I agree with you completely, Nakia (though we're all assuming he's in Hell, and I believe that while that's a logical conclusion, only God Himself knows for sure). I am very glad he's not in a position to orchestrate more harm, though I'm sorry it took the ultimate measure to ensure that. I do believe that war and killing are, at times, justified and necessary, but I don't believe that we should rejoice at the taking of someone else's life. As hard as it is to swallow, bin Laden was created by the same God who created all of us and was no less precious to Him than you or I. This may be the path that God allows to accomplish His purpose, but I don't believe He is joyful about it.

DD keeps hers next to her bed, in a doll bed (not my favorite spot for them, but so far it's been okay), or she puts them on a desk that is set aside for them and their clothes.

Another vote to say that you might not tear, or you might just tear a tiny bit. I've had three babies, all large, all with large heads, none in water, and I've never torn. A tiny skid mark with the third, only because I really wanted his head out and wasn't pushing gently (my choice, nobody coaching me to do that), plus his birth was very fast. (I'm also petite, but that really has nothing to do with it. I've heard that fair-skinned women tend to tear, but not in my case. I've also heard that if you get stretch marks, you're more likely to tear, but again, not in my case.) I agree with the previous posters who said that a care provider shouldn't offer just episiotomy vs. tearing. My midwives have provided support to the perineum, and in some cases, we've used warm compresses to soften the tissues. I've heard of olive oil being used for that too. But I think some of it is just the luck of the draw, and a large part of it is pushing with your own urges and not someone else's direction, as well as getting in a good position (side-lying is great). Good reasons to skip the epidural, so that you can be more in control of yourself.

We do it all the time with Verizon -- phonenumber@vtext.com. I hate typing on my phone, so if I need to text DH, I use the computer and send it just like an e-mail. Bonus: before we had a texting plan and were paying per text, we'd pay twice, once for my phone to send it, and once for DH's phone to receive it. However, it's free to send from the computer, so we only had to pay once.

I went to a huge university, where most low-level gen ed classes had 200-300, and I had one gen ed class that had about 1,000 students in it. No way did the professors take attendance for those classes, and even when students were in class, half of them were doing something other than actually listening and taking notes (this was before texting). It was generally fairly easy to skip a lot of classes and still pass, if you had access to good notes. I kind of think gen ed requirements are a little silly (I think it's rather pointless to insist that people be "well-rounded," because in reality, they're not going to be that way as adults, unless they choose to be), so while I did go to class most of the time, I also didn't worry about skipping a few now and then. Otoh, I was in the honors program and also part of a very small major (we graduated 3 the year I graduated, and that was a lot for one year), and along with my gen eds, I had some very high quality honors and major classes. Attendance wasn't mandatory, exactly, and I agree with that (I think it should still be the student's responsibility to choose to go or not go), but many of the teachers did count participation as a large portion of the grade. The professors also knew if you weren't there often, and that probably counted when you looked for recommendations and such. If you were struggling, your visible efforts, like attending and participating, counted for a lot. I thought long and hard before skipping any of those classes and rarely did. I still don't think attendance should be mandatory, and I'm not sure I agree with participating being part of the grade, but I can see why it would be just one facet -- perhaps someone who isn't a strong writer or a strong test-taker would be good at participating in discussions, for instance.

It definitely sounds like your ds12 was hurt, and I can totally see why. I would say all or nothing as well. If she really does think that all three would be overwhelming, I'd vote for the youngest staying home; he can wait to go until he's a little older, but leaving out a kid who has gone before, just because he's a step, is unfair. I'd put my foot down, and I'd have DH put his foot down, to say that, regardless of how many children she ends up having for the visit, your ds12 is not to be referred to as a step -- he's every bit a part of the family as the others. I would not allow someone to treat a stepchild any differently (especially if your own DH considers him to be his child, even if he's not biologically his).

I agree, Hershey or Busch Gardens, but not King's Dominion. Haven't been to BG in years, and not with a young child, but it has great rollercoasters for the taller/older people; younger kids might be able to ride some of them too. We have taken kids to Hershey at 2, 3, 5, and 6, and that has a lot of stuff for little kids. Our DD was able to ride several coasters (including one that goes upside-down) at 5. (And if you go there, you can also see ZooAmerica, which is small, but cute, and Chocolate World, which the kids always love.) Assuming you're driving via 95, Hershey is going to be a bit off of your route, but not too terrible; you can catch 83 around Baltimore and head up past Harrisburg to Hershey, and then catch something back to 95 (maybe the PA Turnpike -- not sure, but if you're interested, I can see what DH would recommend).

