I am sitting on my hands. DS4 asked for his 1st nerf dart gun this year, and I am insisting we keep it at one for now. DH thinks he should get one too so they can fight. :tongue_smilie:

I voted sets because DS4 spends amazing amounts of time with playmobil and schleich. But there is lots of crossover because he uses sets of blocks to make castles, dens, hideouts, villages, stables, etc, for the playmobil and schleich, even his superhero figures. And sometimes he dresses up as a hunter, then hunts schleich animals I hide around the house. He also plays with trains and hotwheels lots and lots.

My DS is only 4 so maybe these are too young for your DS, but this year he made cinnamon/applesauce ornaments for everyone. He was very cute as he deliberated over which cookie cutter to use for which recipient. He will also make birdseed ornaments for households to hang on their trees or bushes.

I have no idea about the lead content, but have heard of the cast iron pans made in China cracking. I avoid them for this reason.

DS4's very most favorite is carrot soup: chop an onion, a few cloves garlic, some fresh parsley if you've got it, any other herbs you want such as basil in summer esp, a couple stalks of celery, and 6-8 carrots saute onion and garlic, then add carrots and celery and parsley pour in 6-8 cups chicken or vegetable broth chop and toss in 2-4 potatoes or 2 sweet potatoes cook away and season to taste smooth in processor, blender, or with immersion blender stir in milk or cream in winter I stir in nutmeg or cinnamon or cloves

We have train lovers here too. The Little Red Train collection is wonderful, and Thomas of course. I'm surprised nobody mentioned Tootle, a Little Golden Book favorite around here. We like these two for some nonfiction: All Aboard Trains, and My Big Train Book. http://www.amazon.com/All-Aboard-Trains-Reading-Railroad/dp/0448191113/ref=pd_sim_b_3 http://www.amazon.com/Train-Priddy-Books-Little-People/dp/0312491867/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

I have the smaller, tilt-back mixer - it was a gift from a friend. I love it! DH bought me the grinder attachment last month for my birthday, and although I've only gotten to use it a few times, it is great so far. I don't have the pasta attachment, so can't comment. There are different size bowls you can get. And there are demo videos for the various attachments on youtube.

Thank you - I'll have to have a look at them.

I would like a tablet that I could use with my home ethernet, just for simple web browsing, email checking, but not an ipad. I would probably use an e-reader like a kindle or nook, but I'm not particularly looking for one. I just don't want to have to sign up for a cell phone-type service package. Anyone have one they really like?

Yes! DS4 was so cute. We left the shoes with carrots and apples for the horse by the door, but St. Nick left them, with a couple little wrapped treats, on a little table. DS4 ran right past the gifts to the door and was so excited to discover the horse had eaten the carrots and apples. DS1, who has never had chocolate coins, immediately grabbed a couple and declared nyum nyum. How do they know? :lol: So glad we've added this to our traditions. :)

OMGoodness! Too too too too cute! He is just lovely. Enjoy!

:iagree: :iagree: All 3 of my dogs have been mutts. My mother has had a few pure bred dogs, and the rest mutts. Each has been great in his own way. Everyone has different reasons for choosing what dog is right for them. My problem with designer mutts is the over breeding due to a fad. This does happen with pure breeds too when they become trendy and irreputable breeders try to cash in. If a labradoodle is the dog you want, then by all means get one. But do your research, meet the parents and pups, get references, and all of the other investigating you'd do if you were getting a rescue or pure bred dog. And don't go to the local puppy store.

Wow. I'm going to have to try the walk-toward for barking. My sweetie girl is a 1yo beagle/most-likely-sheltie mix, and sometimes she gets to barking outside. I have always made her sit and lie, then release, but it takes an awful lot of effort sometimes. This sounds much simpler which is good for me and the dog. To the OP, :grouphug:. Dog training is lots and lots of work. FWIW, I don't think there are many, if any, dogs who will come to you if you're chasing them. Especially young dogs. It is difficult, but not impossible, to have a dog without a fenced yard. But I think she may need somewhere where she can just run free to truly get her energy out. Is there a fenced dog park near you? If not, maybe a massive field? You can do "come" training with a super-long leash, 50 ft even, gradually building reliability. My dog has also learned to sit by the highchair. Maybe yours needs to be crated during dinner. I don't always crate my girl during dinner, but if we're eating something she shouldn't have or if she's being too bouncy, she gets crated. I suppose it is possible that the trainer at your petsmart is great, but I agree with others about asking for a quality trainer referral from your vet. Do think about whether this is the dog for you. If you are willing to tough it out and put in the work, there is plenty of hope. All of my mom's dogs have been 1-2yo rescues when she got them. Some had difficult issues that took a year or more to resolve, but they have all resolved and been wonderful dogs. It frequently gets easier at 2yo, but only if you continue very consistent training. Good luck!

