We're done with our cradle, so while we wait for grandbabies, the girls have it in their room with the stuffed animals in it. They pretend it's a cage at the zoo. Looks cute and solves 2 storage problems. Won't work if you're still using it though! :D

My cupboards were custom built, but I had the area under my farmhouse sink left open (just supported on the sides) There is a curtain hung across the opening. It looks cute and provides a place to kick the step stool out of the way. With little kids, we can't do without a step stool in the kitchen, but I detest constantly tripping over it. :tongue_smilie:

That's the version that is getting passed around our house right now, for fun, not assigned. My 11yo slightly reluctant reader thinks it's a great book!

We tend to get a little over-involved in our history studies. Last year the boys were Civil War soldiers (1 blue/1 gray) and the girls were pioneer girls. This year oldest is too old and cool to really plan something out but will probably get sucked into the excitement. That means he will have to pull something from the archives so probably along the gladiator/Roman soldier lines. Ds2 takes his dressing up seriously and is making his own Richard the Lionheart costume complete with (fake) chainmail. Oldest dd will be one of his knights (sigh, where did my little princess go?) Little one fell in love with a doll at Jamestown settlement and wants to dress just like her. That should be fun to explain at every house. :tongue_smilie: I told her just to tell everyone she is a pilgrim - if they're not homeschoolers they probably won't know the difference anyway. :lol:

Cows sneeze - don't be standing BEHIND them when they do! :tongue_smilie:

How about a pop up tent or tunnel? Little ones love them but it will grow with her.

We're studying the Middle Ages this year and just finished a week on the Vikings. My dc are incensed that Columbus has a day when he didn't do anything new. They're calling it Lief day! :lol:

We just finished Eagle of the Ninth which started out so-so but ended with us on the edge of our seats. Now we're on to Catherine Called Birdy which is nice and light after Eagle. It's also pretty short - any suggestions for one more read aloud in the Middle Ages?

Thank you! I was just thinking that I needed to go back to doing this. We're in a horrendously busy season of life and I need the kids to take charge of more of the housework. I think this will help them and me keep on track.

This is our second year with TOG, using Year 2. I have an 8th grader doing D, 4th and 6th graders at UG and adding in, VERY lightly, our K dd at LG. We're going into week 3 and we already like this year better than last!

Ours gets gunky and slow from time to time and the repairman said it is because our water is not hot enough to get rid of the grease (eww). We have our water heater set at the recommended temp to avoid scalding the kiddos. So every once in a while, I warn everyone and turn up the hot water heater. Then I run the dishwasher through a few cycles empty and the problem clears right up. It's an easy thing to try before taking a screwdriver to it!

I was making lunch for my little one when she was 3 and she was very insistent that her sandwich be cut into pennies. ?????? Ahhh - she was satisfied with her sandwich cut into 4 pieces. (Quarters) :lol::lol::lol:

Chronicles of Narnia

He was driving 2 football players home from practice? :tongue_smilie:

SWEET CORN!!!! It's our first this year so we don't need to fix anything else. No one would eat anything else anyway.

Can't wait to join ya'll! :D Dh and I are both born and bred in western NY as are our parents, grandparents and (obviously!) children. But in just 3 months we'll be Texans!!! In fact, dh just left this morning with another load of stuff for our farm in Texas along with 3 employees that are moving there this week and another potential employee and his wife. Dh's parents are finishing packing and they'll be leaving for TX later this morning. In all, there are 21 of us (counting all the kids) moving from NY to TX. Thank you so much for this post! We've been so excited during the decision making process, but now with moving and being separated and all it's been hard. This thread is reminding me of all the reasons this is the right decision for our family and farm. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I really needed this today! "I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as soon as I could!"

BUT WAIT!!! I just measured and it is exactly 16 inches from the edge of the circular part that actually sits on the table to a corner. It is indeed a full 16 inches wide, but if you don't mind about 2.5 inches hanging over the edge of the table, it would work (and be stable) I personally love my Desk Apprentice enough that I would let it hang over!

Rainbow Resource has great prices on the Safari figures. My 11yo collects them. We're also huge Percy Jackson/Greek mythology fans in this house. It made our Ancient history studies last year so much fun! Also, I know you're not looking for more books, but ds suggests the Mythology book, the one that's part of the 'Ology series (you know, Pirateology, Dragonology, etc.) It's very cool and not "just a book". My kids love to dress up so maybe a bunch of stuff for dress up? (swords, shields, Greek helmets) I don't know any 9yo boys who have too many swords!:D

Just wanted to note that my kids prefer to play on an uncarpetted surface. They like Playmobil and other things with lots of small pieces that don't stand well on carpet. Trucks, tractors and trains also run better on hard floors. I make my kids sleep on the couch when they are sick because the clean up is so much easier on the leather couch in the living room with the laminate floor!:tongue_smilie: When we move we are going back to a fully carpetted house (even the kitchen and entryway!!) and I'm dreading it. Pulling up the carpet will be the second home improvement we do. First we have to paint the room that will be ds's. It's violently pink.

Well that's very helpful, isn't it? Jeepers. :001_huh:

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree: We had ds2 done when he was 6 weeks old and I wished I could have skipped all that pain! He gained weight fine because I have oversupply problems - but the PAIN!! Oh, the toe curling pain! It made me dread nursing. As soon as I found the problem and convinced the Dr. and ENT to do the clip, we were back on track and had a nice long 2 years of nursing together. It took him about a week to really get the hang of using his tongue.

We're dealing with stereotypes on both ends of our move! Everyone in NY that hears we're moving to TX thinks that we will soon be wearing cowboy hats and boots (yes on the boots, but we're pretty country already!), sweltering in the 110 degree heat year round, and swept away by nightly tornadoes. And when we're in TX or anywhere else we've traveled, everyone wants to know what the city is like. Honestly - I don't know. I have been to NYC just once in my life, on a 4-H trip. DH went once in college on a finance field trip. From our part of NY, we can be in Chicago faster than NYC. It's especially funny when people find that we're dairy farmers. "How can you have cows in the city?" :lol::lol::001_huh::001_huh::tongue_smilie::tongue_smilie:

I broke my nose in 6th grade by running into a house, does that count? I was sledding at a friend's house and literally ran into the house. I'm really not sure why I thought it was a good idea to sled there in the first place...:glare:

Ooh - my brother did that right at the bottom of the stairs. And it was all sharp and prickly so when you came down in your bare feet and forgot - OUCH!

My 3 oldest are devoted fans. Thanks for posting this!