting that up.

I actually get told by every doctor or nurse that sees him that he is "husky". :glare: When we were on WIC, the nurses at our quarterly appointments would remind me to give him more fruits and vegetables and stop giving him so much milk (he refuses to drink milk) and juice (he hates juice). In their estimation, he was gaining too much weight and starting to trend towards obesity. I literally laughed at one of them, sweet though she was. He's wearing size 8 clothes. I have learned to smile and pass the bean dip when it comes to his size. If only I could learn to do that about other things....

Yep. What he said.

I am glad to know your daughter is doing better today. As I read your post, my stomach clinched at what she was going through. We face similar issues with our oldest and he would react similar to your daughter, I suspect. I hope you are doing better today, mentally. I know this was a drain yesterday. I would caution you with regards to sending her a PM on Facebook. While you have no intention of making it public, she might and escalate this private issue into a public matter (speaking from experience). Hugs to you and your daughter.

I can't stand to be touched. It drives DH crazy because he is extremely touch-feely and come from a family that is extremely touchy-feely. My oldest is like me and doesn't like to be touched. The other 3, especially #2, love to be touched and cuddled and "shmugged" (smooshed and hugged at the same time). I can shmug them quite well but when they want to return the favor, it's very hard for me. We've worked it out so far that they can shmug me with a blanket over me. And they LOVE sitting on me while they watch tv. I will lay on the couch with a blanket over me and they can sit and wiggle all they want. They think it's great fun without realizing it's helping calm me down (that reset thing mentioned in earlier posts). It's interesting to me that when they were infants, we did skin-to-skin as much as absolutely possible. But as they got older, it drove me crazy, still does. They also know they will get lots of pats and hair-ruffles and things like that during the day but no latching onto mama like a koala bear. Thanks for starting this thread. I didn't realize there were other that feel this way as adults. It's a relief.

Still here. Agent has all the paperwork so as soon as DH makes up his mind about replacing some flooring in the entryway (current parquet has lots of missing pieces and is a tripping hazard), we'll get a sign in the yard. Interior painting is finished and carpet will be cleaned next week. Question for everybody: Which would look better-ceramic tile or hardwood flooring in an foyer? Agent can have tile installed for around $400. Hubby wants hardwood floors, which will require he and his dad going down in 3 weeks to install it over one weekend. While that sounds cheaper, the costs (including gas and time away from a stressed out wife) would be about $600. Personally, I vote for the tile. I think it will look nice, be easy to maintain, and DH won't have to go down again.

When we went to the pediatrician for my ds1's 6 year well-check, the ped mentioned him being "husky" for his size. He weighs 52 lbs and is 56" tall. The ped, thankfully, said he wasn't worried since he could easily count his ribs and looked "too skinny". After asking about his diet, he suggested adding more proteins to his diet. We're working on that since ds1 thinks Italian sausage is the only meat that exists. Ds2 is a grazer. He'll eat a big meal for his 3 main meals and lots of little meals throughout the day. If we buy fruit, we're lucky to have it last past the first day. He's in constant motion and needs lots of snacks. If he doesn't get regular snacks or gets too hungry between meals, he'll start vomiting. It would be nice if grocery prices would go down just a little bit.

Y'all are making me miss my spider-free apartment. :001_huh::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

My boys love homemade granola bars. Here's the recipe I use: http://www.ourfamilyeats.com/2011/04/06/easy-homemade-granola-bars/. I add m&m's to it or chocolate chips, depending on what's in the pantry. If I'm not paying attention too well, they'll devour the entire batch in about 15 minutes. But they'll be full for a couple of hours. Just today, each boy had 3 hot dogs and 2 bananas for lunch. That was 1 1/2 hours ago. Now they want more food. I've also found homemade bread and tortillas help fill them up a little bit (meaning I can stretch the time between snacks about 15 minutes..;0). I add flaxseed meal and wheat germ to the bread/tortillas. And we eat lots of brown rice with suppers.

I routinely tell my husband that our 2nd son will either have to ace the Mensa test and get into MIT at 14 or I am probably not going to survive his childhood.

I laughed at this, not because it's insanely funny, but because DS2 would do something like this. Then I groaned because I know he's getting a Sock Moneky this weekend and our picture window will not survive.

I use Tide Free and Clear liquid. Lately, I've noticed more skin problems since I have freakishly super sensitive skin. I use 1/4 vinegar as my fabric softener. I use 1/2 oz of Tide and 2 tbs of my homemade Borax & washing soda mix.

Yay for finding your phone. That's a much better place for it than the freezer, which is where my 1 year old thinks all phone belong...

My dad has lived in Gilbert for 7 years. He loves it! Granted, he's not a homeschooler, just an old retired guy. But he loves having so much to do outside during the majority of the year. My kids love going to visit since his neighborhood has 3 playgrounds scattered over it. Congrats on your move! That side of Phoenix is so much fun!

May your travels be safe, your camping comfy, your new life more adventurous than you ever imagine but more than anything, may the phone company find you before we find them and give them a piece of the Hive for not having your new place internets-ready.

