Other. I generally like cooking, though I get tired or bored with it sometimes. I do 95% of the cooking though; occasionally DH cooks dinner, or DD makes breakfast.

I don't know that I personally would, but then again, my 9yo is not particularly responsible. That's a really expensive lesson to learn the hard way! But for a responsible 9yo, I'd still hesitate. Just seems like potential for too many issues -- supervision, usage, etc. (I'm also not really a big techie and generally like to decrease electronic/screen time for my kids, so I may not be one to ask.)

Yes, the coffee is pricier now. I've also noticed that cheese has gone up. The bags of shredded cheese used to be $2 on sale for the generic, 8 ounce packages, and now it's more like $2.50 on sale. Not a huge price, but still. I *never* buy potato chips, but I was astounded when I saw how expensive they are! $4 for a bag that's going to be eaten so quickly -- wow!! And that's not even the organic ones. Other than that, I haven't really noticed a lot that is crazy expensive. I usually buy staples when they're on sale anyway. We buy local beef and milk, and those prices have not gone up, though I am anxious to see how/if the lack of beef from Texas this year will affect local beef. (I'm thinking it actually may not affect it much here, because the small farms where we get our beef aren't likely to be supplying people outside of the small area anyway, but I really don't know.) I had to laugh, because I remembered a thread here about how ice cream containers hold less these days. Our Giant's store brand was on sale this week, so we bought a couple, and they had big labels on them saying, "25% larger than Edy's or Breyer's." Go Giant! (And really, even with 4 or 5 of us eating ice cream, it's still a good bang for the buck as far as a treat goes. $5 for two containers, and that's at least two desserts for the bunch of us. $.50 each for dessert that is fun and satisfying -- not too bad, IMO.)

I don't have teens yet, but I know of other parents who have had to take phones and such away from their teens when the parents head to bed -- not because the teens were texting anything inappropriate, but because the teens were staying up too late texting and had trouble getting up in the morning. So I definitely think it's reasonable to shut the internet down for the teens after you go to bed, except for maybe the occasional extenuating circumstance.

I was going to suggest Greek salad, but antipasto sounds delicious too! If fresh tomatoes are abundant in your area, some of those with mozzarella, basil, olive oil, and balsamic vinaigrette makes a delicious salad. What a lovely treat for your friend -- I hope you both have a wonderful time of appreciating each other!

I'm voting "other," because I tend not to put the babies down much until they're walking. They DO crawl, but that usually is reserved for certain rooms, ones that don't get a lot of traffic. The playroom and schoolroom downstairs, and our office and bedroom upstairs, stay a lot neater than the kitchen, which is our most-used entrance into the house, as well as the eating place. I just tend to keep babies on my back when they're in the kitchen during the crawling stage.

I do plan to homeschool throughout high school, but I also expect that they will take at least some college classes during high school. Also, our state does allow homeschooled students to take advantage of public school classes and activities, so I suppose if one of the kids wanted something that was easily available at the public school, we would consider that (especially since we live only a couple of minutes from the school, so it would be fairly easy for a teenager to drive to the school for a class and then come home).

I was mildly anemic with my second pregnancy, and my midwife suggested Vitron C as a supplement. It's not natural like say, Floradix, but it's less expensive too, and it worked well for me, no constipation or anything. I was feeling tired and run down and was feeling short of breath too, but within a week, no kidding, of taking the Vitron C daily, I felt a million times better.

I started slowly this year. Well, I tried to start with a full schedule, but we had ONE day, and the next day, we had a baby unexpectedly early, so school got put on hold for a few weeks. So when we started back when the baby was a couple of weeks old, we started with just math, history, and reading (and poetry and Bible, which we do with breakfast). After a couple more weeks, we added memory work, writing, and foreign language. Probably next week or so, we'll add science, Bible study, and specials (picture study, music study, etc.). I did this mostly for me, rather than for the children, because I really wasn't sure how doing full schoolwork with a 2yo and a 2 week old would work, but I'm liking the easing in -- rather than set myself up for failing if I didn't get to everything on the list, I've started with manageable chunks that are leading to success and routine. :)

I like the ones with the pretty colored insides myself! I am generally a whole foods advocate, but mint Oreos and vanilla Coke are my downfalls. :)

Pregnant. I'd figure out ways to delegate the lifting and whatever that I couldn't do, and if it wasn't all unpacked by the time the baby arrived, no big deal; I'd get to it as I had time later. But I would want at least to be settled in the new place when the baby arrived, so that nothing would interrupt the birthing/bonding/babymooning/postpartum recovery stage. Having a deadline of packing boxes would do that, but not so much the unpacking.

Thank you so much -- this is really helpful! I am thinking I'll start with the 4-6 book, book 1; the first grader can come along for the ride. :)

That is gorgeous! I think that was a perfect suggestion -- and such a great personal touch that you used your time and expertise to find just the right gift. :)

My boys are all little still, but I just wanted to say that I love this thread and the ideas in it! Now I really want to see "Raising a Modern-Day Knight," especially since my oldest son and I both share a love of medieval history. :) For those of you who have had a ceremony/gathering with other men, did you, the mom, attend/participate in it as well, or just your DH? While I think it is important for dads and sons to have "guy time," I'm still the most important woman in their lives (though somewhere out there are three lovely girls who are as of yet unaware of how blessed they are) and I would not want to be left out! (At the same time, I can imagine both DH and DD being embarrassed at DH being included in any sort of womanhood rite of passage, but I wouldn't want to leave him out either, so I don't know.)

I'm looking at ARTistic Pursuits for my 9yo fourth grader. Looks like each book has about 64 lessons, right? If you use this program, how often do you use it? I'm thinking about once a week, maybe twice, so it would last us for a couple of years. Would I need the art supply packs? Or would I be able to get everything we need, as we need it, with coupons, at our local ACMoore/Michael's? Or can anyone recommend any other drawing programs that would be good for fourth graders? DD likes to draw, so I want to capitalize on that. ARTistic Pursuits is appealing to me because it looks like the lessons are straightforward and spelled out -- this is one area where leaving it up to me to plan the lesson is probably not a good plan.

That is adorable! Really looks like a pizza too!

I'm with PPs -- I'd consider dropping something. That does sound like a lot to me. Even if I didn't have the preschooler and the infant, I think that would be too much out of the house time for my 6yo, 9yo, and me. This year, we'll have dance for the 9yo one evening a week and co-op for everyone once every two weeks (and maybe other activities with the co-op group on the non-co-op weeks). Add errands, grocery shopping, library, etc. either on another day, or tacked on to co-op day, plus the occasional get-together with another family or field trip, and that is plenty for us!

Miquon for my first grader. He seems to like the rods and exploration. (DD did not care for the exploration aspect of Miquon though.) My fourth grader uses Calvert, because I got it free. I neither love nor hate it; it mostly just provides me with topics and practice problems, and I may or may not teach a concept the way the book does. I am curious about MEP though and want to look into that more.

Also, about freezing. Yes, raw milk freezes nicely. The only catch is that the cream makes little clumps when the milk is thawed. My children didn't like that. I found that if I let it thaw in the fridge for two days, the cream wouldn't clump so much.

We love our raw milk here! I can't stand skim milk at all, but I like the raw stuff -- totally different product. Raw milk is completely legal here in PA, and I can get it from several different small farms. We drink two gallons a week (and would drink more, but it's not cheap -- $6-7 a gallon, depending on which farm). No, I'm not worried about getting sick; that's a risk I take with any food, pasteurized or not, and in PA, testing and licensing is required. We've been drinking raw for four years, including through two pregnancies, and we've all been very healthy. We have cut and modified our grocery budget to accomodate our financial status, but raw milk from grassfed cows would most likely be the last thing we'd ever cut.

DD's last several pairs have been Bloch, and we've been pleased with them. I agree with everyone else who said to go to a local store and try on the shoes. The owner of one of our local stores said that different brands fit differently. I think Capezios didn't fit her as well, but the Bloch did; her feet are a little on the wide side. As for tights, our studio requires new tights for the recital, and they provide a specific brand and type along with the recital costume. For classes, though, they just specify the color, and the rest is up to us. DD is hard on tights, even the expensive ones. She uses the previous year's recital tights for classes, until those are worn out, and then I buy the cheapest ones I can find, usually the $2 ones from WalMart. I figure if she's going to go through a couple of pairs a year, no matter what brand they are, I might as well not pay $9 a pair each time!

My now 6 1/2 yo was in a 5-point harness at 5, but he also used a high-back booster in one of our vehicles when he was 5.

I would put both of your older two children in the third row in the 5-point harness seats but without the tether. Tethers are nice, but I'd rather have the harness than the tether, especially for the 4yo. (My 6yo, when he was four, was in a seat with a 5-point harness, first a Graco CarGo and then a Graco MyRide.) ETA: I'd also consider putting someone next to the baby and someone in the center of the rear seat. I don't have an empty space next to my baby; I have a 2yo next to him (our one empty spot is the center of the rear seat, because it only has a lap belt, and my older two need shoulder belts for their boosters). If I need to nurse the baby, I can sit in the driver's seat or passenger seat though. If you have a seat in the center of the third row, could you sit on one side of the back seat if you need to nurse the baby?

Wow, I would have been really upset about that -- I'm sorry! No, I don't think it's typical. My ILs held on to all of the gifts while we were on our honeymoon, and when we got back, they invited my parents over, and DH and I opened the gifts with everyone, showed pictures of our honeymoon, etc. It was fun!