I don't get it, either. I'm fine with law-abiding people owning guns. My brother (a Marine) has a whole arsenal. But I choose to live in a safe area, and in the suburbs, and neither dh nor I are big on game meat. Given the liability of having guns and extremely smart, curious children in the same house, we haven't wanted to take on the risk (said children do learn about gun safety, including how to handle guns ... my 11 year old is an excellent shot with a rifle). Yet people have accosted us for being anti-American, because we, personally, choose not to own firearms. We're not making a judgement on them or their gun ownership or their lifestyle (because we truly don't care), yet on two separate occasions, we've been basically vilified for our choice to not assert our second amendment rights. :confused:

2 years. Well, technically 729 days. Definitely too long, but it was the most practical decision we could have made ... we were still in school, and moving out on our own would have prolonged that, possibly indefinitely. Sharing a bedroom in my parents' house (in the room next to theirs) was our only alternative (and only an option after the 18 month mark), and that would have been stressful all around.

We've done the lay out a tentative timeline thing. We nudge, but ultimately, they have to do the work, and if they don't, they won't get Eagle and don't deserve it. Dh is an Eagle Scout, and because of that, we've been careful not to push TOO hard. My brothers were both Life Scouts who didn't make that last push and turned out fine. Right now, our just-turned 14 year old has a timeline to finish by the end of 2013 ... so, 15 1/2. Dh has been talking him through making initial contacts to start getting his project plan together. He made Life last December. We haven't set out a timeline for our little guy yet, but he's still in that super-motivated phase. It's 5 months since he bridged up and he's Second Class, with 2 requirements left for First Class and a plan to get them done, do he has a good pace set for the moment. He's also the one that we have to be careful about nudging too much, as he's our usually pliant child, but when he gets a mind to dig in his heels, there's no moving him.

Thanks! I was just so glad it fit, as I didn't really have a backup plan. The heels worked to our advantage, as her sister is longer, along being with leaner.

Like a PP has said, 11 is actually a great time to join, as that's when they move up from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. That's when my older ds joined. The first few months will likely be more focused on advancement than merit badges, though as he goes through the first few ranks, the skills are very similar to the skills needed for the swimming and first aid merit badges and gotten a start on the camping merit badge, so a troop that's paying attention will make sure the boys are being signed off for both. Once he gets to First Class (the actual goal of the scouting program -- where a boy has proven that he has the skills to take care of himself and maybe someone else, then things like merit badges become more important, and they need a certain number (a few Eagle-required, plus several others of the boy's choosing) for Star and Life, and then for Eagle, he needs 12 specific merit badges, plus 9 others.

I'd start with mentioning to the counselors that their stories disturbed your ds to the point that bedtime was hard. And I might mention it to the director as well. I wouldn't pull him unless those kinds of stories continued.

Virtual Legos, I guess? My 11 and 13 year olds are really into it. There was some free version that they could play on their iTouches, but they've ended up purchasing the PC and Apple versions. Ds plays with his best Scout friend, but otherwise, I don't let them network, other than with each other (and have sent them to their own servers and forbidden playing with each other when there was too much bickering when playing on the same game).

We had a difficult time finding these, too, this time around. Dh kept checking in at Stride Rite (his office is over the Domain location), and never could find the white Mary Janes I wanted.

We couldn't find anything, either. My m-i-l thought it would be nice to sew one for my older dd, and then my younger dd wore the same dress. Where we lived when dd had her First Communion, we were a religious minority, so it was difficult to find anything at all. Now, we're in a place where local traditions tend to go a lot more elaborate than what we'd want, so the custom dress was the way to go. I was thankful that it fit both of them ... they're very different builds, but one dd (the smaller build) was almost 8, while my bigger dd was just barely 7, so it worked out.

This is a trend that I'm hearing of more and more. It's their day, if they want another dessert other than cake, I don't see a problem with it (especially since there will be some kind of cake for the purists). A friend's brother got married this spring and she and her mom (who did most of the decor, with the bride's input) found an eclectic collection of pie stands at Salvation Army, Goodwill, yard sales, etc. ... then they asked various close relatives to make and bring a pie or two. The effect for a wedding with a country picnic theme was adorable, and the guests had a wide variety of pies to choose from. My friend did end up buying a small, more traditional cake for cutting/show/purists (she got a great deal at the Wal-Mart bakery, and it was a very pretty cake, simple, but that fit the event).

