T shirts from last century! Some are more holes than shirts but all are apparently precious.

We wouldn’t have smashed, but we side stepped the issue by deciding a cake was unnecessary altogether.

She’s beautiful and so alert!

I actually went to college in CT, so getting around the state is familiar. But things like homeschooling, buying houses, and family life wasn't exactly on the radar then. It will be interesting to revisit CT for a few years if that's what ends up happening. I'm sure it looks different on this side of parenting! Thank you for clearing up the regulations. I was a little confused reading the law itself; it did read as a suggestion, but then it looked like some groups recommended submitting letters, etc.

Thank you! I'm definitely pleased to hear there are lots of activities. I have no idea about where we'd live or anything yet. I'm trying not to get too deep into research (i.e. excited about opportunities) until we know for sure where we'll end up. But we're trying to make a list of lifestyle/personal pros and cons to go along with the professional ones, so this helps quite a bit.

We'll know officially tomorrow, but it looks like DH is going to be getting a job offer with an opportunity to transfer either to Hartford-area, CT or Charlotte-area, NC. I'm just looking for data points to add to our discussion. I've looked up the legal requirements for both states, but I'd love to get an idea of actual ease of homeschooling, attitudes, opportunities (esp for secular homeschoolers). Feel free to PM me.

Yes, city chicken! Ugh! My mom served it as a “treat”. No one else seems to remember City chicken. Overall my mom was a pretty good cook. She avoided most convenience foods popular at the time. There are things she made that I wouldn’t cook now, but they weren’t bad. One of her side dishes was a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can of water, and a can of Minute rice baked until soft. It was a bit mushy but not bad, but I can’t even imagine making it for my kids. Times and tastes change. Fortunately no one ever subjected me to jello salad with any kind of vegetable or dressing in it. *shudder* I saw them at potlucks but no one in my family made them.

I have a longish drive coming up with just my 6yo. Is he too young for Redwall? I remember loving the series, so I don't want to spoil it by listening to it before he'd really enjoy it. I love the audio version, although it's been a number of years since I'm read or listened. Other suggestions? He's not particularly sensitive.

I grew up in a painted brick home (gray, with black trim). The neighborhood was all homes built in the 20s and 30s, and many were brick. Our particular home was not at all well maintained, so the contractor we bought it from had had to replace sections of brick + did an addition. Painting the brick was necessary and looked nice. Many houses in that neighborhood should not have been painted, because the brick was lovely and vintage. The house across the street, however, was a terribly unattractive yellowish brick. We were thrilled when new owners moved in and had the brick painted until we realized that they painted the house the colors of a local university. The change was... not really an improvement.

I’ve been working on moving the lunch prep to another time (weekend, while I’m making dinner, etc). Once a week I make tuna salad the night before, which I serve with cut up veggies, crackers, and a hard boiled egg. I also try to keep “salad bar” fixings for me, so one day a week the kids get deconstructed salad: dressing for dipping, some kind of meat, cubed cheese or halved eggs, avocado or nuts, plus roasted + raw veggies. This sounds like a lot of work, but I just roast a huge bunch of veggies, prep a protein and a dressing on Sunday for me for the week. Lunch is just assembly. I plan leftovers a few days a week; I’ll triple batch chili or stew and freeze it to reheat a few weeks later. I also make big batches of meatballs in different flavors and serve with dipping sauce and fruit/veggies. This is all hit and miss with my kids eating it, but I try to serve at least two protein options + fat at lunch so at least something will stick to them for a few hours.

I grew up eating dinner as a family most nights. My DH grew up in a family where dinner was usually fast food or fend for yourself. We’re working toward family meals amidst the chaos of toddlers. Breakfast here is eat whenever, bc I have two who wake up ready to eat, one who needs to wake up first, and a baby who has to wait until I have the energy to clean up her mess. I read aloud at lunch and eat after they finish. Dinner is five nights a week family chaos at the table, one night pizza and a movie, and one night feed ‘em pb&j and enjoy a relaxing adult meal after bedtime.

I think my quality of sleep is fine, I just have too many interrupters. Time will solve that (and weaning the baby...). My hormones are slightly wonky, but until I'm done breastfeeding there's only so much I can do. Hopefully the end of nursing will mean more consistently uninterrupted sleep, and straightening out the thyroid/adrenal/testosterone issues will assist the rest of the fatigue and memory issues. Then I'll just need to learn some better tools to juggle all the balls effectively.

Thanks all. I joke with my ADHD DH that he’s better equipped than I am, because he has developed so many strategies over the years. I could always just hold everything in my brain, but between four kids and years of interrupted sleep, there are times I can’t even remember if I’ve used shampoo... while I’m standing in the shower. I’m going to experiment with some of these strategies to see what sticks. And yes @CES2005, actually getting “it” done is a different challenge entirely! But at least I hopefully won’t be driving myself crazy trying to remember what I’m not doing!

