When I was a teen in youth group, we forked our youth minister's yard. It was great fun! We also TPed his office LOL.

No, definitely not any fun while it's happening. I have a two year old as well....they always want to be held at the most inopportune times, huh? :tongue_smilie:

Hmm, now I want to give the sinus rinse a try!

No, my kids never wear sunscreen unless we're going to be on the beach or lake for an extended period of time. And even then, I only put a small amount on their face (they wear those sun protective rash guards with some "boy" shorts). And we live here in FL where it is sunny year around LOL. We just got back from 10 days at Disney World where we never wore sunscreen either. My girls have never had a sunburn.

I love mine too!! No, it does not make you feel like you are drowning. The warm water and the salt prevents it from creating the feeling you are talking about. I know the feeling you are talking about and I cannot stand it. I was so scared the first time I tried the Neti Pot, but now it's easy.

I am SO glad that Florida has a law for smoke free restaurants. I would have had to stop going to them long ago.

Cigarette smoke REALLY bothers me. I would have to have a pretty firm guarantee that the smoke smell could be gotten rid of. I would still be hesitant though.

I agree.....don't do Rose Art. The quality really stinks. I have researched art kits for months. The Masterworks kit is the only one I've come across that gets excellent reviews.

My DD is EXACTLY like yours. She can spend hours making things with scissors and drawing. I think it is a great thing to support, so I'm doing several things. For one, I'm getting her this: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2504249 (It is on sale right now too!) For two, I'm making her a "craft box." I've already started collecting things. I found some $1 crafts at Michaels to put in there. I'm putting a lot of tape in there (she LOVES tape and can seriously go through some tape). I got some paint markers from Crayola. And I purchased these to put in there: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3088021 http://www.melissaanddoug.com/dyn_prod.php?p=3345&k=86040&name=Dinosaurs%20-%20Paint%20by%20Numbers

Wow, that's amazing! And at only 8 years old? What a blessing you have there!

I try to get my parents something together, as well as a little something for each of them. They are fairly easy to buy for as they are not retired, still have a teen at home, and don't have a lot of extra cash to purchase their wants. Last year we got them a digital camera, the year before a computer chair, the year before a stereo for their living room. This year they need another digital camera, as theirs broke....but I want to get them a nicer one that will last so I may see if my grandmother wants to go in with me to get one. For their seperate gifts, my mom usually needs clothes, likes knick knacks to sit around, scrapbook stuff. My dad usually needs clothes, likes comic books. And a Shutterfly book if I decide to purchase this year. As for my FIL and his wife, no idea. They are hard to buy for. They do not live near us and we are not close to them. Plus, they have the money to purchase their wants. I might do a Shutterfly book and a cookie bouquet....need to run it by DH first. MIL has like zero money......so we usually give her some cash. But this year she will be visiting us on Christmas, so I'd like to give her some things to open while she's here with us. Not sure what yet. Shutterfly book if I decide to purchase this year. Grandparents are hard to buy for. The only ones still living are mine (two grandmothers and a grandfather....I've only lost one grandparent). They have everything they could need/want. One grandma likes to read so I might get her a few books. Grandpa might get a gift certificate to Home Depot or Lowes since he's always going to those places. Other grandmother, not sure yet. They will probably all get a Shutterfly book too.

Oh my gosh, your post was hilarious!!! And yes, I'd forgotten about the "dinner shuffle" as well LOL! I do that all.the.time. My husband didnt marry me for my culinary skills.

Wow, some of you have had some great anniversary vacations!! I don't necessarily mind staying close to home, but I would like to do something that we normally do not do in order to make it special. The beach is always nice.....but I'm honestly not sure what I'd do there without the kids LOL. We are not "laying out in the sun" people....and we do not like swimming in the ocean. So we usually just end up playing in the sand with the kids. We live about 45 minutes from the beach, so it would be an easy trip though. As for Disney World, I thought of staying in a deluxe hotel there (which we never do because they are way too expensive) and then taking only one day to go into the Magic Kingdom and take the Keys to the Kingdom tour, which is a 4-5 hour backstage tour, then spend the rest of the day in the park. The next day we could keep to ourself to relax and do whatever. Have a nice dinner somewhere, maybe take a private fireworks cruise out on Bay Lake (Disney's private lake) after dinner. I still don't know LOL. Or just stay home, send the kids to their grandparents, have a special evening, and use the money to purchase something we could use or enjoy. Decisons, decisions LOL! And I'm just so hesitant about leaving the kids. I know Disney is only three hours away from us, but we'd have to leave the kids for 3 nights....I've never done that before! Especailly our two year old.

Me too. I've always related it to allergies and such. I have a lot of bad allergies. But it has not happened to me in years though (though my allergies are still quite bad). I guess the first thing to ask if if others in your home smell it as well?

Can I just say that I would faint dead away if my husband ever did this? He is definitely NOT an animal lover. That's cool that your DH is!

