What a great day! :) :party:

Very cool! I like this too http://store.franklinplanner.com/store/category/prod2420101/US-My-Family/Chore.pad Thanks for sharing! :)

I posted this in another forum, but wondered what you all thought, as well. Last night, our church hosted a presentation by Dr. Mace Baker on "The Scientific Evidence for Noah's Flood." It was very interesting! I would have really enjoyed it if there had not been some extremely rude children being disruptive throughout the presentation. One little boy, a 7 year old, (in the very front row) was climbing on the seats, crawling under them, turning around and making faces at the people behind him. Another little boy (8 years old) sat there in his seat but kept saying "this is boring" and "can we go home now?" The mother of those children (the boys are brothers), quite desperately, did remove the children from the room on 2 separate occasions to "discipline" them. Alas, they walked in with tear stained cheeks, but continued their poor behavior. Finally the mother had enough and realized the children were not going to comply so she did take them out of the service so that it would not disrupt the congregation. I am so ashamed to say that those disruptive little boys, are my own children. :blushing: I'm not ashamed that they are my children, of course, just of their poor behavior in church. On the way home, I let them know how ashamed I was of their behavior in church, and that as soon as they got home, they were to go in and go potty and go straight to their rooms and go to bed. That they are on restriction from all activities until further notice so that we can work on how to control ourselves and to be respectful. This has been an ongoing problem for my boys. No matter how much I talk to them about how to behave in church, or anywhere, they are just so "busy" and easily distracted. I've tried practicing with them at home on how to sit still by making them sit on the couch for a fairly long amount of time (an hour or so), without talking and without being disruptive. Now this only works if I sit directly in front of them and have something to basically threaten them with if they start to act up. I've sat them down altogether, several times (including 3 times this week alone), to talk to them and discuss with them how to behave in church or in public places. I know it can be done, that it is not unreasonable to ask of children to be respectful in church. It is quite embarrassing, and I feel like a horrible mother who can't control her own children when they act up. It is quite humiliating, especially when there is a mother in our church with 10 children who sit in the very front row every week, and those kids are quiet, and respectful and so very well behaved, as are most of the other children. What am I doing wrong, and how do I correct this? It is so embarrassing. :banghead: :( -Miranda

We live in Ohio, and my husband and I have 4 kids, so we are feeding 6 in our household. My kids are small, (ages 10,8,7,and 1), so they aren't eating us out of house and home yet. Typically, I can spend anywhere from $50-120 a week, including toiletries and household supplies. On $50 weeks, it is mainly so low because we have had a lot of leftovers or I had enough to last me from the previous weeks grocery trip. This week I spent $110, and that always makes me feel sick to spend that much. It was because I was out of dish soap, laundry soap, toilet paper, coffee, etc. Coffee is way too much $, but we "have" to have it. ;) I realize it might not seem like much compared to some of you, but I really hate spending money that my husband works so hard for. And eating it seems kind of like a waste to me. I have just started attempting my hand at couponing to try to save even more. I started using cloth diapers when my littlest guy was born. Boy, do I wish that I had started doing that with my first one 10 years ago! It has been wonderful at saving money, trash, rashes, etc. Love it!!! Even with the extra laundry, it is SO worth it. :) Our meals mainly consist of: Breakfast: Cereal during the week for the kids. Sometimes waffles, pancakes, scrambled eggs and toast. Depends on the day and what we're hungry for. On weekends when my husband doesn't have to work, I typically make him a nice big breakfast of potatoes, eggs, sausage, or chorizo. Sometimes pancakes and sausage and hashbrowns. He loves chorizo with eggs and potatoes, so I try to do that for him once a week. Lunch- During the week, ususally leftovers from supper the night before, or sandwiches, chips, veggies. Sometimes mac and cheese, hot dogs. Quick and easy is what works best here for lunch. Supper- I usually make a decent supper every night of the week. Tacos are a weekly request, and so is spaghetti and garlic bread. We do beef and noodles, homemade mashed potatoes, vegetables, roast chicken, roast pork, casseroles. Good fattening stuff for you. (I love homestyle cooking. Well, mostly the eating part of it, lol). Meat and milk are the biggest expense in our house. I buy frozen vegetables when they are on sale for $1 a bag or less, and stock up on them. Fresh fruit makes its way here once in a great while because it is $$$. Good thread, I'm enjoying it. :)

:iagree::iagree::iagree: I absolutely relate to everything you just said. It's like you were writing my own thoughts and experiences. :)

:iagree: :iagree: I think faith is definitely a choice. That is the very definition of faith: belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. I choose to put my faith, my trust, and my hope in the Truth. Even though it is above and beyond my understanding. I don't have any evidence whatsoever that goes against what the Bible says, because I CHOOSE to reject anything that goes against it. It's like an old saying that my grandma had in her house. "God said it. I believe it. That settles it."

:iagree: And what a great writer he is! I can get one word responses from my dh if I'm really lucky. Or maybe a nod and quick glance in my direction, but never anything written! ;)

:lol::lol::lol:

My mother calls ALL of my kids by other names and has since before they were born. She decided what she was going to call them, and will purposely not call them by their real, given names. And she introduces them as the name she calls them, so that everyone she knows only knows my kids by these other names. For example, my dd's name is actually Fallyn Alexandra, but my mom calls her Grace Faye (which is a nice name, it's just NOT HER NAME). All of my mom's friends know my daughter as Grace, not Fallyn. And if I am around and happen to be talking to my daughter or say "Fallyn" they wonder who I'm talking about since they only know her as "Grace".

This will be our first year homeschooling. We have 4 children, ages 10,8,7, and almost 1. We are combining the older 2 using BHFHG + extensions, and LHFHG for my 7 year old. I've shopped around to get the best deals, since we are on a tight budget. I've found several of the books we are going to be using are available at the library, so that cut some of my costs. I have already purchased some of the items for LHFHG and spent $65, and have the rest of the items reserved in carts on amazon, rainbow resource, and HOD, and my total comes out to be roughly $325 (including the $65 already spent). This does not include supplies like paper, art supplies, etc. Next year, I will get the next level up for my older 2, and my younger, and then after that, I'll only be needing the curriculums for the olders since I will re-use what they have outgrown for my younger ones. :)