Hmm, I would go ahead and take BIL and his family. Who says his wife has to be there? She is the one going to the bachelorette party - I assume that BIL isn't going with her, so he could still go on the family vacation. Honestly, it sounds like it'd be more fun without her there, anyway. :)

Our tree and very few decorations that we put up this year will be coming down either tomorrow, or the next day. We're packing and moving within a couple weeks, so I need to get everything organized and do another round of sorting through the house to clear more clutter before the move. I might have even done it today, but my family was all here and left late this afternoon. Right now, we are all sitting around and decompressing/napping. Normally, I leave it up until around the 1st or 2nd of January.

No misses here. Everyone was spoiled beyond rotten and liked what they got. Biggest hits: DD: Ipod Touch, red high heel shoes DS: Nintendo 3DS, Skylanders for PS3 DH: Ipod Touch, G155 portable screen/case for PS3 Me: I loved all of my gifts.

That looks fun! And, uh...I just learned something new looking at the example page. Maybe I need to get it for me!! :)

This. I don't know how to answer this question any other way, because there has never been a time that we didn't get along. I most likely had my "teenage moments", but in all honesty those were few and far between and I don't really remember them at all. I try very hard to emulate my Mom (and Dad) in my parenting. They are awesome, and IMO, did a pretty darn good job in raising us. I can only hope to do half as a good a job as they did. One thing that I really respect is that my parents will share their opinion, but are never forceful about it, and quite often only if I ask for it. They always respect and support us in our decisions, even if they don't agree with them.

:lol: Love this! :lol: There are things my kids know (that amaze me) but I'm too brain dead to think of them at the moment.

Thanks for the advice. :bigear: LOL, ummm, were you looking in my bedroom window last night? :blushing: I was totally up way too late reading on here and curriculum webpages. As for the rest of it, you have pretty much read my mind! We do have attitude issues around here. I think a lot of it is from DD missing us, though. I hope that some of it will straighten out just by getting to spend more time with us, without any pressure to get homework done, etc. The longer she is in school, the worse it gets. She used to be the SWEETEST kid ever. My main "curriculum" to start with is going to be "We Choose Virtues" and "Home Ec/How to be a Productive Human 101". (Household chores without nagging from Mom and Dad, personal hygiene without nagging from Mom). Both kids are well mannered when it comes to saying please and thank you, but their actions (interrupting, being loud, impatient)can use some work. DH and I can use some work, too - probably more than the kids if I'm going to be totally honest!!! After we've got a good start on that, then we'll move on to the 3 R's, and maybe an occasional unit study to finish out this school year. I'll add the other stuff in next year.

Thanks for the tip. I plan to mostly "do my own thing" (find what works for us) as far as scheduling and curriculum but I am a researcher and reader, so I want to read it for reference. Thank you all for the warm welcomes.

My kids are night and day and look like opposite sides of the family. DD looks like me and my mom, with my DH's coloring - olive-ish skin, dark hair, dark brown eyes. DS looks like DH, with my coloring, light skin, lighter brown hair, grey eyes.

We are moving to the San Diego area soon.

No, I didn't think that it was a necessity to read. I actually came across a thread poll asking if members had read it and some had not. But, it has been on my wishlist for a few weeks now, and I only found the forum within the past couple of days. :) I was mostly just being silly. I'm in that kind of mood this evening for some reason.

Stouffer's is "cooking" our Christmas Eve dinner. :) Lasagna. I will be cooking Christmas Day. Turkey, cabbage rolls, and all the fixings.

I feed my animals Taste of the Wild - grain free diets - great for pets with allergies. It gets rave reviews online from animal lovers and our animals always have wonderful, healthy coats/body weights. Our one dog that we got came with "a vulnerability to ear infections", and ear drops, etc. Not once, did we have a problem with her ears on the TOTW food.

I have informed my DH this year that he is receiving a "kick in the butt" and if he gets anything under the tree, it's a bonus. I have no idea what you can claim, but I do love your list so far! :)

My niece had it. We used Tea Tree Oil, Coconut Oil and Listerine. It worked great. They may or may not get it, but I'd stay on the safe side and treat (just not with the chemical shampoo stuff - Listerine is chemical enough, IMO).

I deleted (deactivated) about a year ago. My sister got several messages from my "friends" wanting to know if I was still friends with them or if I had blocked them. Not one of them ever contacted me directly via phone or email, etc. My sister gave all who contacted her the info to reach me, if they so chose. I did actually start a new FB account about 6 months ago. However, I have no "friends" on there, and only use it to "like" businesses or whatnot to keep up with information from those that I choose to want to know about. I didn't know there was a difference between delete and deactivate, but before I deactivated, I did delete everything on there, individually. Friends, photos, etc. Some of my info may be hanging out there still. I will look at the link to see if there is anything I can do after this amount of time.

So, Hi! :) I am just getting started with homeschooling. My DD is 9 (4th grade) and my DS is 5 (K). They are currently in PS...for 2 more days. They will be done at Christmas break, then we'll be moving, and starting homeschooling once we get settled in at the other end. I've joined a couple other forums, but none of them are as active as this one. This is exactly what I've been looking for! I've already learned so much from reading here and at the other forums. It is wonderful how ready and willing you all are to share your knowledge and experience. As you can tell my by screen name, I'm a little intimidated by this new journey, but I am also very excited. :D My confession of the day: I have not read The Well Trained Mind...yet. It is on my Amazon wish list, but Christmas and homeschooling kind of jumped up at me around the same time and Christmas comes first on the calendar. We will probably not actually start homeschool until February or March, due to the move and allowing DD a little time to de-school. I will be working with DS on reading, though (Phonics Pathways) because he is so eager to read, and he has already started sight word reading (yuck) in K at school. Anyway, I hope to get TWTM to read on the road - maybe Hubby Claus will get it for me for Christmas. :lol: Now, I'm off to jump in and start posting on other threads. See ya around!