Yes, use it. No guilt. You need the break. It’s specifically provided for all children in the district regardless of enrollment; you qualify. Also, the more meals served, the better numbers they have for future funding. Plus employing cafeteria workers, probably janitorial staff, and in our city, bus drivers who are delivering the lunch/breakfast boxes along their routes for families who can’t pick up at the school.

Do we think the odd boy statue came with a variety of holiday items for him to hold?

Not my favorite, but I have to say the version by Jubilant Sykes could win me over if I had to listen to it. I wish he would do a Christmas album.

My kids are younger, but we're using A World of Cookies for Santa by M. E. Furman to review geography and bake our way through the Christmas season. We're pairing it with drawing the world, learning more about holiday traditions in select countries visited in the book, and practicing lots of fractions.

The math balance was definitely not intuitive to my mathy kid. Balancing 7 and 7 was no problem, but he was super frustrated by the need to find a different way to balance two sixes. It was not a tool that worked for him at all. We did lots of work with Cuisenaire rods and unit blocks to help "balance" equations and to see that numbers could be broken up in different ways. Since RightStart uses so many ways to illustrate the same concepts, I would just keep an eye on the concept itself and not worry that a specific manipulative wasn't connecting.

I have the above mentioned Breville Smart Oven Air, acquired in March because we gutted our kitchen mere weeks before a pandemic shut down our nation. I used the air fryer function for the first time this week to make these: https://gardenandgun.com/recipe/crispy-okra-fries/ If I never use it for anything else, that recipe alone would be worth it. I tossed the okra in a bit less than a tablespoon of coconut oil. Everyone should try this, even if you’ve never had or don’t like okra. Not a single piece made it to our plates. My family literally devoured it out of the pan standing around the counter. If I’m ever in the house alone again, I’d probably make it just for me.

I want in this year! I was sad I didn’t do it last year.

Toothbrushes! This is the one time the kids get character toothbrushes, and they love it. DH gets a year worth of replacement heads for his electric toothbrush, which is not quite as exciting but practical. Also dollar bandaids, because we are still very much in the bandaids as stickers and essential accessories phase. I love doing stockings. This year stockings are my gift to all out of town family. I’m sending their boxes to their spouse to do the stuffing, and then we’ll have a family zoom opening. I can’t wait!

I spin the same color every time, I swear. It even beats Candyland for tedium. But my kids like it. Fortunately there are four of them, so when the 2 yo plays, I can’t. Oh darn.

Games my current 7, newly 6 and 4.5 yo play constantly with or without me: Concept for Kids Bug/Ocean/Dinosaur Bingo (these are beautiful!) Outfoxed

Books! Plus a copy of Wise Owl Pollysyllables to read a few words together daily. Lots of opportunities to practice advanced phonics there. She can pick up the any missing phonics rules through spelling practice later.

Hello and Babybug are firm favorites here. I have issues of Hello dating back 5 years, and they are still going strong. Click from Cricket Media has been another favorite. Of course Highlights is always great. The Ranger Rick line has just been eh here. My older two would rather read a more informative book or watch Wild Kratts 😂

I have a photographer friend doing some socially distanced santa photos, so we signed up this year. She has several outdoor set ups: a bench in front of a tree with Santa peeking out from behind the tree, Santa driving a truck and the kids in the back, and Santa pulling a toboggan with kids on it. For all the sessions, the kids bring a letter for Santa and drop it in the mailbox. Santa is going to send a postcard back 🙂 I’m participating largely to support a friend and because my kids are little (7 and under). We’ve already talked about how we need to keep Santa safe from COVID just like we help keep our community safe, so we’ll wear masks and so will Santa.

I think it's fairly routine for companies/insurance companies/pharmacies to incentivize the flu shot. I see it annually: stores that provide a gift card or points; insurance companies that provide cash or reduce a payment; places of employment that offer some kind of bonus or perk. It seems better to me than either penalizing employees who choose not to be or can't be vaccinated or requiring the vaccine on a large scale.

I'm a Spalding instructor, and I really like LOE, especially for wiggly kids. And yes, they introduce vowels are a sound you can sing with your mouth open. My current kinders just did "m", and the teacher's text explicitly addressed the fact that you can hum "m" but you cannot sing it with your mouth open. My kids had a great time demonstrating.

I really like Susie Middleton's vegetable cookbooks. She has four, and I cook out of all of them. Simple Green Suppers is her true vegetarian mains cookbook; the others are more about vegetables as (hearty) sides.

I've been doing some phone banking to encourage people to make a plan to vote. You would not BELIEVE the number of easily answerable questions that people have that keep them from the polls. Can I bring my children? Do I need to find my voter registration card? Where do I even go? Can I wear ______ shirt/color? Do I need ID? What if I moved this month? Can I still vote this year if I didn't request an absentee ballot? Do I have to vote for all one party? In the space of three hours over the last week, I've talked to a dozen people who have at least indicated that "wow, now that I know _____, it's so easy." I think getting some information can help people get over the inertia.

Our street only has 7 houses, and until this year all but us are retirees. Needless to say, ToTing is not a big thing on our street ever. BUT this year we have new neighbors with young kids, too, and she and I put small bowls of candy on everyone's porch. It was a huge hit! Our kids could go up and get candy, then stand in the driveway while and adult rang the doorbell. The neighbors had a great time coming out to be thanked and to ooh and ahh over the costumes. They didn't have to fuss with candy, it was easy to socially distance, our kids had just enough fun, and we were all home in plenty of time to eat too much sugar and see the full moon and go to bed. I'm seriously considering doing it this way every year. We only went to one other house on the street behind us because the woman who lives there caught me on my morning walk to let me know they would be leaving bags of candy on their driveway.

I’m in NC. Lots of calls and texts. And also from IA where I lived last year. None from OK where my phone number is from. There’s not a lot of question about that last one.

All Clad. It's so hard to go back once you start cooking with All Clad. But obviously lots of other good suggestions above 🙂

My father is at very high risk (immunosuppressant drugs as well as two chronic conditions related to his lungs). His doctor has okayed him to play golf. He schedules the first tee time in the morning to reduce the number of people on the course. The exercise and fresh air are vital. I think your boys would enjoy it.

My DH, whose mother was a music major and piano teacher, cannot sing or keep beat to save his life. He has NO rhythm. He also has no idea. It’s equal parts endearing, puzzling, and frustrating.

I have four + two extra I’m homeschooling this year. There’s not enough room on the couch for all of us! We have 4-5 (short) read aloud sessions per day. For several, I sit in a chair and they sit on the floor or the sofa, as they prefer. For many they are around a table or on the floor with clipboards drawing or playing with a fidget. For at least one (sometimes more) they are sitting at the table having snack.

My grandmother needlepointed stockings for her grandchildren and children/in-laws. My mom (a dil of aforementioned grandmother) has needlepointed stockings for her sil/dil and her grandchildren (which, really is only my kids). I’ve been told it’s my responsibility to continue the tradition and I’d better get needlepointing. I’m not exactly objecting, but since my oldest is 7, I’m presuming I have a while to get started.

Yes to this. My DD5 still wears her "Special Baby" everywhere. She would love homemade outfits. Bitty Baby is a more challenging size to find inexpensive doll clothes for, although she's been perfectly content with the 0-3 castoffs from her now 2yo sister. They are too big, but as long as she doesn't complain, I don't point it out. She also had a set of PJs that matched Bitty Baby's, and those were a huge hit.