Sad, but I am not surprised.

My dh is one who doesn't really want gifts. He likes the gift of time, time for himself or time out with me alone. He gave me the gift of 8 hours without kids for my birthday, not on that day but on a different weekend. If you feel you need to give a gift and your hubby has time to read, I second the gift of a magazine subscription. Outdoor is a good one for those who like adventure and bikes. And yes, if your daughter wants to cook, let her!

We rented a houseboat on Lake Powell about 7 years ago and had a wonderful experience. We had two kids at the time who were 7 and 9 and knew how to swim. We suggest you don't bring so much clothes because you may find yourself in your swim suits all the time! The experience was truly like camping on a boat instead of in a camper. We had beds and linens provided and we went to the grocery store to pick up foods - the same kinds we eat when we camp, I guess. If you are tooling around you will want to pull a motorboat - we decided that next time we would have gotten one that was more powerful because it was a slower boat (though we could pull each other on a tube behind it) to really explore how big Lake Powell is. We parked our boat on the sandy shore and moved it only once or twice since we had the motorboat for exploring and we loved the cove we were at. Things to bring - a mousetrap or two in case any mice get on board when you are at the dock. We caught two the first night and had NO issues after that. NOT a reason not to go on a houseboat! Sunscreen, and your regular essentials. Oh, and if anyone does get carsick, you might want to have some seasickness pills in case there are waves. We didn't experience any of this but I have heard stories. Things to consider - we had an experienced person park our boat two times we needed to dock it, once to get gas, once at the end. This was definitely the best thing we did, as it is not easy to park a boat of that size (ok, I never drove a boat of any any size before that trip but did fine at all other parts of driving). Both times the experienced person did it, they made it look effortless but it was like parallel parking with lots of forward and backward movements. Have a GREAT time. Where are you going??

My 3.5 year old chooses lots of unusual things for breakfast. He goes into my pantry and gets crackers (to have with hummas or with cheese and pepperoni, he will eat a granola bar, some toast, or Chex Mix. He is eclectic in his choices but I will say chocolate is one of them -- if he has just two m&ms then later he will make better choices as the day goes on. He will drink lemonade or milk or oj -- knowing that he only gets one glass of juice and only a little chocolate each day so if he eats it at breakfast he won't get any until late afternoon if even then. I figure his eating habits are great over the course of a day so I don't get hung up on breakfast. He does love love love instant oatmeal...

Check to see if you get a break on work done at the dealership if you want your car serviced at a particular one (like the one closest to you). My dh bought a new car recently and the dealership gave him a coupon book that was for reduced oil changes, tire rotations, and other coupons that we will use over the next couple years. It will save us a good chunk of money. And they have free loaner cars for those who bought their car from them. But to be honest we didn't know any of that when we bought the car until it was in our hands...

We have one like this but it is about 8 years older http://www.colemantrailers.com/theamericanaleseries - Cheyanne style. It does not have the pop out kitchen table area. My sister has that kind and she pulls hers behind a truck. We pull our camper behind a 2000 Honda Oddessey and it works fine but we were told not to pull it over the Rockies. We pulled it to Bar Harbor ME from MA one years and it had to work hard to get over the mountains, but we did it fine. We love our camper and there are 6 of us. Mu older two sons are just about and over 6 feet tall and they have enough room. We love the space the trunk gives you. I will admit that this was the first year we actually had txo take two vehicles because of weight issues. But to be honest we were carrying 6 bikes and and a bike trailer along with all our regular gear and that probably was the issue. Oh, and if you pull a camper behind a car you'll want to get a special brake on your car to help your car stop.

We always do tacos the first night, oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast, sandwiches with chips and pickles for lunch, hot dogs are easy too (and already mentioned several times). We also have hardboiled eggs - they can be made into egg salad if not eaten for breakfast. I bring two coolers - one for things the kids can get on their own, like drinks, pickles, non cooked meTs. The ore cooler holds things I want to make sure stay cold and make sure the "juices" don't mix, like uncooked hamburger. I double bag those items in freezer bags and they are fine. Other stuff we always pack include rice crispy bars, trail mix, 'smore makings, juice boxes, crackers and extra baggies for packing the chips in if we decide to take a hike.

It is interesting how it evolved over time. I'm on page 9 at the moment, reading and thinking about what has been written. Breadth and depth, learning styles... And so true.

