I'm jealous! I had one glorious night where we had four Great Horned owls - three were perched atop our neighbor's two-story home (right by their chimney so I was able to size them, and, WHOA! They were enormous!) and the other was perched in a tree in our backyard. I regret to this day not waking the kids and for not getting pictures. They were an awesome sight - but I assumed they'd be back another day. No such luck. :sad:

Absolutely. Recycling gets either rinsed or tossed into the dishwasher before going out to the bin. I can't imagine the pests we'd attract otherwise! Ick!! :001_huh:

That is just..... awful!!! I feel some of your pain, having had a somewhat similar experience recently with our regular family doctor. I have been back to him three times (twice for the kids and once to refill a prescription) and I desperately want to find a new doctor. But, now I'm leery of all of them and half-afraid they'll all talk to me like that at some point. :( I'm glad, at least, that you won't ever have to see this man again! Oh - and much of the best medical advice I've received has been from the lips of a pharmacist. Our doctor gives us a flyer and sends us on our way (or worse - one of the doctors in the same practice told my husband what was wrong - and told him to GOOGLE it!!!). Thank goodness for good pharmacists!!!!!

Nooooo! I use punctuation and everything. If I am running short of room, I will abbreviate certain words, but they're all commonly abbreviated, easy to recognize words. No, text-speak! I like to pretend it just does not exist. :leaving:

I like the idea of keeping the K-8 board together as one, but adding icons to designate G, L, or R stages. Those little icons down at the bottom of the page when you're typing a reply and/or new message? Right there - add a G, L, and R! Those show up with the topic headings, so it would be easy to tell which grades the thread applies to.

Haven't these two been married for twenty years already? lol It just seems so... anticlimactic somehow. (will still be watching the wedding, though. I'm a sucker for a wedding...)

:iagree: Yes to this, definitely! Keep the variety mixed up. Not everything has to be a "great" book to be enjoyed. My kids don't read useless twaddle, but they do get to read fun books, a little "brain candy" seems to make the other books more enjoyable. They usually have a few books being juggled at the same time. Required school literature, a "good book" that mom has picked out, something non-fiction, and the rest are books that they've chosen or had recommended to them by a friend.

Find other kids who like to read and start a book club. I had one reluctant reader (which was, honestly, unexpected from this child). A good friend of hers is a voracious reader (along with the rest of our family). She started reading the Percy Jackson series and she and her friend would (and still do) chat and chat and chat and chat about it. We were in a book club/co-op that read through an entire series for a year 3 years ago - then another book club last year and a new one this year. To hear the kids excitedly talking about BOOKS is music to my ears. And my reluctant reader is now, hands-down, as much of a book-eater as her sister. ♥ When he finds an author he likes, look up the author's website. Have him read the FAQ and learn all he can about that author. Write the author if they allow it. Go to book signings or readings from authors when they come into town. Anything to make "reading a book" BIGGER than just "reading a book."

:thumbup1:

I'd opt to wait as well. I think the books are cute, but they're definitely more of a "teen" read, imho. The movies are darling, though. :) Also wait on Meg Cabot's other series... I think it's called "All American Girl." The first book is okay, but the 2nd book is 90% about whether or not she and her boyfriend should do the deed, or not (they do). So. I just recently preread the first one for my 12yo and thought it was okay - but went ahead and read the 2nd in the series (I often don't do that! eek!) - and... no way. Your girls might like Ella Enchanted. Also starring Anne Hathaway (love her!) and the book is really cute. My girls & I listened to the audiobook a couple of years ago. :D

1) Do you believe a young woman should stay home with her parents until she is married, no matter her age? Nope. But, I wouldn't mind if they do. It's what I did (married at 20). But, if they're aching to spread their wings when they hit 18, then we'll assist them in any way we can to get 'em out the door! :) 2) Do you encourage your daughters to attend a local college and stay home during that time or go away to college? Or do you leave that up to them? I will encourage them to stay local for a multitude of reasons. It's a) in my own comfort zone and b) for financial reasons. But, they're free to make their own decisions and we'll all talk, talk, talk and pray, pray, pray when the time for those decisions comes to us. 3) Do you believe it is God's plan for every woman to be married? Of course not! I *hope* my children all find their Mr/Miss Soul Mate at a young age and that they grow old together and have lots of babies... :tongue_smilie:... but above all, I hope that my kids use the gifts God gave them to the fullest, do good things, and are happy and contented human beings.

My first thought IS "Bible," but I don't also immediately think or assume that the family is a religious, conservative one.