All those little items that float through your mind when your hands are busy elsewhere or you are dashing out the door or you don’t have time/supplies to complete anything in the moment. By the time I get to my destination, that whispy thought is gone, only to return at another inopportune time. Making a note on my phone hasn’t worked bc I endeavor not to have my phone on me during the day.

I'm a mom of teeny tinys, so feel free to disregard. I think sometimes we confuse "how to teach them to learn" with "wanting them to want to learn what I'm teaching", which really are different things. Most children are passionate about and self teaching in some area, but it might be lego building, video games, or pokemon and not Singapore math or the Code of Hammurabi. Also, what are your children watching you get curious and learn about? Not in an effort to drag them along, but because it's an organic interest for you? It doesn't have to be academic; the skills for independent learning are used broadly in our lives. Lately I've been experimenting with bread baking. My kids are eating (and critiquing!) my attempts. They are watching me read books, work in the kitchen, make notes about what did or didn't work, and I talk about what I"m doing because I'm interested in it, not because I'm trying to force my family to learn the ins and outs of bread making. But I feel like my children are learning about learning because they are watching an adult pursue an interest.

I love an opportunity to dress up a little, so I wouldn’t care what is more typical. It’s nice to air out my non-mom clothes every once in a while.

So my number 3 was a May baby, and while it was great to lug him everywhere in the nice weather all spring and summer, his second summer was rough. He wasn’t really walking yet, but all he wanted to do was crawl around after the big kids. It made playgrounds and splash pads challenging. In contrast, my 4th baby was a January baby. We holed up last winter, I wore her when we were in extra germ-y spaces (indoor playspaces, anyone?), and she was still very portable and happy to be held/worn/hang in a stroller last summer. She’s just now starting to walk, so by the time her second summer rolls around, she’ll at least be able to toddle around, and I won’t spend every park trip wrestling with a heavy toddler who wants down but can’t go. I’m looking forward to it.

Our ten year and my DH’s 40th are this summer, and we’re celebrating with a trip. We’re actually not going until next year this time, but that’s because he wants to fish in South America. Our kids will be ages newly 7, 5, 3.5, and newly 2 so this is the first big trip we have taken in a long time. We used to travel regularly, and he still goes exotic places for work, but I go... to the grocery store. I’m really looking forward to it. I’d love to plan a trip for my 40th, but I’m also thinking about planning a week off for a bOOk reduction. Not exciting or celebratory, but I think my back will thank me.

I can’t speak to all of your choices, but Torchlight’s curriculum currently only goes to Level Two (roughly second grade), so I don’t imagine it would fit your needs.

Ugh, me too, except DH started it and is still down with it, and all four kids got hit today. With luck there's a lot of tv and naps tomorrow for Valentine's Day. If there's no luck, DH might have given me the flu...

My cousin got married last summer, and We received an invitation to a rehearsal dinner-type party with NO NAMES. I was so confused. It was from the groom’s parents (whom I have never met), and it didn’t mention the couple or the wedding at all. I had to read it a few times before the location (destination-ish) clicked. Later I discovered a reference to the couple’s wedding website in small print on the back, but names on the front would really have helped! First name only invitations don’t bother me, but it is helpful if they can be worked in somewhere - return address, reply card, etc.

So I have a Feb, Nov, May, and Jan baby. The last two I’ve had in the chilly Midwest. The May baby was great, because toddlers one and two were able to play outside while I sat on the porch and nursed. But the Jan baby was unexpectedly great. I baby wear, so there was a lot of wearing baby while my older three played at our winter outings. The biggest difference between the May baby and the Jan baby is that for the May baby, the second summer was rough, because he (like all my babes) was a late walker. All he wanted to do was be down and crawl every where, so playgrounds, etc. were challenging. In contrast, my Jan baby looks like she’ll be walking soon, so while she might need me to be close, I won’t have to wrestle a not walking but wanting to go tiny toddler all summer again. We’re done at four, but I’d consider a winter baby again if we weren’t.

Hmmm... I guess it is time to be thinking about next year. Math: continue with RightStart, probably C but we'll see how this year finishes out, and adding in some word problems with Singapore's CWP. He spotted Beast Academy at homeschool meet up, so I'm also looking at BA2, probably as a supplement. Language Arts: copywork and narration, possibly AAS1 depending on his writing stamina, continue encouraging independent reading Science: We've been using BFSU the past month, so we'll continue with that if it keeps working. Otherwise interest driven books from the library and nature walks. Social Studies: We're traveling around the world right now, loosely using Barefoot Books Around the World with Picture Books. We'll just keep up our tour, spending 4-6 weeks on each country. Music and Art: SQUILT for music and art history lessons from Art History Kids

Sorry - committed a cardinal WTM sin and posted without a recipe. Well Fed Paleo's chocolate chili. I usually serve it over roasted butternut squash cubes. It's not spicy (unless you want it to be) but very flavorful.

... you are in the path of this lovely cold front whipping through this week? I'm in need of new cozy recipes. I've already made shepherd's pie and chocolate chili in the past week or so, thanks to our mountains of snow.