AMEN!!!!!!!!!

This is my husband. Especially if he get the ability to work from home with his current company. He wants to get his 30 year pin from them. Granted, he's 41 but he comes from a long line of men who made it to 90+. Also, we'd divorce within days if he didn't have something to get him out of the house each day. Or I would go to work somewhere. The man can't.be.still.or.quiet.

Yes. The dryer drum was out of whack (that's a technical term :D) and getting too hot somehow. It was burning the clothes because it was getting too hot and not turning the drum fast enough. To replace the parts was going to cost more than a new dryer. I gave up. If your dryer is burning the clothes, you can put stain remover on the stains and wash them again. I ended up keeping the heat setting on medium heat. Unfortunately, I had to dry the clothes twice. To keep from getting the stains, I had to wait about 12 hours between dry cycles. Yeah, it was a tedious as it sounds. But we were broke and had to wait until we could save up enough to get a new dryer.

I agree with your statement of emotional energy and trying to fit in. I had that problem at my old church. It was small, maybe 25 families. All but 1 homeschooled. We were getting a little Stepford-y, if that makes sense. I think being so worn out from trying to fit in but still being "left out"/snubbed/forgotten/whatever you call it at my old church left me with a "wait and see" attitude towards the new church. We still haven't had much involvement with other families with kids our ages beyond Sunday morning stuff. I think it will come in time, mostly since the majority are tied heavily to public and private school schedules. It's interesting that the E-N'ers were "encouraged" to participate more with the younger folks. That's a new thing for me to hear but encouraging nonetheless. I know at other churches I attended growing up and in early adulthood, age segregation was strongly encouraged. At my IL's church, it's still heavily encouraged.

Our church is evenly represented, I think. The exception would be Sunday evenings and Wednesday nights. We lose about 70% of Sunday morning attendance on those 2 nights. We do have Sunday night services and Wednesday night bible studies but with families with kids, those nights are taken with getting ready for school the next day or extracurricular activities. I have noticed that the majority of the homeschool families attend those night since we don't have to make the bus at 7:15am. We have about 300 in worship on Sunday mornings. At the Wednesday night functions (including fellowship supper), we have a large percentage of E-N'ers. This actually is one of the things that kept us at this church when we visited. Several of the retired ladies made it a point to help me with the kids when I finally made it into the fellowship hall from the parking lot. My hubby was coming from work and arrived 15 minutes after me. In talking to the ladies, they told me that they made it a priority to help the families with little ones on Wednesday nights so the parents could eat and attend bible study. They had all BTDT so they were helping share the burden of getting multiple kids fed from a buffet line by yourself. As we drove home that night, I told hubby we weren't leaving that church anytime soon. It's been 6 months and we're no longer the newbies but the ladies still help out every week.

Our wash time for a normal load with extra rinse was 1 hour, 1 minute. For heavy duty cycles, it was 1 hour, 17 minutes. Using hot water (instead of warm or cold) added an extra 10 minutes to everything.

We had the brown streaks as well from our Duet dryer. I didn't realize it was a Duet problem. Now I'm glad to have my Samsung dryer than sings a tune when it's done. (it's the little things that make me happy)

I had this same dilemma. I'm waiting until the fall to make a decision. Hubby is an IT nerd and did all the research for me. Amazon is bringing out a new device in the fall that will be better than the Kindle Fire. Evidently, the Kindle Fire was designed to be the intro machine into this new device and get people hooked and then wanting the new machine. The Nook Tablet is actually higher rated on the tech websites than the Kindle Fire. I think it's a matter of what you are using them for and how. From the rec I've read online (and what hubby has read for me), Nook Tablets will be available as reconditioned starting this summer and will be significantly cheaper. I haven't looked recently since hubby did all his research in January. Reviews and recs have probably changed since then since this stuff changes so fast no matter what. Just my 2 cents.

Ok, I oogled your photos and drooled all over my laptop. But I'm confused. What needs updating? I can't find anything a couple of gallons of paint and elbow grease couldn't take care of (and that's only if you like white cabinets in the kitchen). If we were looking in FW, I'd jump on your house. Man alive, do you really have that many cabinets in your kitchen? And your breakfast nook-oh baby!. Your house has great bone structure and looks well maintained. Best of luck to you!

The GW in the town we moved from was terrible. They were more expensive than Target and Old Navy. I never found anything. Plus, everything in the store was shipped from another GW district. Our donations were sent to the regional HQ and distributed elsewhere. On the other hand, the GW where my dad lives in the burbs of Phoenix is sensational!!! Seriously, it's Rodeo Drive-worthy. He called me one day last summer about a Coach saddle bag purse that a store employee was putting in the locked display case. Still had the original price tags. Originally $340, selling brand new, never used for $50. He went back in to buy it and 4 women were fighting over it. Drew blood, even. Now he knows to not even ask, just buy it if he ever sees another one. He always finds great stuff at his GW. Plus, Thursdays are Senior Days so he gets a discount. I guess it's all location, location, location. And who does the pricing.