Oh, I've never been in a shopping cart thread before! :party: Australia does it right- all the carts (called trolleys here) require coins. And not just piddly amounts, they only take $1 or $2 coins. So it's worth your time to return them. I never see trolleys just loose in the carpark. A few stores I frequent have done away with the coins, but people here are so properly trained by now that they return them anyway. :D Side note- you know those really annoying carts at Ikea where the wheels go in all different directions, making them really hard to manoeuvre? They are ALL like that here. So hard to push, especially when full, and even worse if you have a baby on your hip. The only place I've seen them where the wheels didn't turn in all directions? Costco, which first opened in Australia a few years ago.

Do you have the option of allowing them in only at the end? I loved having my older children at my last two births. MIL & FIL watched them nearby until we called them in when I started pushing, then MIL came in with the kids. They lined up quietly and watched. So lovely and beautiful. I'm so glad they were there, but I have very short and straightforward births. Other than that, only DH during the labour. For one birth my mum was there for the whole thing, I found it very distracting, like I was having to perform or act a certain way for her. I made sure that didn't happen again!

This all reminds me of boondoggle. Anyone else?

I haven't read through the responses... There are six of us. I want my kids to be responsible for their own laundry eventually, so they each are assigned a day. DS9 can do his start to finish, just needs reminding at each step to start it, hang it, fold it, put it away. (Otherwise he'd get it in the washer and it would sit there for days!) DS6 needs help hanging and folding, DD4 needs help throughout. I keep a hamper near the washer for them to drop their whites into, everything else gets washed together, I do the whites later in the week. They do their sheets fortnightly right after their regular load of clothes. S: Towels M: DS9 T: DS6 W: DD4 Th: Mine/DH/Baby F: Whites Sat: Catch-up or none(!) We hang our laundry, which means I can't do it only once a week because I wouldn't be able to get it all done and dry in a day. I also only have one electrical outlet in my laundry, so even when I want to use my dryer I can't run both the washer and dryer at the same time so it takes twice as long. I used to be a twice-a-weeker, but too often the amount of laundry needing done exceeded what I could get done in two days (because of the drying factor). I was constantly trying to catch up, stay on top of the laundry. Ugh. Now if I get off schedule I can easily catch up because it's only one load that I'm behind. This is a new schedule for us, it's just become part of our routine. Even though I'm dealing with laundry everyday, I no longer feel like I'm a slave to laundry. Instead I feel on top of it, like it's always under control. It's working so well that I'm thinking of starting a cleaning schedule also- bathroom one day, bedroom the next, etc.

Minimus Latin. Song School Latin/Spanish. Some of the Apologia elementary science books and notebooks. BFSU.

My first thought was also along the lines of 'You put bras in the dryer?!?' But...I think this is only something I've done since leaving home. I'm pretty sure my mom put them in the dryer. I'd air dry, and I'd also air dry the sweater. In college we had a small folding drying rack that we'd get out when needed. Those coin-operated dryers are tough on clothes!

I can relate. I tried to do beginner with my (then) 5yo and intermediate with my (then) 8yo. No way did that work for us. My oldest needed too much help and I couldn't help both of them at once. I tried moving them both through one section at a time, since they are numbered the same, but younger had to wait for older and would get bored. I would definitely want them in the same one so I would wait for the primary pages if I were you. And we only did about half of the review questions. We switched to Grapevine and are happy with it for now. :) I plan to use both the OT and NT reviews. I might revisit BSGFAA at some future point.

I love this! How much time do you think you spend each day? Sound like the first would be the longest since it includes the new teaching for that step. What if it's a longer step? Do you still do it all in one day, or do you break it down more? We are just starting level four after a long break, before I've always just gone until a reasonable stopping point. I like this much better, it ensures all the cards are reviewed and isn't too much in a day. I think I'm going to copy this...;)

Sigh. DS figured this out from looking at the Lego Star Wars minifigure encyclopedia. 'Look, they have the same face, I think he turns into Darth Vader!' All my kids know the characters from Lego and Angry Birds. It will be interesting when they watch the movies, they'll be putting faces with names. We've definitely done it backwards!

Is the cat otherwise acting normal? Several weeks ago our cat began vomiting and then stopped eating and became lethargic. Turns out he had swallowed something that wasn't moving through very well, he had to spend a couple of nights at the vet.

I would guess it's just fb trying to get you to log in and view your page because you have had all these posts and haven't seen them, even though you're getting them through email. Your friend didn't do anything to trigger the email specifically, it's just fb doing it. It's probably not even something you can turn off in notifications, it's kind of along the lines of 'Hey, you haven't been here in awhile and this person posted on your timeline in case you didn't know. Please, pretty please, come take a look at it?' :D I get these sometimes too.

