Sadly :laugh: , I am playing on my DS game right now. I have so much fun playing the LEGO games. I am playing Indiana Jones right now, but I have just as much fun with Batman, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. I occassionally will play my Animal Crossing game, but my absolute favorites are the Professor Layton games. The PL games might be too much for your young children, but they could play all of the others.

I bought Bear Paw boots (much less expensive than Uggs and just as comfortable) for my daughter. I bought a protective spray at Walmart and we apply the spray each winter. So far, the boats have held up amazingly well since this will be her 3rd winter wearing them.

How many people will you be feeding? Adults/children?

In Blogger, when I open a post to start writing, there is an area to the right called "Post Settings" that lets me put in the Labels (homeschooling, water polo, food, etc.) and the "Schedule" is just under that. I am working on my 3rd time to post 365 days in a row. Since I write my posts at night while everyone is sitting around watching TV, I don't think it takes away from family time since I am "with" them, just not really watching TV.

Some blogs will focus only on food, sewing, sports, etc. but my favorite blogs to read are the ones that discuss everything. I blog to try to capture our lives so our distant families (mostly my Mom) can read about it. I use the "Schedule" feature on blogger a lot. While watching TV with my children at night, I'll write post and schedule them to post later in the week. I like to write sometimes a week's worth of posts at a time when I can.

Some blogs will focus only on food, sewing, sports, etc. but my favorite blogs to read are the ones that discuss everything. I blog to try to capture our lives so our distant families (mostly my Mom) can read about it. I use the "Schedule" feature on blogger a lot. While watching TV with my children at night, I'll write post and schedule them to post later in the week. I like to write sometimes a week's worth of posts at a time when I can.

I have written about "Apples to Apples" several times on my blog because it is so much fun. I love when we have played as just adults, but it is also a lot of fun with mixed ages.

The link is just above the photo I posted this morning or you can view it on my blog today.

I'm guessing that you would also think it was wrong that I had a piece after breakfast. :laugh: :laugh: The plate called to me in need of "quality control" or at least that is what I will tell my children if they ask. :closedeyes:

Thanks! I have to push my laptop so far away just to read this board because of the intense white.

UPDATE: My children couldn't agree about adding the Homemade Three Musketeers to the Christmas Cookie list, so they asked to make a batch ahead of time to see if they would like them. YUM! http://swimtaxi234.blogspot.com/2012/11/homemade-three-musketeers.html

I just showed the list of cookie options to our children and the opinions posted above. This is going to be much harder than I thought since they actually had strong opinions on what they wanted to make. Decisions, decisions

We will be making just under 500 cookies, so wrapping them individually isn't possible, but thanks for the idea. Two years ago, I made homemade carmels and wrapped them individually. It took forever to wrap them when I had so much other work to do.

Those cookies are so pretty. Thanks for the link. I actually found that food blog last night and tagged another few of her recipes.

Is your husband not taking any financial responsiblity for his children? As far as the delay, I suggest that you contact the ortho office and ask them specificially. My daughter's ortho told us in September that my daughter should be out of her braces by early December, but now it looks like it will be in January at minimum.

I think I have too many chocolate choices ... :laugh: ... not that you can ever have too much chocolate, but I'll look for one more option.

I think I have too many chocolate choices ... :laugh: ... not that you can ever have too much chocolate, but I'll look for one more option.

UPDATE in post #17 We make little boxes with Christmas goodies to give to friends. This is what we made last year: I have too many choices this year and I need to reduce the list. If you were getting a box of goodies, which ones sound the best and/or which ones should I remove from the list? I want to make 4 at the most. (I tried to resize the photos - sorry they are so HUGE). The Raspberry Almond Shortbread Thumbprints were a big hit last year. These Peanut Butter Balls were a big hit too. I haven't made these Homemade Gum Drops but they would be so cute in red and green. I haven't made these Turtle Bars either, but they look so yummy. These Homemade Three Musketeers Bars look yummy too. Fudge is always easy to make and this Phat Cow Fudge look yummy and festive. And my last choice is a Peppermint Thumbprint, maybe tinted green like the post suggestion.

Years ago, my mother bought the biggest kit they have and my son still plays with the it. Actually, my son has a challenge this fall to work his way through all of the books.

I started a blog as a substitute for scrapbooking, plus it helps for our extended family to stay connected with our children.

We did this too when my son was young, but using a queen sized quilt on a double bed.

I don't agree with this based on our bad luck. At our last house, our fence touched 4 back yards and all 4 of those houses had reactive dogs that barked and snarled. We couldn't go into our own backyard because it was too loud. Until we got our two dogs, we barely set foot in our back yard because the neighbor dogs were so horrible with that deep gutteral bark. It was hard to sleep past 5 a.m. because that is when they started barking/growling at the other dogs. Good thing I was an early bird.

The threat to parental rights by the UN is a valid concern. They are trying to get the US to adopt their policy giving more rights to the child which will indeed make it harder to be a parent and thus homeschool. Maybe the HSLDA is just trying to raise money, but I wouldn't discount the issue.

Years ago, my daughter had an upper and lower expander. For the upper expander, I had to use a key to crank/turn it every night for a week and then the orthodontist glued that setting and it stayed in place. My girlfriend drove her son to the orthodontist every day to have them use the key. I thought it was easy to do myself.

:iagree: