Too big for Halloween? Not possible! :D I trick or treated until I was married (19 years old). After that, I took my little sister who was 6 years old until I had my own kids. Now our entire family dresses up. We're usually at Disney for Halloween. I forgot to add that our family will be Star Wars characters this year. DD5 is Princess Leia, DD8 is Darth Vader, DD11 months is Yoda, my 16 year old nephew is Chewbacca, and DH and I are probably going to be Jedi's. Two years ago our family was characters from Super Mario. The year before that, pirates. And the year before that, super heroes. Last year I was having a baby (Oct 23rd) so we didn't do much for Halloween last year.

Weird. My mom mentioned having an unexpected deposit on Friday as well.

No negative comments here either!

Kids go through a lot of phases that wax and wane. I know my DD8 has a lot of quirks that come and go over time. But at 7 I would think that irrational fears would be getting less and less. That being said, I've never dealt with a child who has fears (DD has other quirks) so I may be way off base. We tried some therapy with DD8 when she was younger to overcome some of her quirks. However, we found it didn't really help and we have just opted to wait out each quirk and hope it fades quickly.

Yes! I love that I'm able to give my girls free time throughout the day! They play, imagine together, build their relationship as siblings....it's wonderful!

I'm posting this from my new iPhone 5....that I didn't stand in line for. :D I love me some Apple products. I ordered this last Friday and it showed up on my doorstep. No line necessary.

Oooh, sounds fun!!! I think the loft bed is a great idea! When my nephew moved in with us, I painted the room a medium gray...it looks great! A bit "sophisticated" with a touch of modern. I think it's a great color for a boys room.

My youngest will be turning a year old next month. Then, Christmas is two months later. She has two older sisters so we're pretty good in the toy department....unless there's something really neat or unusual out there. Any ideas for something to get her besides new clothes? Not looking to get her a ton of things, just a few. Price isn't really an issue unless it's something crazy LOL.

I did this last week! My 16 year old nephew (who lives with us) is doing his own. My 8 year old is now doing her own. My DH does his own work clothes, and I do his others (which doesn't usually add up to much). I'm still in charge of my own, DD5's, DD10 months, and all the extras, but it's much better now.

Wow, thankfully my daughters only do simple ballet classes. We always get our leotards from WalMart (about $7 or $8), along with a skirt (also $7 or $8). Then they also have tights ($5). Not the greatest but they do what we need them to. The other day I got DD the slipper kind of ballet shoes ($8) from WalMart, but in the past we've gotten the regular kind at Payless for like $15 or $20.

Say we wanted to purchase a home, already built, on several acres. How much trouble would it be to add a mobile home somewhere on the property for my parents? Just curious if anyone has done this, if there are lots of added costs, laws, etc.

I nursed #1 till 27 months. She weaned herself when I was a couple of months pregnant with #2. I nursed #2 till just after her 4th birthday. At that time I was a couple of months pregnant with #3 and whenever she'd latch on I thought I would die from the pain. So I had to wean her. It was easy though. Currently nursing #3 who is ten months. I've never kept my extended nursing a secret. We did basically stop nursing in public after 2 though....it just wasn't necessary. I'm the type that I may be shy but I dare someone to comment to me about nursing my child lol.

We live about an hour from the beach. We go for a day maybe once or twice a year. But then we rent a condo several hours from us on the beach for like 4 or 5 nights every spring. Here's how our family does the beach.... I'm adamant that we go somewhere where we can either (A) walk to the beach, or (B) shower off after the beach. I can't stand getting into the car being sandy and sticky. We bring sunscreen, definitely. Usually we'll stay through lunch, so a cooler of food/drinks. My kids play with sand toys CONSTANTLY at the beach. They'd rather dig, make castles, build roadways, and dig up shells than swim. Besides the usual sand toys, I throw in some plastic cups, plastic silverware, bowls, and people/animal figures...they all always get played with. And I bring sand toys in a mesh laundry bag so that all of the sand/water can just fall through the bottom. I line the back of our vehicle with a sheet so that we can put chairs/toys back in after our day at the beach without it messing up the car and making a huge mess that I'll have to vacuum. We definitely bring chairs. When I have babies, such as now, I always bring a sun tent to cover the baby with. My kids wear long sleeve rash guards and board shorts to limit sun exposure (this way I don't have to put as much sunscreen on them either). Towels, of course. When going to the beach, I feel like I'm packing to go on some sort of week long adventure LOL. So much stuff!

DD doesn't have any allergies that we are aware of. I thought of whooping cough, but she never had a cold. And she's not coughing till she's gagging or vomiting. I truly hope this is not it since DD#3 (10 months) is not vaccinated against it, as of yet. I was wondering about asthma....she's never had any other symptoms of it. Hmm.

DD8 has begun hacking away, all night long. It's been going on for the past three nights....thing is, she doesn't have a cold! And during the day, she doesn't cough at all. I'm going on very little sleep, and so is she. We've been putting Vicks on her feet every night and covering them with socks. And she's been sleeping propped up. We don't do cough syrup. Still coughing. Any idea what it could be? She just coughs and coughs and keeps the both of us awake for hours. I didn't get to sleep until 3 AM the other night.

I've never been....but DH had a conference there a few years ago. I'm allergic to cigarette smoke and all I know is that when DH got home, I literally had to air out his suitcase outdoors because it smelled so highly of smoke. He said there's smoking everywhere in Vegas.

I have the Hoover Linx for my laminate and tile flooring. I really like it. Previously, I had a Eureka that broke pretty quickly. I only use it for laminate and tile though....but I LOVE not dragging a cord with me. When I do my rugs or carpeted areas, I pull out my corded Dyson though. With the Linx (as with any cordless vacuum), you have to be quick....it doesn't stay charged forever. My house is about 1900 square feet with about half of that being laminate/tile. I can get to nearly all of the hard floor areas with one charge. Sometimes it dies right near the end though.

*Most* of the time, I have a "toys are only allowed in the playroom and sunroom" policy. Sometimes they will play at the kitchen table or the living room floor but they are to put the toys away as soon as they are finished...no leaving them lying around in those areas. If they want to leave a village set up, it has to be in the playroom or sunroom. When guests are coming over, they must remove the toys from the sunroom as well. The only toys that stay in the living room is a basket full of toys for the baby.

I've always wanted this for my kids but my DH always says it is too small for them. They are 8 and 5. But some of you say that 10 year olds and teens still sleep on it?? Now DH has no excuse LOL!

Counting down over here! Christmas is my favorite time of the year!!

LOL! Me too! She lives right around the corner from me. I've only needed something ironed once or twice in my entire life though.

That was awesome LOL!

Hilarious!! So glad to see that my dog isn't the only one with strange antics LOL!

Awww!! Awesome!!! I'm so glad your son had a WONDERFUL day!!

I wanted to add that the actual "episode" only lasts for 20-30 minutes, like your son's doctor said. Then afterwards my vision feels a little off for about an hour. When it occurs, it is something where I do not feel comfortable walking around a lot, or driving. I usually sit down until it passes. Last time it happened I was at homeschool group with my kids and I just found a bench to sit while they participated in their class. 20-30 minutes later I rejoined them. It's just because there's those crazy flashing lights and "hole" in my vision during that time. I *can* walk around if needed, it's just weird on the eyes.