I generally veer toward unabridged versions. I would rather wait until they're old enough to appreciate it, or do it as a family read-aloud, than use a watered-down version. Sometimes abridged versions are good, and sometimes they leave out a lot of the rich language that makes the original good. But I think it will depend on the abridged version, too.

Spanakopitta or quiche? Salads, but not the typical lettuce variety (though I like adding hard-boiled egg slices, beets, seasoned salt, and chickpeas to mine; or Greek salad) -- black bean and corn salads, curried chicken salad. Deviled eggs. Greek salad fixins work well on hoagie rolls too -- olives, cucumber, tomato slices, red onion, feta cheese, vinaigrette. Anything to dip in bleu cheese dip.

Background check, criminal check, even personal/professional references -- those would all be okay with me, if I were renting. However, I'd be cautious about the credit check these days. I have a decade of perfect payment records on my mortgages and bills, but if something happened to DH's job, and we lost our house and were looking to rent, our credit would be trashed. So many people are in that situation these days. If you did a credit check, I'd inquire about sudden changes in situation and allow leniency for that. I'd love to live in your rentals! My kids would love the horses, and you could come get a baby fix any time you wanted!

Um, 9 years, since that's how old my oldest is. But she's only just finished third grade, so 4 years (based on how many it would have been if she was in public school), yet only finishing up our first year of official (ie report to the state/school district) homeschooling. :)

I definitely wouldn't buy if it made the budget tight, nor would I want to buy while renting out another place -- too iffy right now. I'd vote for staying put, since you have no mortgage, or moving and renting if you can sell your current place. If market conditions are really favorable for buying in your new location (and if job security is good), maybe rent for a while and then buy if your current place sells decently. I just wouldn't want to count on anything, and not having the obligation of a mortgage (or long-term lease) would be really nice; we love where we live and hope never to have to move, but we're also locked into a mortgage, so if DH's job situation completely deteriorates, we're in a hard spot -- in that case, it would be easier to have no mortgage or a lease, so that we could pack up and move easily. I would not be looking to buy right now, unless I was in a very secure position (in which case, a good deal would be nice).

Wow, I think that was a very hard situation. On the one hand, I agree with the other posters who said it was crossing a line, might make mom feel inadequate and worse, wouldn't want that done to me/my kid, etc. Otoh, I agree with the posters who said that it's good for kids to see that society, not just mom, has some standards for behavior too. And sometimes it takes someone different to have an effect, though generally, it probably works best if that person is obviously the Person In Charge (like when my older son kept forgetting to use his quiet voice in the library, despite many reminders and discussions from me, so I asked the head librarian to have a brief chat with him one day -- her obvious authority did seem to get through to him). I don't know that you really did anything wrong, though, and maybe it did plant a seed in his head.

I still have more very young children than older ones, so my day is plenty full, LOL, but I think you're in a great spot to pick up a hobby or skill for yourself. (Maybe even something to share with one or both of your kids too.) I love the hour when the boys are at home with DH, and I am waiting at DD's dance class, because it is an hour just for me to knit without interruption, or to read, or to chat with other moms. Do you have a homeschool support group/co-op? Getting to know other moms would be good for you too. Also, I think you're heading into a great stage of life to volunteer/mentor -- lead a Bible study, volunteer for a charity organization, teach a homeschool class, organize things (field trips, moms' nights, etc.) for a homeschool co-op. . . I'm sure you have plenty of expertise to share with moms of younger children!

I'm with everyone else; I think the coach's attitude was a bit much for 6-10 yo, but for 3-4yo!! Completely not acceptable. I really wouldn't expect much from 3-4yo at soccer -- if they make it to the goal and use their feet more than their hands, I would think that would be great! I'm sorry your son was so sad; I hope he's able to focus on the improvement instead! I don't know if I'd say something this time, but if it happened again, I would. And I'd spend a lot of time talking about improvement and how well your son/the team has done too, to make up for it.

