I believe firmly that being a pastor's wife, while it holds unique challenges and opportunities as a member of the body of Christ, is not an office. As such, there can hardly be a "pastor's wife uniform." As long as you and your husband are okay with your dress as befitting any Christian woman, and those definitions (such as what constitutes modest dress) vary greatly, I don't see why anyone should be shocked. Do they want you to wear a name tag, or a collar?? I remember my mother being surprised that our pastor's wife wore sleeveless shirts. She also had lovely skirts and whatnot, but that was shocking... I say in Arizona, that's just how we roll. No one was offended or bothered, or thought her immodest!

I can't really think of anything scandalous happening at any sleepovers I attended as a child, and I always had a blast, but so far we have only allowed my MIL and SIL to have the boys overnight. We have hosted my best friend's daughters when she gave birth to her first son, and then her son when she had her second son. I would be totally comfortable leaving our boys with her family, but the need/opportunity has never arisen. The boys will have a 1-4 day "sleepover" at their cousins' house when I give birth. At this point I can't really picture myself saying yes to any other sleepovers, but we shall see what the future brings. Definitely not unless we are well-acquainted with the family.

Looping in elementary school has the drawback that if you have a teacher you dislike/can't work with, you're stuck with them.

WELL... depending on how big he gets this year I guess I could stuff #3 in the stocking. :) He's technically a Thanksgiving present, but... And along with that a set of keys. We just bought a new (to us) 2006 Odyssey two weeks ago. Similarly, we are selling my iPhone 4 and buying a friend's 5, which is not only two models newer but has more storage than mine. Other than the brand-new baby none of it is "new" and none of it will be unwrapped at Christmas, but I'm still blessed. To quote Dave Ramsey, I'm "better than I deserve." I'll buy myself a new Otterbox Defender (aka Mom's iPhone's armor) for the 5 and put THAT in my stocking. :) :)

Yeah, not my husband's either... :) I had what I thought was a brilliant idea a few years back to do stocking exchanges with friends, only to find out that their husbands totally do stockings for them. I had assumed it was a universal problem. THAT really depressed me.

Wow, some of these stocking budgets are blowing my mind. To me, stockings are for chocolate coins, oranges (clementines), and a few small things. Our boys will have two Cars "guys" each, a light up squishy toy for the bathtub, and one of those novelty pipsqueak markers with characters that Target had around back to school...possibly also a toothbrush... It does sort of go with the sweets. ;). Counting the chocolates, I'd say the stockings add up to $20 or so. My husband will have some fancy chocolates and possibly some nuts and such. And as for me... Well. There's the rub. No one does my stocking. :(

To clarify: my OB is the one who is super pro VBAC, and the hospital is as supportive as could be.... So all in all a great situation, but the past two times my water has broken and labor has not progressed. I did over 24 hours on Pitocin the second time around before they realized that my son's hand was out in front of his head, at which point we decided to do a C/S. I made it to 1.5 with the first, around 4 with the second, but never beyond that, so my biggest fear is laboring for a long time only to wind up on the operating table anyways. Second biggest fear: the crazy uterine rupture/4th degree tearing stories I'm reading. :-(

I've been reading too much on the interwebs that is scaring me ... Help me out!

Not sure if you can order this, but my favorite technique for a fried egg, picked up years ago while on a cross-country road trip, is as follows: heat a pan and some oil/butter, crack your egg(s) into said pan. Fry for a little bit until you think it would be ready to flip, but don't do that... Instead, add some water (just a little does it) and put a lid on your pan, proceeding to steam poach the egg (for lack of a better term) the remaining time. Works out perfectly, and I don't have to worry about flipping/breaking the yolk.

A 2005 with 35k miles?! That's a fantastic find! It was between the Sienna and the Odyssey for us. We wound up going with a 95k mile Odyssey, but I would have pounced on that Sienna, too!

Besides the fact that we are cash payers and wanted to buy used, I also agree with you about the older style vs the newer one... Works out well for me that the used one we just bought is my preferred style anyways. ;)

How far back are you looking to go? We just bought a 2006 Odyssey, (three would have been slightly tight in the back of our Prius) but there were plenty of earlier models for sale on craigslist. If you or your husband feel comfortable checking the engine / car fax report, etc, I'm sure there are some great ones out there.

We are test driving brainpop jr via the monthly subscription on the iPad app. I love all the videos, but searching through their offerings it didn't seem all that extensive. I think a month or two at the most will mean my son has seen all the offerings. Is Brainpop more extensive?

