Sorry-my oldest is about to complete gamma, not beta!

My girls are done with MUS Primer and Gamma. Where do they need to go in Singapore? 1A and 4A? Thanks!

I know this is a strange topic but I was just curious about this.. I've recently lost about 25 lbs. I'd like to keep it off and really I'd like to lose about another 15-20. I had a glass of Riesling (from Aldi of all places) at my brother's house a few weeks ago and I loved it. DH bought a bottle of it last week and I enjoyed a bit here and there. After an exhausting weekend and a broken arm for my oldest I'm ready to go buy a cartload and drink it all while I edit pictures from a wedding I shot this weekend. I've never really been a wine drinker so I don't know much about how it affects weight, etc...

We had this situation happen with a shelter dog last year. She growled at my toddler twice then snapped at her. I called the shelter and they said to bring her back right away. They said keeping her wasn't best for her or us. I agree. It was hard but like another poster said, bites can and do happen.

My husband is an insurance agent. He deals with this a lot. Term is the way to go until the kids can take care of themselves. Have enough that if something happened to you your children would be raised and educated in the way you'd like them to be. You only need enough whole life to cover burial expenses after that.

I'd give it another cycle or two. I did go to the gyn when I was experiencing similar stuff with pain. After an ultrasound he suggested bc pills as well. I started natural progesterone and I've been happy with that. I didn't start the progesterone cream on time this month and my period was early, heavy and I spotted forever after that. I'm putting it on my calendar to make sure I start on time this month!

Little People

I think it's awesome that a counselor suggested finding a hobby. It's something just for you! I recently picked up my camera again and did some sessions for free for kids and it actually turned into a part time jobs. It's so encouraging!!

Photography!!!! It is healing, creative, amazing, etc. You can use anything from a camera phone to a camera that costs thousands. They are free classes online, YouTube videos, free classes at the local library, etc.

Well, I didn't say anything and I ended up doing all the photography! LOL! I knew it would stress my in laws out to hear that they'd hired someone who wasn't going to take good photographs. So I just checked a bunch of books out of the library on wedding photography, started reading blogs and made a bounce card for my as speedlight. My sister in law said at the rehearsal that she wanted me to capture as much as I could and not to worry about offending the other girl. On the wedding day I was getting my hair with two of my girls and the bride had her appointment after me. She walked into the hair salon with steam coming out of her ears. She said the other girl had texted her and said that she'd be there an hour and a half later than they agreed upon and she'd need all the women ready an hour before the ceremony (at this point it was less than four hours until the ceremony) to take pictures because she was going to have to leave the wedding earlier than she thought. She asked me if I could handle the photography and I said I thought I could but being in the wedding was going to keep me from getting everything. She said she was cool with that. She told the other girl that they had the photography covered and not to worry about coming. The girl argued with her over text for awhile and finally said that she wouldn't take no for an answer. When we got to the church I started taking pictures of everyone getting ready. The other girl came in and took pictures too. I tried hard to work with her. I guess at some point she gave up because during the ceremony I looked over and she was scrolling through pictures on her phone during the vows then she took off before the portraits. That was interesting!

We've never done Santa and I'm so glad. I see parents all over Facebook freaking out about an impossible to find item they want from Santa and since Santa is magic he can pull it off, right?? I have friends who stress over how to afford their own gifts to their children and Santa presents. I'm glad we don't have to deal with that. We watch all they movies like Polar Express, etc that have Santa in them but my kids know that it's just pretend.

I've gotten serious about my photography again. I got my DSLR two years ago and I played with it a lot for about a year. Then life got stressful and I had a hard time in general and I didn't take many pictures. I've gotten back into it again and I'm so happy I did. I've been taking pictures of the kids, landscape photography and I did an engagement session for my SIL and a friend's kids. The friend's husband asked if I'd like to try my hand at sports photography since he needs help covering the bigger games at the college where he works and I said yes. I've been shooting games for practice until I feel comfortable enough to charge and it's so challenging but SO MUCH FUN. I don't feel like "just a mom" when I'm shooting. It just makes me happy. :)

I thought of a wrinkle. This girl's mom is the wedding coordinator. Ugh.