This is the first house in which I've had an island, and I'm. . . ambivalent, I guess. It is sometimes in the way, but I have it because I have very little counter and storage space in the kitchen, and I really need the island for that. It would be really hard to accomplish anything in my kitchen without the island. It does have the overhang for stools, so sometimes the kids sit on one side; I do most meal prep on the island, so I can face them, but they can also just sit at the regular table too. (When I had just two kids, we used the island for breakfast and lunch, so I only had one surface to clean, which was a plus.) However, in my previous kitchens, an island would have been in the way.

I'd always say Pennsylvania, because I think it's a great place to live, with lots of things to do, an excellent library system, lots of homeschool support -- except for the regulations about homeschooling. If you don't like having to report to someone and send in paperwork, this would not be a good place. Even still, it's highly dependent on your local school district. I have heard from friends in Virginia that it's easy to homeschool there as well, but only because VA allows a religious exemption from all requirements. If that applies to you, then VA would also be a good place to live.

#2 sounds nice, but I could see why it could possibly be too chaotic and unpredictable for your dd1. I'm thinking #4 would fit your family well. If separation anxiety is an issue for the 3yo, could you volunteer in her classroom? (This is what I do, since I am not comfortable leaving my infants and toddlers; I simply teach the nursery class and do activities with the 3yo if we have them.) #1 also sounds like it might work well; a small group of kids might be nice for y'all, being new -- you could get to know people better and such.

Wow, they sound just. . . lovely. (Sarcasm there.) I knew a few snakes when I worked in real estate too. I wouldn't want to work with them, either, but if they ended up listing the house that I liked, that would be different. I'd find my own buyer's agent, though, so that a) the commission wouldn't entirely go to the nasty agent, and b) I didn't have to deal with the nasty agent myself. It's pretty unlikely that the buyer would ever deal directly with the seller's agent.

When I worked in real estate, we generally focused on the master bedroom, not so much children's rooms. Exterior, yard, kitchen, master bedroom, and one or two other shots that showed particularly nice areas of the home.

:lol: That needed a drink warning! I'm with y'all though. Neutral, or at least a tasteful color, goes a long way. And yes, take the pics that show the best of the house. A nice exterior shot (and update it if the house is on the market for a while), an uncluttered kitchen shot, other highlights of the house. I have seen some shots that really tell you nothing. Definitely check the listing too. With our last house, we bought it in decent shape, but since the guy was selling it for his deceased mother, it needed updating, and he sold it to us at a discount. We did update it, including removing an old fence and such from the front yard, and doing some landscaping, but somehow the shot from when we bought it was the one on the MLS site. Fortunately, I checked it and had the agent put in the new exterior shot right away.

I've only seen a couple of pics so far (DD and I are going to look for more clips/pics later), but I thought the dress was really lovely, very classy, very elegant and timeless. It seems to fit her style well. I really applaud her for not going overboard with the dress, tiara, etc. And for the hair, maybe William likes her hair down. (This from a woman who refused to put her very long hair up for her own wedding, because regardless of what everyone else does for weddings, only one person's opinion really mattered -- I wasn't marrying everyone else; I was marrying my sweetheart, and *he* likes my hair down, so down it was.)

If you use this system (daily, every other, weekly, monthly), do you do Scripture verses mixed in with other things, like poetry, or do you have two boxes, or what? We used this method for a while for Scripture and really liked it, but I wasn't sure about adding other stuff in too. Also, once you've been doing it for a while, you'll have four things to do each day. Do you start adding a second daily item, a second every other item, etc.? Curious as to how that works for most people.

Definitely at least one of the Narnia books if they haven't read those yet; those immediately came to mind.

The 106 Days of Creation Studies from simplycharlottemason.com is a nice, gentle introduction to science topics for young children, and it's designed for you to do it with all of your children together. I tend to be pretty laid-back about science, and our kids did some at co-op too, but this year, we had a really great time raising butterflies, keeping a log about them, and learning about them. Currently, we're using the Burgess Bird Book and have really enjoyed learning a lot about birds (way more than I ever learned in school). For both butterflies and birds, I found very good, but inexpensive, packets on CurrClick.com that have been excellent. Undecided about next year. For the younger grades, I like to go with whatever they're interested in at the time. They want to raise ladybugs, so maybe we'll study insects. Possibly stars and sky over the summer too. And we haven't done a lot with human anatomy, so (especially with a new baby to observe) maybe I can plan a unit to study that.