I was a little surprised to see no more responses here. I've had a lot of success with both boys using a number of iPad apps. Full disclosure: the ones that are the best in terms of amount taught/scope and sequence are also rather inexpensive, but they aren't the flashiest and fanciest. There are a number of apps from Preschool University which are fantastic. There are free versions (which is all I ever used with #1 son) and new, bigger "deluxe" versions ($.99 each) which have more content. Pocket Phonics is an absolute gem. I believe it's also $.99. The bigger/flashier apps are those like Reading Raven. I like Reading Raven 1 better than Reading Raven 2, but that's mainly because it teaches blends as though they were a sound, and I prefer programs that work with individual sounds and their representations. (Phonograms, if you will.) I get the feeling that the more fancy/fun apps have a large group working with them and incorporate a variety of techniques - that is, they wind up being more of a balanced literacy type thing. Still, they have a bunch of really useful parts as well. ETA: There is also Learn With Homer. All of it hasn't been released yet, and it will NOT be cheap when all is said and done... but the parts that they have released already are really good.

I think I am going to have to miss out and play my "I'm 9 months pregnant and I don't sleep anymore, except during the day" card. I do wish you all a fantastic time, though. I wish there were recordings/transcripts.

So true. I've known college professors who work in home remodeling. My own mother-in-law was a chemical engineer with a Master's from a prestigious Russian program who wound up working as a house cleaner when she first emigrated. She eventually studied to become a dental hygienist, but those were hard years for the family and I don't doubt many judged them without knowing anything.

I taught 6th and 7th grade "Language Arts" in Baltimore for a few years. I would estimate that my brightest readers were at a 4th grade level, perhaps one or two at a 5th. The vast majority under a 3rd grade level, with a not insignificant portion (20%?) at 2nd or even 1st. We went through four curricula in two years, counting the two "major" curricula that the system paid for and trained us in, as well as the two makeshift "in between" curricula that they gave us to teach for a few months while they revamped/rethought what they were doing. I can't think of those kids and think that the rest of middle school / high school was a pleasant learning experience for any of them. The only learning happening was in the Special Education Resource room down the hall where my hero, Mrs. Brown, was allowed to teach Wilson Reading to intervention kids. I wish I had known then what I know now as a homeschool wannabe turned afterschooler. I would have told the district what to do with their Studio Course and middle school Language Arts books and started the whole class at the very beginning.

Math instruction and reading instruction alike are made more difficult by linguistic differences. I have heard that in Chinese, for instance, there is no "twelve" or "thirteen," only "ten-and-two" and "ten-and-three," or something very like that. A seemingly small linguistic difference, but built into that number "name" is the concept of place value and how double-digit numbers are built. Similarly, Finland often gets praised for allowing its students to wait until they are 7 to learn to read, and having them reading fluently very quickly. This is easy enough to accomplish when you have a highly phonetic language with a simple phonetic code. The same is true for German. My first language was German, and I know there are very few multi-letter combinations, and letters pretty much represent one sound. Take that and compare it to the hundreds of combinations for 42-44 sounds of English, depending on whom you ask and which region/country they hail from, and you can see why it might take longer to get students fluent if we waited until kids are 7 to teach them to read. That being said, I believe that the majority of the time young students spend in reading instruction is absolutely wasted with sight words and whatnot. Used more appropriately, that time could be cut and made more effective...which would also allow teachers to wait until the "academic" first grade to teach reading. Or, start earlier if you wish, but teach less and make sure those basics are covered. In a similar vein, younger kids could do quite challenging math if the right methods/manipulatives are used. (Think the Right Start abacus vs. a generic one with a single color on a line, or Miquon with Cuisenaire Rods.)

The iPad app is now available to home users! It makes me love dreambox way more. I don't have to get out my computer, which is an old antiquated beast, for my son to play!

My son does half-day Kindergarten. The school day starts at 8 and ends at 11:15. If he were doing full-day, I believe pickup would be 2:30, which is true for K-2. 3-5 is 8:15-2:45.

The secret is that Doug Phillips et. al really want to get up and get themselves a cup of coffee. They are practically chomping at the bit to make breakfast. They are giving up their own desires for the betterment (spiritual and physical) of their wives. So self-sacrificial of them!

Thanks for the recommendation!

Ha! Looks like we picked the right one to start off... but then, he has also been reading Pinocchio, which is leveled higher.

Double post.

Hard core.... Both of my previous babes were born two days after their due date, so if the pattern holds, I'm going to go with the previous plan of skipping the hosting this year. That being said, my parents will be in town the week after. If the wee man arrives earlier, I could see us doing a belated thanksgiving-ish meal, albeit at my in-law's house.