My SIL is getting married in 3 weeks. SIL said she wanted me to do the photography but I'm a bridesmaid so I'll be occupied for a lot of the wedding. She said that MIL's goddaughter is doing the photography and she gave them the friends and family discount. I'm friends with this person on facebook and I thought that she really didn't do a lot of photography but I guess she was okay. I decided to look at her FB page yesterday and came across the shots she took of a wedding this summer and they are AWFUL. I mean, AWFUL. They are out of focus, awful angles, people cut off at the knees, etc. Do I say something to them at this point? I know it's late but I think they'll be really disappointed with the pictures. Like, REALLY disappointed. But MIL and SIL are pretty stressed right now so it might just stress them out even more. The other option is to just follow her around taking pictures as well and making sure I get some good shots. I'm obsessed with photography so I'd be doing this anyway but knowing she might not get good shots I could be a tad more aggressive with this. When we discussed it first with SIL I'd told her I'd be taking a lot of pictures and I could be a "second shooter" for everything but the ceremony and she loved that idea. I'm really not concerned about offending the girl doing the pics since we're not really friends. I won't be mean but I want to make sure SIL gets good pictures. Any thoughts?

I'll have some time while we're traveling next week and I'd really like to read something new. I do read non-fiction but I'm covered there. I need something fun. I love dystopian and fantasy novels and the like but nothing to "adult". I adored The Hunger Games. Anything suggestions? Thanks!

DS12 went to a robotics day at co-op and he came home asking for a Mindstorm robot. I'm not surprised! He was working with the NXT yesterday and he says that's the one he wants. My friend that was running the program yesterday said the if we got the NXT she would be able to help us more and there is more out there as far as books go, more educational programs and add-ons for the NXT, etc. Looking online people the cheapest new NXT is around $300 without the software. The new Ev-3 is $350 with the software. I just don't know if it's better to buy the NXT when there isn't much of a price difference. Won't there be tons of books, programs, etc out for the new version in no time? I'm looking for a lower cost NXT but I don't want to buy used from just anyone as I don't know how long a used "brain" has been used, how long it will last, etc. I'd love thoughts on this! Thanks!

DS needed supplementation in fractions. He hasn't needed extra help with decimalsand percent beyond us talking about it together. I'll have him do multiple worksheets from www.math-aids.com and some work on Khan if need be.

My son had read every single one of them and loves them. He's learned a lot from them. I know they aren't Tom Sawyer but they are fun.

I'm getting a new lens for my camera this week and I'm excited to start working on mastering sports photography. I'm going to a couple of basketball games this week to practice. I'm going to be doing some free lance work for a local college so I need to hone my skills in this area. I need to take pictures of two of my girls for the collage I'm going to be doing for the grandparents for Christmas too.

I grew up in St. Augustine and Cocoa, FL. I loved St. Augustine and didn't really like Cocoa. Cocoa is just "meh". It's an okay place to go visit since it's near the beach and Orlando but I have NO desire to move back. NONE. I agree with what's been said about South Florida as well. My sister lived near Palm Beach for years and I couldn't stand that area. It's way too crowded and expensive!

I skimmed the others posts and I might have missed it but you get a GOOD discount on Lightroom if you're a teacher/homeschooler, etc. You have to provide proof but it's a good discount. I use Lightroom and I need to go farther in depth with it since I'm about to start doing some free lance sports photography for a local college. But it's pretty amazing what it can do. Someone at a local photography store said that it can do about 85% of what Photoshop can do.

Those letters are USA Swimming times. They are used to qualify swimmers for certain events. AAAA is the fastest with B being the slowest. Each meet can choose which time standards they want to use. To qualify for regionals my kids would have to have BB times in our league. I am not sure how things are done for the 10 and under crowd. They may need to meet the 10 and under USA times or your league may have their own times. Welcome to the world of swimming. It's a wonderful sport! I have three swimmers and they love it so much!

Yes, I do know it's more work than just the shoot. I edit all the pictures so I know I'll spend a good bit of time doing that. I know I don't want to turn it into a big business. But I'd like to make a little money to buy some more equipment. I didn't mean I'd ask for donations from friends and family. I meant more people who saw my work for them and wanted me to take pics.

I have always loved to take pictures. I was a photojournalism major until my senior year of college. I got a nice Nikon DSLR 2 years ago and I just love it. I mostly take pictures of my family but I've done newborn pictures for a friend. I also recently did engagement pictures for my SIL and pictures for a friend of her kids. They are getting postedt to facebook and lots of people are telling me I should start a business. I'm pretty sure that I DO NOT want to do a full-on photography business. I'm afraid it would be too much stress and ruin my love of photography. Am I right? I have been thinking about offering pictures to friends/family for a donation to put towards more lenses, etc though. That Tamron zoom lens isn't going to buy itself!! Any thoughts? Thanks..

We have a 2003 Honda oddyssey and we did have to have the transmission rebuilt but it's been a great van otherwise. We'll probably buy another when the time comes.