And the elephant goes toot. Cracks me up every time LOL.

That was a great episode!! I hope that Glen lives. And that Darryl doesn't start coughing!! I'm glad Rick had to use his gun. Hopefully that will help get him back to using it again. And go Carol! Big move but she was trying to protect the whole prison. I had a feeling it was her when she flipped over all the rain barrels. I don't think Rick will give her away.

Thanks so much everyone!! Looks like I'll pick up some vitamin c and d. And I just ordered the Sambucol through Amazon. I kmow we can't avoid illness completely but I'd like to lower the amount of times we get sick. We're also going to stop drinking from water fountains. I've read that those are germ infested. I'll make sure the kids bring their water bottles from home. We're pretty good about getting enough sleep. I don't wake the kids in the mornings so they sleep as long as needed. We could definitely use upping our water and veggie intake though.

Talk to me like I'm 5 years old and have never bought a vitamin in my life. My three kids were sick SO much last winter. And today, my 2 year old has a fever. I don't want to do this again this year! We miss so many fun things :( What can I do? I'm going to sit the kids down (well, the 9 and 6 year old....the 2 year old doesn't care lol) and have a talk with them within the next few days on staying germ-free this winter. Here's the things I plan on including so far...... 1. Always wash hands before eating. Especially if we are out of the house. I admit, I'm not as on top of this as I should be. 2. Use hand sanitizer every time we exit anywhere.....church, Walmart, a friends house, etc. 3. Avoid "kid" places like Chuck E Cheese, Jump Zone, indoor kids play areas. At least until spring. I hate that my 2 year old needs to go into the church nursery and play with everything that all the kids stick into their mouths, but I really can't avoid it. I'd say that we pick up most germs from church. UGH. 4. No nose picking....yes, that means you my 6 year old! I'm going to really be on top of this! 5. Vitamins! But I don't know which ones, what kinds, how many, how often. I'm clueless. Anything else I can do to avoid illness? Any help with what I can give my kids on a daily basis to ward things off?

We co-sleep. All three of my girls have been wonderful sleepers. I've never been up with a crying baby at night unless they were sick. I know some people don't like co-sleeping, but it definitely works for us.

I do wonder how long the queue for each one is. I wonder if there's a way to know that. I wouldn't want my kids waiting on a much wanted set for a year.

The Death Star is on there.....that thing sells for $399 at Toys R Us. My DD9 would LOVE to build that thing! However, I'm not sure I could pry it from her hands afterwards LOL!

We camped in cold weather last year in our non-heated pop up camper. We were already off the ground, so we didn't have to worry about that. But I dressed myself and my three girls (then ages 8, 5, and 1) in long johns with socks and a footed blanket sleeper on top of that. Then we slept in winter hats too. And we were bundled into sleeping bags with a blanket thrown over the top of us. And the four of us slept in a bed together, so that helped too. It's amazing how well sleeping bags keep the cold out.

We are usually at Disney for Halloween and we choose a family theme. 2012: Star Wars - DH and I were both Jedi's, Oldest DD was Darth Vader, middle DD was Leia, baby DD was Yoda, and nephew was Chewbacca. 2011: skipped due to having a baby :) 2010: Super Mario - DH was Luigi, I was a goomba mushroom guy, Oldest DD was Princess Peach, and (then) youngest DD was Toadette. 2009: Pirates - we all dressed as pirates. 2008: Superheroes - we all had matching capes, shirts, wrist guards, and masks.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! We do have pretty much every toy listed, even "boy" toys since my oldest is quite the tomboy. Ugh, I'm still clueless lol. We did sell our Duplos before she was even born because my other two rarely touched them. Maybe I can try a small set of those.

Yeah, I use my iPhone calendar all the time.....until the IOS 7 update. I hate the way they changed the calendar. So I downloaded a calendar app that runs nearly the same as the old iPhone calendar but better. It's called Pocketlife Calendar.

I've yet to run into this since my oldest is only nine, but in the back of my mind my plan will be that the child will do NOTHING else until the school work is completed. No toys, no sports practices, no games, no TV, no video games, no friends, no activities, no spending money, no nothing. Basically they can stare at the wall. If I need to empty their room of everything but clothing, then that's what I'll have to do. I might would even take it as far as no desserts or treats. You can eat to live, but no "fun" foods. School is not an option. ETA....before I did any of the above I would talk with the child and see whether I thought we needed to change curriculum or whether I thought the child was going to be defiant about any curriculum.

I have three girls.....9, 6, and 2. The 2 year old just had her party yesterday and we got her some Doc McStuffins shoes and a doll stroller. Our older girls had cheap doll strollers that broke and we threw them away a couple of years ago. Now Christmas is coming up. I haven't a clue what to get her. We get the kids three gifts plus some stocking giflts....then "Santa" brings a gift too. Santa is bringing her one of those toddler flip open sofas. Our older girls had those and they got used daily until they were dirty and ripping and we threw them away. So hopefully she'll enjoy one as much as they did. But otherwise, I'm absolutely clueless. There's not a single thing I can think of that she needs or would want. The last two years I could get away with barely getting her anything. This year she'll be really into the gift opening though.

Hopefully she will be able to check in today. I hope she's okay!

Wow, your area is much more exciting than mine lol! When I walk, all I get is chased by dogs!