Oh, I should add that DH has never requested/asked/complained about how the house looks/should look when he gets home. I just like to keep it tidy and have ourselves presentable when he gets home. :D

Thanks!! And you just reminded me it needs an update. We've been on vacation for nearly two weeks and now three out of four of us are sick, so it's been a bit neglected. I think the nickname thing is hilarious....I'm glad we're not the only "crazy" ones LOL!!!

My 5 (will be 6 in April) year old DD is..... mouthy easily angered tempermental whiny cannot entertain herself to save her life She does have lots of good qualities too though! Great friend to her sister protective of her sister wise in her ways and questions mature (when she's not pitching a fit or whining) very creative loving (when she's not mad at you LOL)

Yeah, I was wondering about just sticking with the addition facts because that could get boring. However, I dont really want to move into subtration until she learns all of her addition facts. I guess I could find other things to do. We're touching on the calendar right now so I could probably stick with that more while we do the facts.

Today has been one of those days. Tell me I'm not the only one that does the "5 o'clock shuffle" sometimes LOL. You know, you look at the clock and realize that it is FIVE O'CLOCK! DH will be home soon! Then you look around and realized you have not showered, the kids are running around half naked, there are toys everywhere, school work is barely done, and the trash from lunch is still on the table. So you do the "five o'clock shuffle" to attempt to make it look like your day was at least a LITTLE BIT productive LOL! Sweep the trash off the table and into the can, throw some clothes on the kids, take a two minute shower, toss in a load of laundry, and tell the kids to get to work on their school work. Come on, I can't be the only one who does it sometimes! :lol: Yeah, its been one of those days. :001_huh: And also.....how about when it is about 3 o'clock and the kids are begging constantly for snacks. I give them a snack and 30 minutes later they are back and asking for another one. I say "Geez, you guys, you just had one snack and you had lunch not long bef.....wait, lunch??!! Oh man, I forgot to feed you lunch! No wonder you are starving!" Sadly, both of the above instances happened today LOL! :tongue_smilie: And then, the laundry dilemma. DH: (at 10 PM) Did you manage to get my laundry done? I don't have any clean socks for tomorrow. Me: No, it was a busy day, I totally forgot.....but hold on....(goes into the bedroom, manages to dig out one clean sock without a match from the bottom of his drawer, can't find the other match, so I pull a similar one from the dirty clothes bin, and go back to DH) DH: You found some? Me: Yeah, just spray a little cologne on it. I'll wash tomorrow. Surely, someone has some things to add! :lol:

I stink at math. Seriously. I want my kids to be better at math than I am. I was never taught the facts. You know, where I can just look at a problem and KNOW the answer without couting it in my head. Yeah, I can't do that. My 5 year old is learning addition right now. She can do addition up to about 20 (where the sum is 20). She knows the concept. Should I incorporate the facts? Like print them on flash cards? If so, what's the best way to do that? Learn all the 0's first? Like 0+1, 0+2, etc. And so on? Only up to ten? Or higher? I'd love some input. I can tell I'll be asking quetions here ALOT LOL. :D

Oh my gosh, you sound SO much like me. Especailly the part about how when your DH says he's ready for bed, he just goes and lays down. Mine does not seem to understand why I still have 30 minutes worth of things to do before I can actually GET into bed. And while mine can sit and veg in front of the TV when he gets home from work, my day does not end until my head hits the pillow. I'm a night owl too. I can easily stay up till 1 AM with no problems, and even then I have to make myself get up and go to bed. I've been trying to be in bed by 11 each night, but I hate it. I would sit down with him and ask him exactly why he wants you to go to bed with him. And explain what you just explained to us. If he still wants you to do it I would compromise. Maybe three nights a week, you lie down with him. The other nights you dont. And like someone else mentioned, if he wants you in bed with him earlier, he needs to step up and help.

My oldest is only 5, but I'm leaning towards NOT doing sleepovers....and that probably includes hosting them as well. Too much trouble can come from sleepovers....most parents probably do not monitor their children as closely as I do. I've heard of kids getting into alcohol, sneaking out, watching things they shouldn't, and generally just getting into things they should not be doing. Even if your kid is a good kid, it can still happen. And honestly, I have just found that you cannot REALLY know a family, no matter how well you think you do. You can only see what they choose for you to see. And not to mention, sexual abuse seems way too common. And that's another reason for not hosting them too....I know someone who was accused of inappropriately touching a child, but I'm nearly sure the child was lying. The child was just that type of child. But I would not want to put our family in harms way of some sort of accusation.

WOW. :001_huh: I have no words....that is just disgusting. We have a DVR so I've never seen the commercial.

Cookie bouquets magazine subscriptions....I've seen those ones where you can give the gift and they can choose which mag they prefer dinner gift card...maybe throw in a movie theater gift card too if funds allow personalized stationary set and nice writing pen (look on etsy.com....there's great stuff!)