We love this one:http://www.amazon.com/Little-Cummings-published-Hyperion-Hardcover/dp/B008Q3YLFS/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383798828&sr=1-10&keywords=little+tree+cummings

If you like The Gruffalo, you must get The Gruffalo's Child. One I haven't seen mentioned is One More Acorn, by Don and Roy Freeman. It might be on the young side, but my nearly 7yo still enjoys it.

DS6 would like a remote control, interactive robot. He'd really love a voice controled robot. I found the robosapien. Any reviews? Or other recommendations?

Thanks. :)

My prayers are with all Catholics at this time. My SIL shared this with me, and I found it interesting: http://on-this-rock.blogspot.com/2011/12/why-it-might-be-good-if-pope-benedict.html.

Interesting.

I was baptized ELCA, and went to a LCMS school K-8. My DH is Catholic, but we agreed to raise the boys LCMS. A few times I have taken them to mass, and we attend many Catholic services for our extended family. But our home church is Lutheran. I heard about something new (to me) at church a few Sundays ago. Apparently first communion is not necessarily tied to confirmation at our church anymore. Is that common in the LCMS these days?

bzymom, yes to all of your post. Much of it is how I've trained my other dogs with the use of a crate. Good reminder about making the space small. I think the tension gate in the hallway will accomplish that. I took him out last night before bed, as usual, and he pottied but didn't poop. So when we came in I was able to keep an eye on him until I saw him about to squat, and ran him out. He pooped outside and I did the good puppy song and dance. I'll have to go buy tiny yummy treats today. We just have big dog treats that don't interest him much. Easier to follow him around when the boys are in bed. lol.

A bell. Yes. His tags aren't jingly enough for some reason. Maybe his curls muffle them. Haha. But a bell like a little cat is a great plan. A year, huh. I've always had the few weeks, maybe a couple months, types, too.

So sorry. ((Hugs))

Treats outside is a good idea. That is not something I'd thought of. I do take him out on a leash. Leashing inside is a good idea too. I may try that sometimes. Shanvan, your link isn't working for me atm, but a small pen might work. Thanks for all the ideas, everyone.

I have an accordian gate in the hallway so we can barricade our dog if we need to, but of course he can get through it. I may still have a tension gate in the basement. This may be our best solution until he does better. One aspect I'm struggling with is times when he is simply not on my lap, but I wouldn't crate him if he were a larger dog since I could just hear where he was. He's like a little furry ninja sometimes. ;) He's a little black poodle mix, but is a bit moustache-y, so probably a bit of terrier in there. Thanks for the pad rec. He does go outside every time I take him out, and my mother did work with him as much as she could. Who knows about his previous owner. Glad for the encouragement that pad training doesn't negate going outside. I promised her before she headed to the hospital. Maybe it's illogical, but I don't feel up to breaking her trust right now. If I can't find another solution, I may have to resort to crate training. But hopefully I can find another way.

My mother's lap dog is staying with us. He potties or poops on the floor when he isn't getting enough (in his opinion) attention. He freaks out in the extreme at crates, and I promised my mother I wouldn't try it. He may be with us for quite a while, maybe even permanently. I have always had big dogs, and I've crate trained them. And when they weren't in their crate, I could hear them moving around and know where they were, what they were doing. This little guy is still pretty young, maybe barely a year, but surely less than two. He's very bright, very sneaky, and very very spoiled. My mother got him from a rescue. This morning when I took a shower, I shut him in the bathroom with me. My 6yo came in, which let the dog escape. I told him to run and shut his bedroom door, but the dog had already gone in and peed on their area rug before my son got there. I took him out before my shower, and he peed outside. My mother held him almost constantly, and took him pretty much everywhere. I can't. I tried leaving newspaper near the door, even though I don't really want him to be paper trained. It would be better than him going wherever. I'm very certain that 99% of his accidents are not accidents, but acting out. Right now, we are closing bedroom doors when I can't fully focus on his whereabouts, and when we leave the house. That saves the bedrooms, at least. Any other ideas? We all adore the little fellow, but I really need to curb this behavior.

Just to clarify, I didn't see any fresh organic produce in the flyer. A variety of organic products including frozen organic berries, but no mention of fresh organic produce.

I saw those today, and said, "Eew, gross!'' out loud. Then my sons had to know why, and they thought it was gross too. Blech.

I just went to Aldi today, and apparently they are launching a new line called Simply Nature. All natural and many organic selections. Organic sharp raw milk cheddar cheese. Uncured pepperoni pizza. Organic frozen strawberries and blueberries. Organic free range chicken broth. I shop at Aldi frequently, especially for many of our basics. The produce is usually good, but I can get better produce for cheaper at a local mom & pop store. I buy our deli items, fresh meat, and most produce at the mom & pop. But I will buy all these items at Aldi if I don't plan to go to the other store soon. I appreciate the size, and the simple selection. You either want canned green beans, or you don't. There aren't myriad options for every item. Aldi ketchup has HFCS, so I have to buy that elsewhere, but I haven't noticed HFCS in anything else we buy. And today I bought dark chocolate covered gingerbread hearts with apricot filling for 99 cents! What's not to love about that? ;)

Lara, thanks! I think the soups will be best for my mom, too. I want to offer some variety, and some things my dad will appreciate too. I forgot about the coming back up part. Good to keep in mind.

These are great ideas, everyone. Thank you! For some reason, I thought pasta didn't reheat well. And macaroni instead of spaghetti is a good idea. Ok. This helps.

I need to cook up a bunch of food to take to my parents. My mother has no appetite and nothing tastes good because of her chemo, but she needs to eat. She doesn't have the energy to stand over the stove to cook pasta, even. My father is doing the best he can, but isn't a cook, and has to leave the house sometimes. So I'm trying to come up with ideas of simple to reheat, simple to eat foods I can stock their freezer with. I have some ideas for soups, and both traditional and white chili. I think I will make meatloves in a muffin tin and put them in a container with a serving of mashed potatoes. Meatballs freeze well, but what to put with them? I'll probably make them and some pasta sauce, because my father can make pasta. But if anyone can think of something to make a little meal out of meatballs, that would be great. Other ideas that could be put in little containers to quickly reheat?

I much prefer cooler weather too. Summer gets difficult for me, although I do enjoy summer nights. I also react poorly to air conditioning, which makes the summmer that much harder.

Cooking Light

My mom always told us these were liar's bugs. ;)

Yep. That's what I did. Battery packs for each boy, and one car adapter. I was telling DH we'd need more rechargeable batteries, but these will be easier.

By the way, amazon has some pretty great prices on a number of games and accessories right now. For example, the Magic School Bus Oceans game is $11.24. And the rechargeable battery pack is $12.99.

Curious to hear what people say. I will admit I've played a few games, you know, just to check them out before I give the leapsters to the boys. ;) I enjoyed Jewel Train, Wheel Works, and Globe: Earth Adventures. From the app center, I plan to buy my DS6 either Splurgle or Solar Taxi because they utilize the motion play new to GS. And just because my guys love Scooby Doo, I think I'll buy the Scooby Spelling Game. I've read lots of good reviews of Pet Pals 2. ETA: I also think I'll probably get the Magic School Bus games at some point since we love Magic School Bus.