Regular check up is every other year, according to my doctor. BUT, she also says I should go to my gyn (who was my OB) every year for a breast exam. My gyn says i should see her every year for the breast exam and usually it is every three years for a pap but in my case I have to go every year for the pap too. I have had a base mammogram but then I was told with my history that I shouldn't get one every year - every other year or even three years is fine. So, I think you should ask your ob/gyn what she recommends.

You probably know this one, but my son was raving about some lemonade he had yesterday that had mint sprigs added. He loved it and made some of his own today with the mint from our garden. I usually use mint only to make mint tea.

Your blog is an interesting one. I am going to have to spend more time visiting it. Thanks for the giveaway.

I liked all of Pamela's suggestions. Some kids need more sleep than others and some kids just need a plan of what to do with themselves. When our kids were about 5 we put a cd player in their rooms and they could listen to a cd story or an artist as they settled down. One of mine liked to read, the other drew... But they had quiet time on their own away from me, as I needed that adult time. When my son was about 9 we talked with him about what we thought was an appropriate bedtime for him and he disagreed. He wanted it later and was able to make a good case for it. Now at 14 he goes to bed around 11 pm every night, much later than many of his friends but he is in the kitchen cheerful every morning at 8:15 so I can't complain. My sixteen year old goes to bed at 11 or even later but gets up for a 9 am kitchen visit. Bedtimes evolve, as I now go to sleep before my kids and they lock up the housse and make sure the dishwasher is running...

Oh that happened to me too. I would ask whoever cuts your daughter's hair what they recommend - they will recommend something from the drug store if you ask and they know your daughter's hair type and what the water type is in your area (we have hard water here, for instance).

My sister worked for Huntington Learning Center and she uses the Keys books for remedial math help. I used the Keys books when my son had finished some of his Singapore workbooks and I wasn't ready to start on the next level. He loved how independent they were, and he did well with them. I don't know the other program you mention.

WiFi and several computers Printer Unlined paper Markers and colored pencils Library card with interlibrary loan Car to get places A good cd player Lots of clear carpet and floor space A comfy couch with a good reading light A table to leave half completed projects on

Singapore doesn't have that much repetition compared to some other programs and it is not as colorful either. If you find something that works for your child and it meets your standards, then I say go for it. My kids were good fits for Singaoore but colorful pictures distracted them and they tended not to need lots of repetition (except on multiplication facts!). I don't know much about Horizons, but I find in general that the less i have to plan the easier hsing is for me (planning the supplements).

We tented for a decade faithfully before getting a pop up - due to too many rainy rainy trips. We love our pop up and use sleeping bags though we put fitted sheets on the mattresses to protect them. I don't let my kids go on the beds during the day since they tend to track stuff where they will be sleeping and then complain about it later. We don't bring any electronic things and only use the stove that is attached to the outside of the camper, rather than the stove inside. And no, we have no AC. We live in the northeast where it usually gets cooler at night! Enjoy!

I am very sorry to hear your news and I wish the best for your family. One curriculum that might work well would be Ellen McHenry's curriculums, especially for your youngest. Your older daughter might feel some of the activites are beneath her level (like the coloring ones), but everrything is well set up and paced. Here is the wwbsite: http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/

Have you seen the plays in a box based on some of Shakespeare's plays? We bought one about a month ago on Amazon.com and plan to do it this fall. http://shakespeare-in-a-box.com/

There are Lego Robotics teams and they use the Mindstorm kits. My husband has been a coach for four years now and my kids have learned a lot of skills while on the team. Programming, solving problems, building.... Teams are formed by late August each year with competitions held in the late fall. I suggest you look this up,to seeifitwould be a good match for your son. http://www.firstlegoleague.org/

Or use sponges to get the water from one area to the other. That is fun.

We tried NEM after all the Singapore 6 but the kids didn't like it. Then they went to VideoText Algebra and that was a good fit for them. My husband did spend time with them on every lesson - it was not as self directed as we had hoped, but it still was a good fit. This fall they will start VideoText Geometry.

I loveourcalendar that is on the computer. My husband and my oldest son and I all list our events on it. I plan to add my 14 year old on it this fall. Boy does it help to keep our schedules from overlapping too much.:001_smile:

We started Spanish each child when they were about five years old. I have a friend, who used to live in Spain, who taught them and then me once they had taken it for a few years and had surpassed my knowledge of it.this fall ds, number three will begin weekly lessons.

I put everything in the laundry basket in my laundry room. There is always laundry to go up and at the end of the day a basket that goes down (with the stuff that needs to go downstairs.).