Marco made ours tonight. Elizabeth made it last time. :)

:grouphug: I'm not sure about when you have thrush, but when DS1 had thrush, I treated myself and him, as well as our laundry, with grapefruit seed extract. I drank a few drops mixed in a drink. I used q-tips and swabbed the inside of DS's mouth with diluted GSE. It helped quickly.

:001_smile: Although my MIL swears she has seen a duendi or two in her house. ;)

I think you meant 3 purple and 1 pink - the 3rd week would be the pink one. Although maybe you didn't? I only recently discovered that sometimes Advent wreath candles are even red. It is a beautiful time of year, isn't it? I love watching the wonder on the children's faces as the candles glow.

:iagree: This is the source of my potato/apple fry.

Oh wow! Great store. We have a local store that carries all the Schleich and my boys love it.

Nitty gritty ahead: I don't treat mine special in any way except to not wash in hot. As I use them, I fold them into their little self-bundle and put them in a basket on a shelf in our bathroom. When I run a load of laundry - any load except whites - I toss in all the used ones. That's that. No soaking, no separate load, no damage to other laundry. If you are queasy about it, do a separate load or throw them in with towels or sheets. Some of mine have faint stains. Nothing awful. Party in My Pants sells a special detergent or laundry additive or something. I forget what it is. Probably something like oxiclean or rockin green. I'd still rather have lightly stained cute prints than sticky uncomfortable disposables. Yes, I've had an overnight leak or two. Depends on the pad, obviously. You can order them or make them in different lengths, widths, and absorbancy. Figure out what works for you overnight, and stick with those. Use lighter/smaller for day. Similar to disposables really. I have a pretty big variety of sizes/absorbancy and grab what's appropriate. FWIW, I was cloth diapering but still creeped out by cloth pads. I am so glad I finally tried them. They really are so much more pleasant and comfortable than disposables. They're much easier to care for than cloth diapers. And not to get too tree-hugger hippy dippy, but I do worry about the chemicals in disposables.

This is what we tried this morning: Heat some oil and butter (the recipe calls for 1/2 stick!) in a skillet. Peel and slice 2-4 tart green apples, and place in bowl with lemon juice. While apples are in lemon, slice and peel a couple of potatoes. (Don't have to peel red ones.) Cook potatoes until a little brown on each side. Add apple slices and cook covered for a couple of minutes, then uncovered for a couple of minutes. We loved them! I served breakfast link sausages with them. It was a nice change of pace.

I have some from gem cloth, essential saltes baby (no longer on hyena cart looks like,) and party in my pants. I like them all. The ones from party in my pants have a waterproof nylon underside - no noise, and these are what I use outside the house usually. Gem cloth was already linked, but here's this: http://partypantspads.com/shop/pads

My boys are both quite young, so I just tell a brief story of the meaning of each Advent candle. We also have an Advent song we sing as we light the candles - 5 verses and a chorus, so adding a verse each week. After lighting the Advent candle(s) we go around the table choosing carols to sing. Then we light angel chimes and sit quietly. The boys each have an Advent calendar. We are going to celebrate St. Nicholas Day for the first time this year, and we don't do the Jesse tree, so no help there.

I knew I was missing something! So the reason the wall near the boys' table is a mural is because the roll of paper there isn't big enough. ;) I will say, though, that I managed to keep the wall clean when DS4 was little until I left him home with DH one day. He didn't pull the table out, and when I got home DS4 said, "Isn't it beautiful?!" :lol:

:lol: Oh my! This made me giggle. I find that many things I'm drawn to are Waldorf-y, but I was drawn to them before I'd ever heard of Waldorf. The traditions, or rhythms I should say, of this time of year do feel Waldorf-y. Just don't tell the Waldorf police that we've been listening to pre-recorded music, and I let my sons use more than one color of crayons and paint at a time. ;)