The new dividers with the coloured tabs *do* fit the 3x5 boxes! At least they fit mine, the old ones were too tall and flimsy. The new ones are also sturdier. :)

We use a smaller board and lay it flat on the table while using it, voila...no falling tiles! :D If I happen to lose my grip the tile doesn't have far to fall, so I don't have too much trouble with them. Still really, really wish they'd get an AAS app out there, though. It just doesn't seem like it should be that hard to make an app with moveable tiles and multiple users where you could have a different setup for each user. (Says this completely-ignorant-of-how-to-make-an-app homeschool mum!) Love AAS here, plan to use it with all my kids.

I did not just give away a bag full of Hot Wheels cars! Nope, they didn't see it, didn't happen!

I hadn't heard of this but it looks like one we'd like- and my library has it! :hurray:

How to Train Your Dragon!

I love all these stories! We gave DD4 her New Bear today after her birthday party. She is in love...immediately Old Bear and New Bear shared a kiss. New Bear is pink, Old Bear is a dingy grey despite washings. I'll have to come back and post a pic, it's quite comical how different they look. She and DS6 immediately had a birthday party for New Bear. Old Bear is the dad, New Bear is the mum (because she's pink) and they are the parents of our little stuffed Baby Koala (another original name). :wub: Love pretend play. New Bear is currently on his first trip to the store! I asked her New Bear's name and she said "The Tooth Fairy." Hmmm, that might not stick. Generally I allow them to bring their stuffed animals but they have to stay in the car. If we are going to the park, or a friend's, etc they can bring in one animal and the rest need to stay in the car- otherwise it is too much to keep track of. On vacations they can bring one, only one. Hopefully if only one of these bears is allowed away from home at a time we won't have a chance to lose both! I can't imagine if DS6 loses his monkey- I know I won't be able to find another of those!! I've sewed up the seams on that little guy many times.

This is what I want to do. I've had the basic idea rolling around in my head for some time. At an acquaintance's house I saw her meal plan hanging up. It was a simple list: Weeks 1-4 with a list of meals underneath. Going the extra steps to create a recipe binder and shopping list sounds perfect. Maybe if I get dh to help we'll get it done. I just happen to have a new proclick. ;)

Okay, we are split right down the middle with give/save. I should have expected no less from The Hive! :D DH wants to give it to her. He thinks she'll love having another one, and I'm inclined to agree. I'm picturing Mr and Mrs Bear enjoying a long life together. I'm soooo doing the write-the-phone-number-on-the-tag thing!!!

Ack! Not reading thread! Can't wait to read! I really liked the first book, the second one so-so, and even if I end up not liking the rest of the series I will always have that first book. :wub: The whole time I was reading that first one I was thinking how it would translate well into a movie. I had just read Hunger Games and watched that movie, and I don't think it translated well into a movie at all. So much of it was internal and just hard to portray on a screen. But Divergent would be great...I hope they do a good job with the movie.

And you managed to find the exact same one online (it was a TY product and I found a new one on ebay!!!), but then the lost one turned up...what would you do with the new one? Give it to your child, then they'd have two of the same (one old and dirty, one new and clean!)? Or save it in the event the old one is lost again? 4yo dd has had this bear since she was 14 mos old. We've misplaced it before but always found it. It has spent the night at Subway, and an entire week at karate lessons! This time we thought we'd lost it at the playground at a very popular park. We didn't realise it until after dark and went back with a flashlight, then went back again in the morning. No bear. We figured another child had found it and adopted it. After a couple of days of us all missing Bear (that's his name, it's quite original) I thought to look for a new one and was so happy to find it online. I ordered it, planning to surprise her with the new one at her birthday party. Then, of course, we found the old one a couple of days later at the bottom of her shoe cabinet where it was very hard to see. So...give her the new one? I suppose she could then have a Mr and Mrs which would make for great fun! Or save it in case Bear is ever permanently lost? Bear is a member of the family at this point! :coolgleamA: She has others but this is the favourite, the one I expect she'll remember as a part of her childhood.

If you are following a set of instructions then you are looking for a specific piece in a specific colour. Sorting by colour makes it very easy to find. If you are building without instructions then it is easy to just pull out the bins and place them around while you look for various shaped/sized pieces. Often, even when building without instructions, the kids are looking for a specific piece they know we have and they know what colour it is so sorting by colour makes it easy to find. We tried sorting by shape once and it was very hard for the kids to maintain. Sorting by colour is very easy for the kids to do on their own.

This one! This one! Is it this one?? http://barefootmeandering.com/primal-curr.html Except that it is pretty cheap, and it has a stick figure warrior instead of a ninja. But this is what came to mind when I read your post. You can see a preview if you click through to her Lulu site.

You can also swipe up with four fingers to see those recent apps. That's easier for me than double clicking the home button (which I did not know about until this thread) so thought I'd mention. :)

A thread on the Mood Cure, if it's of any help to you... http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/482829-who-here-as-read-the-mood-cure/