Where we are in TX, it seems common to hold summer kids until the next year, too. So my dc with summer birthdays are sometimes a bit more than a year younger than some classmates when grouped by grade. It was a factor in dd's decision to wait to start high school (she has decided to do ps) -- she was academically ready to go a year early, but the idea of starting later this month at barely 13, when some of her classmates were already 15, she decided was too big of a difference.

I remember being about 10 years old and my great aunt and grandmother came and brought a cousin, who would have been about 8. I remember being baffled at the fact that she was fascinated by the fact that my brother (7 at the time) and I could make our own sandwiches. And get our own drinks (my mom kept a container with a spigot in the fridge so we didn't even have to lift and pour). As an adult in her upper 30s, she is still not very independent ... won't do anything without her mom's approval -- down to what soccer league to sign her 6 year old up for.

It's uncommon, but not unheard of. We live in a socially conservative area now, have moved a lot (generally conservative to moderate areas), and come from a background that is conservative in regard to marriage. Dh's church small group had 2 in the past year out of 20 guys, but that's highly unusual (in both cases, there was no abuse, and it was the wife who left ... one couple has a severely handicapped child, the husband can't find work in their country of origin, she doesn't have family support here, so things fell apart over time ... the other was a younger couple who probably shouldn't have married in the first place).

Most 2 year olds are going to wander off after the opening sequence -- the first couple of songs, which are pretty harmless. Some of my dc have been ready for Lion King at 2, some have needed to wait more until 5.

We had a Graco with a 5 point harness that they used that way until they were 6, and then they can use that or the Turbo Booster until they're 9-10 and tall enough for a regular seatbelt. With a boy-girl-boy-girl birth order, nothing with pink flowers would have flown here unless it was a replacement item bought for the youngest, though.

There is a short hike near the visitor's center where we saw quite a few -- not something that needed much extra time or planning. I think it was a half-mile loop.

We camped there -- but it was my oldest's 5th birthday, so it has been a while (9 years). We camped for a weekend and got to thoroughly do the visitor's center and quarry building, plus several hikes and an evening ranger program (in the campground, open just to campers).

They're qualifying for a lot of things all at once. Each team of 5 girls is competing to get to go to the next round of team competition --- there were 12 teams competing for 8 spots. The individual scores for the same competition were used for the individual all-around. The top 24 got to go, but only 2 per country (a heartbreaker for Jordyn Wieber, who came in 4th, but her teammates were 2nd and 3rd). Then, the individual girls' scores in the individual events were qualifying them for the event medal rounds -- the top 6-8 get to go -- again, with a cap on 2 per country.

3 of the largest Billys, one tall, narrow Billy and an Expedit on the IKEA 2 large (4' wide by 4' high) solid wood ones, 2 built-ins that are 6' wide and 11' high Plus various others, including some Sauder or O'Sullivan type shelves that need replacing sometime.

I have Clearwire for home phone and internet (home internet, plus a moblie hotspot). They offer high speed internet off of 4G phone signals (3G, too, but it's higher price). After bad experiences with both AT&T and Time Warner, we've been relatively happy, though I can't wait until there's more competition in this market, but at only $85/mo for all three, I haven't seen anything comparable yet.

I think that she only wears trousers at her country houses, mostly when not in public. It's a generational thing, too, I think. I know ladies her age who also only where pants when there's a reason to, just because that's how they were brought up.

T-Mobile had this option when I set up ds's phone ... he has the text only pay as you go. I didn't set it up for auto-pay, as it's up to him to pay it (he CAN give me cash and have me put it on my credit card, or he can go to the grocery store, etc. and buy a card and put it on himself). But it was an option.

No. I was raised Navy. My parents knew that I couldn't chase them. My brothers and I ended up scattered because of careers, personal preferences, etc. My parents look at it as good vacation opportunities. I would think I'd be the same.

It's their lives. I'll be happy either way. I would have been happy myself either way. I think part of what keeps me happy homeschooling is I have options. I have the education, the skills to go out and be a career woman. I'm happy being home with my children, but I think part of that comes from the fact that I choose to be.

With a Kindle Fire, I can do this. I was able to download and install the android Overdrive app, and it works great. So they're getting there -- now it just needs to extend to the other models.