LOL, that's how I am. Last year my DD (then 4) was in love with Scooby Doo and wanted to be him for Halloween. My mind started working....okay, I'll be Velma, DH can be Fred, and littlest DD can be Scrappy Doo. Then.....she changed her mind and wanted to be Marie from the Aristocats. UGHHH!!!! LOL! Good thing I had not purchased anything yet.

I'm very blessed that my parents, my sister, and even my both of my grandparents all live within 15 minutes of our house....any of them would help us with anything that we needed.

I cannot see myself purchasing too many books. They are very expensive, and I also do not have the room to store them all.

Sounds like what I'm dealing with right now.... very sore throat stuffy nose achy feel tired very very slight fever and I alternate between feeling cold and hot

I think I'll wait it out a few days then. I do remember that when I was a kid I had a fever one time. My mom took me to the doctor and they said it was strep...my throat was not even hurting! Strep sounds like it effects everyone completely different. So strange!

I wish I would have thought more quickly this morning when she told me about the fee.....I would have said "So, you REALLY want me to come in sick? I'm sure that your staff and patients would all appreciate the fact that I'm sick and spreading my germs all around your office. But I'll be in right away to avoid the fee if you still feel the need to charge me for it." :::sigh::: I wish I was more quick witted LOL. I really don't think she'll actually charge me, but when I go into our rescheduled appointment she will get an earful if they attempt to. I'll be asking to speak to the dentist directly.

I've had strep throat before, years ago. I was miserable....nothing felt good going down. I could only eat soft things and I had a fairly high fever. I laid around all day long. Well, yesterday I woke up with a horribly sore throat. It got better after I ate and drank something and it was just scratchy all day and did not bother me much. I developed a very very slight fever later in the day. I had some body aches and felt tired so I tried not to over exert myself. Today I have no fever, I'm not as tired or achy, but my throat hurts worse than it normally would with a cold. It is not horrible, as I remember from when I had strep throat years ago. I can eat anything just fine. With a cold, my throat will usually hurt in the morning and then be pretty good throughout the day. This one is hurting more than with a cold and I'm kind of hoarse but not too much. I'm still kind of stuffy as well. Does this sound like strep? Should I just wait it out or call the doctor?

If your kids are still interested, I'd keep reading it. I'm sure it can get boring and tedious for you though! However, if it was something in the CONTENT that you don't like or agree with, I'd change it without a second thought.

I understand that they do not want a bunch of appointments booked and no one show up. However, my kids had a dentist appointment this morning....well, I'm sick. I started getting sick yesterday afternoon. I didn't know what it was or how bad it was going to get. This morning I woke up and I just dont feel at 100%. So I called the dentist and they told me they would have to charge me a cancellation fee because it is within 24 hours before the appointment. Even if I had called yesterday, it still would not have been earlier than 24 hours because I didn't even know that I was sick then! The receptionist asked me if I could have someone else bring my kids in. I said no....my husband just took off yesterday and cannot do so again today. And my mom does not want to bring the kids because they do not like going to the dentist (and I completely understand....they are only 2 and 5 years old and will probably cry and want Mommy). She told me she'd have to charge me a cancellation fee then. I said "Well, I cannot know in advance that I'm going to get sick." She said "Yes, that's true." :confused: I rescheduled their appointment (for like 3 weeks away...GRRR) and I have no idea whether I'll incur a late fee or not. Next time I guess I'll just plan when I'm gong to get sick. :001_huh:

Potty training is not an issue I'm willing to put a lot of effort into. It's basically a "when they are ready, it will happen" type of thing for us. I try every so often with DD2 (she's 2.5 right now). Like your DD, she cannot release when she wants to....she doesn't understand how to control those muscles yet. Soon after I take her off the potty, she will go in her diaper. DD #1 (who is now 5.5) did the exact same thing. Something finally clicked when she was nearly 3.5 years old. And it occured so EASILY. I'm not willing to make potty training an issue. I know some people brag that they had their kids trained at 18 months old because they let them run naked around the house.....ummm, yeah....definitely not for us. Waaaaay too much clean up there. And waaaay too much stress for Mommy. I won't lock myself in the house for a week straight for potty training boot camp or something of the like. When it happens, it happens. I just give it a try, every few months, for about a day and see how it goes.

Socialization is overrated. That being said, my daughter is 5 and is painfully shy. You know, the kind of shy where you totally ignore what the other person is saying and look away from them as though they do not exist. I do try to push socialization with her because I want her to adjust to new situations. We do Sunday School, AWANA clubs on Wednesday nights at church, soccer each season (which is twice a year), and now we do homeschool group on Wednesdays. However, she attends all of these things and does not utter one. single. word. It's not working LOL.

Those Keva Planks look interesting.....I'm always looking for something that I think my kids will play with a lot. How many Keva planks do you need for it to make interesting things and keep them occupied? I noticed it is $70 for 200 planks....is that enough?

Give everyone in the family a book/game/etc to look at and station them right beside each smoke alarm (or almost all of them anyways). The max wait will only be about 15 minutes.

When we visited Nashville (kiddos were 4 years old and 16 months old) we went to the Adventure Science Center, walked around Opry Mills Mall, explored the many gardens/atriums of the Opryland Hotel, etc. We wanted to go to the Parthenon but didn't get the chance to.

Our co-op only meets once per week. So my child is being taught by someone else for only 4 hours per week. They are with me the rest of the time. I do it purely for the "fun" and "socialization" factor. It gives my daughter a sense of being on her own and having fun at co-op and it lets me have four hours to myself (well, I still have my 2 year old, but it gives me a bit of a break anyways).

I'd go nuts every week LOL. I have a 5 year old DD and it is hard for her to sit still in church. And I rarely have her in there with me....only when they have special events where there is no childcare, which is rare. But it happened a few weeks ago. She was SO wiggly. I have no advice, I just wanted to let you know that I agree that it is difficult to get a 5 year old to sit still for that long. And she tries to whisper to me all the time too.

I'm homeschooling because I feel that *I* personally, as their mother, can provide the best education for them. I raise them up with a foundation of Jesus Christ, I know their likes/dislikes, I know what interests them, I know their stregnths/weaknesses, and I'm the one (as opposed to teachers) who have a vested interested in them and only want the best for them. I'm in it for the long haul, as long as the Lord wills.

I'm paranoid about food poisoning....that's not something I want to experience. I would throw it out. That's strange that the date says Oct 1. I've never heard of a date that far out for meat. Wonder if it was a mistake?

Umm...I'm a "cracker" LOL. I actually do not know why I do it. For some reaon it is satisfying. I mainly crack my fingers, knees, and jaw...sometimes my toes.

I agree with the atmosphere. While our class is not college/career of course, our atmostphere is comfy. Instead of rows of chairs, we have some round tables with chairs around them. There's also two couches and two recliners around the sides of the room as well. We also have lots of food/drink each Sunday morning.

Icebreakers are so much fun! You could do one of those at the start of every class. Communicate by email. Maybe the class could email you praises and prayer requests....you can compile a list.....then email a mass email to the whole class. College and career should be big into technology and communicating. Have a question/answer day. Everyone submits anonymous questions (you could set out a box for a few weeks and people can write down their question and put it into the box) and then your DH looks over the questions, researches Biblical answers, and goes over the questions/answers one week.

Oh my gosh, I just busted out laughing!!!! Swing and tricycle retarted LOL.

MY DD is 5 years old and I still cannot get her to understand how to swing on her own. She's not the most coordinated child in the world so she cannot seem to get her body in sync to do both motions at once.

I have a 5 year old DD....I feel your pain LOL. My DD is the exact same way. I do all room purging when she's not here. I have her either (A) go over to my parents house, or (B) set her up with a movie, bring several boxes into her room and put trash in one, give away/sale in another, and do not let her enter until I'm finished. Option A works best LOL. I know what she plays with, I know what's important to her, I know what she will not miss. If I let her help me there would be screaming, tears, begging and crying over things she has not touched in years. We would get nothing done. So I've started doing it when she's not home. In fact, our entire home is in the process of being painted right now, we're switching the bedrooms around, and I'm about to do a complete overhaul of my kids room before it is all put back together. Time for another visit to Mimi and Poppy's house soon!

My oldest DD did this a few years ago when she was 2 and 3 years old. I would never make a big deal about it....in fact, I said nothing to her about it. However, my two sisters always said something about it and it ticked me off. She has NO clue she was making a rude hand gesture. It's only a rude hand gesture if you know the meaning behind it and are intentionally doing it!