This version of P&P: http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Restored-Colin-Firth/dp/B00364K6YW/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1288891166&sr=1-2 And this version of Emma (love, love, love): http://www.amazon.com/Emma-Romola-Garai/dp/B002XTBE6K/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1288891194&sr=1-1 .... and Northanger Abbey ♥ http://www.amazon.com/Masterpiece-Theatre-Northanger-JJ-Feild/dp/B000Z27HLS/ref=pd_bxgy_d_text_b .... and Jane Eyre http://www.amazon.com/Jane-Eyre-Masterpiece-Theatre-2006/dp/B000LPQ6DE/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1288891339&sr=1-1 .... and Tess of the D'Urbervilles http://www.amazon.com/Tess-dUrbervilles-Gemma-Arterton/dp/B001J4E1D8/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1288891368&sr=1-1 ... and Sense and Sensibility http://www.amazon.com/Sense-Sensibility-Miss-Austen-Regrets/dp/B0012OVCE6/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1288891395&sr=1-2 ...and North and South http://www.amazon.com/North-South-Daniela-Denby-Ashe/dp/B000AYEL6U/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1288891465&sr=1-2 ...and...and...and... *happysigh* :001_wub: :p

I've seen all 3 version and prefer the Winona/Christian Bale version. Christian Bale as Laurie is perfection.

I am not an angry voter. But, I am a weary voter.

Loving it here. It's sticking and we're zipping along. Learning to let go of having to do every. single. worksheet. and/or every. single. problem. was something of a revelation to me. Now, we do some things orally, or I skim through, ask dc a question about this-or-that - and if they seem to have retained that information, or understand the new concept... We. Just. Move. On. Those four words have changed my life forever. ♥ :D My mantra for this school year is "consistency" and these little files have made that such an easy thing to accomplish.

I still haven't quite decided what we'll do yet. So, we'll play it by ear the first week. For word count goals, I used this link: http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/wordcount I went with the middle range for each grade level for my kids. I want this to be an easily attainable goal - keeping it fun. It's our first year, so I don't want them to be stressed out about the numbers... :D They have friends their same age who are doing nanowrimo with a much higher word count, but these girls have finished books on their own before. This will be another first for my kids (they have lots of "starts" but not many "endings," lol!).

Also find out from them if pits are even allowed in your area. There are towns here where it is illegal to own a pit bull. I know this only because our dog *looks* bullish, even though he isn't - and we've been stopped many a time when out on walks with him from people who were probably considering calling the police on us, lol. We don't walk him there anymore so no one has to worry. :)

I do love the fact that he got a large part in such an enormous film - but I'm also having a lot of trouble visualizing him as a stocky, hairy dwarf. :confused: Now, if they'd cast him as an elf, maybe.... :svengo: But a dwarf?? Will be interesting to see. Even his voice (being the melodic, smooth thing that it is...) just seems wrong for a dwarf! lol SO excited that the movie is moving forward, though!!! Love, LOVE the actor they chose as Bilbo - he is PERFECT!!!!! I bet he already has the oversized, hairy hobbit feet built-in, he's so perfect for this role! :biggrinjester:

My kids love the baseplates. They each have their own, and I think we have a couple extra for those times they're needed (as in, when Dad's playing Legos too, lol!)

We've been using RS for the past couple of months with my youngest child. The only manipulative that I think is an absolute must-have is the abacus. Everything else, I believe, I could have made-do with the manipulatives we already owned. I mean, having the exact manipulatives is a nice perk, but we could have made-do with a little imagination. But, that particular abacus... well... it's just flat-out essential to the entire program, imho. We own two other abacus(es?) and there's just no way I could have made them work with this program in a useful way. hths! :D

Tried to find them a couple of years ago, but wound up making Zuko, Azula, and Toph costumes myself. I sew, though, so it wasn't a big dealio. I'd thought you'd see more of them this year, due to the movie, but I haven't seen them in a store yet... Good luck! :D

I've just seen the first three episodes (disc one from netflix, lol) and it's such a charming show! I'm probably going to buy the series so my daughter can watch it with me. :)

I can never identify the color of my, or my kids', eyes. They "seem" to change constantly. Eye color can change in to adulthood. My eyes used to be bluish grey - until I turned about 18 or 19. Now they're a weird hybrid of blue/grey/hazel. My cousin had the palest, sky-blue eyes - they were striking! When he hit the same 18/19 yo mark, they changed to a muddy hazel color. It was the most bizarre thing. DH has very dark blue eyes. The kids have the weird eye color thing going on like me. Everyone who tries to ID the color of our eyes says something different - and they'll ID a different color on the same kid on a different day.

It's our first year participating and I am super excited. I haven't written anything beyond a paragraph here and there in years, so I am hoping this revives my love of writing - even a little bit. The older two are also participating and I'm morphing some of their school work around this. We aren't doing formal grammar or literature next month, but they will have to keep their little inner-editors working because they will have to proof everything they wrote the previous day before they begin the next day's writing (that's something I've heard authors say they do each day - edit the previous day's work - as it gives them a chance to re-read what they've written and get back into the story-telling mode, so we're going to try that). I, on the other hand, will throw caution to the wind and edit in December. Living on the edge, and all that... :lol: I already don't require a lot of sleep, so I'm ahead of the game in that regard. lol