My three girls were 5, 2, and 1 when they each got their own.

Magnatiles it is then! Thanks guys! :) i wonder if I should start with a small kit to see how well it goes over? Or a larger one because my 6 and. 9 year olds will probably flock to them as well lol .

I want to get my 2 yr old DD a magnet set for Christmas. Does anyone have experience with any of these sets? Magnatiles, magneatos, magformers, or smartmax. They need to be good for a child who may occasionally try to stick things in their mouth and who has small clumsy toddler hands. Nothing too involved or difficult to put together.

Experiences are great for the teen years! Last Christmas we got my 16 year old nephew (who lives with us) a student flight experience. It was about $125 and he got 30 minutes of going over things with the pilot (air maps, controls, etc), 30 minutes in the flight simulator, and 30 minutes in the air where he actually got to take the controls. My nephew was so good at it that he aced the flight simulator so the pilot let him do everything from take off to landing in the real plane. Nephew loved it!!

I never had this problem with my first DD's when they were this age. But I do have this problem with DD9 now. But now I can buy 10 slims for length when she's only an 8 in waist. Thankfully my middle DD is just average height and weight lol.

Thanks so much to everyone!!! Looks like leggings are the consensus if I want pants. And thanks to the children's place suggestions. I stopped in there tonight and their clothing does seem to run slimmer. And I discovered jeggings lol! What a horrid name, but they were the answer! The fit tighter like leggings but look like pants. I was even able to get a size 24 months for a good length. The waist is still a bit big but doesn't fall down. Yay!!!

Yeah, you don't have to have stones to have gallbladder disease. That's actually difficult to diagnose. My dad had disease and was in the hospital for days ( they thought it could be his heart). They weren't even 100% sure it was his gallbladder before they took it out. But once they got it out they saw it had gangrene. Ick.

About two months after my 3rd baby was born, I began to have what I thought were gas pains one evening. It was Christmas evening, of all times! It was about 9 PM. I was lying on the couch and the pains were getting progressively worse. I get frequent gas pains so I just thought this was another one of those times. The pain was centered in that hollow spot right beneath the breast bone....probably 2-3 inches about my belly button. Well, the pain got worse and worse. I went to lie in the bed because it was getting so bad. It got to the point where I couldn't even lie still because the pain was so bad. The pain was radiating all the way around my abdomen....it felt like someone had a belt pulled around my upper abdomen and back with spikes in it. I couldn't get comfortable....I couldn't even get in a position that would even ease the pain. I ended up throwing up because the pain was so bad....which actually made me feel better. So at that point, I just figured I had some sort of stomach issue. Then about 30 minutes later the pain came back, just as bad. This felt worse than childbirth. Around midnight I decided that this wasn't normal and called my parents to take me to the ER (DH stayed home with our older kids). In the back of my mind, I was sort of thinking it was probably my gallbladder. Both my mom and my dad had theirs removed. And my mom's was removed within months after having her 3rd child. Sure enough, the ultrasound in the ER showed gallstones (by the way, the pain was so bad that I could barely even lie still for the ultrasound). The (wonderful) ER doc was so careful about the meds that I could have while nursing. He gave me Fentanyl in an IV and boy, did it feel good when that pain finally eased. After that, they sent me home with a referral to a gastroenterologist. On the way home, the IV meds were wearing off fast and I could feel the pain returning. It was now about 5 AM. I took a Vicodin that they had prescribed and I went to bed. When I woke up around 9 AM, the pain was gone. So I had about a 12 hour gallbladder attack! I saw the gastro dr the following week and he recommended having it taken out. He said it's pretty much guaranteed that I WOULD have another attack. It could be the next day, the next week, or years from then. My attack was horrible and I didn't want to live in fear of it happening again. I'd always be wondering when it would occur. Would it happen when I was out alone with the kids? Would I be in too much pain to drive back home? Would it happen on vacation and we'd have to find an ER? I decided to just have it removed. I had researched diets and medicines and everything else....but I decided to go with removal. I scheduled the surgery for a month later (so there was about a month in between my one/only attack and the removal). During that month, I ate as low fat as possible. No fried foods, limited butter. Just to help make sure another attack didn't happen. The surgery itself was a breeze. No issues. I didn't even need any pain medication afterwards. I was up walking within 30 minutes of waking up from surgery. The nurse told me that I must have a high pain tolerance, but I don't! I wasn't tolerating any pain because there wasn't any. I know that's not the norm because my sister and my husband also had their gallbladders out within a year of mine and they needed pain medication afterwards. However, it wasn't horrible. My sister did wake up vomiting though, but that was a reaction to the anesthesia. My dad does the same thing. And my husband was nauseous but didn't vomit. I wasn't nauseous at all. Everyone tolerates anesthesia differently. You can ask for anti-nausea meds in your IV before you even wake up. Since the removal, I've had absolutely no issues. No food restrictions. No nothing. If anything, I actually get gas pain a lot less frequently than before. So that's my story. I wanted to give you a detailed story because when I was researching gallbladder removal, I wanted to read detailed accounts. :)

I learned that this morning! I love Snow and Charming! If they have a daughter, they really need to name her Emma. :lol:

I'm a photographer and scrapbooker.... So all the time lol.