:iagree: and :001_wub:

Whew! That's a relief. I wouldn't want to have to change my avatar because it's "questionable", lol.

Don't force it - she'll learn when she's ready. Our dd (9yo) just learned to ride her bike this summer. I didn't understand why she didn't learn sooner - she picked up ice skating, riding a scooter and rollerblading so easily, I thought riding a bike would be easy, too. I finally realized that, for Ellie, balancing, steering and pedaling was just too much for her to try to do at once. She really wanted to learn to ride, so we took the pedals off of her bike and made sure her feet could touch the ground. We took her to the top of a very gently sloping hill in our neighborhood and let her coast down and learn to balance. She didn't need to worry about pedaling and the only steering she needed to do was keep the bike on the road. Once she mastered that, we put the pedals back on and took her back to the same hill, only this time she was coasting with her feet on the pedals and could brake using the pedals instead of her feet on the road. She was riding her bike within 3 days and now I can't get her off of it, lol.

My ILs had a dachshund named Pig. And our neighbors have a large, mixed-breed (Rottweiler, Lab, Great Dane), male named Sparkles.

BLTs with different kinds of cheeses, tomatoes and lettuces Grilled ham, smoked cheddar and granny smith apples Grilled chicken (brushed with honey mustard before grilling) with carmalized onions and peppers Pimento cheese sandwiches (grilled is good, too) Chicken sandwiches with shaved parmesan, sundried tomatoes, arugula and cesaer dressing Meatball subs (using the leftovers from Ree's meatball recipe) Grilled pb and banana sandwiches (they're really good, I promise)

I don't care for fruit or nuts in my chicken salad, either. I usually use leftover roast chicken breasts (I throw a couple exta in when making chicken just for sandwiches, chicken and dumplings, chicken tacos, etc). I chop it up, add some onions, finely diced celery, salt, pepper, mayo and a little dijon mustard.

Our son has said he wants to be a girl, a princess and a mommy when he grows up. He likes to wear our daughter's nightgowns to bed and enjoys playing dolls with her, too. And right now he's got green nail polish on his toes. He has two older sisters and spends the day with his mom, so there's quite a bit of female influence over the course of the day. :D I don't worry too much about it. He enjoys playing with "boy toys" (as he calls them) and says he wants to be a superhero and a daddy when he grows up as often as he wants to be a princess. He's a little boy who likes playing with the same things his older siblings play with and he wants to do the same things they do. He's just as quick to play Star Wars and car games with his older male cousins.

I've got a chevron scarf that's been on my needles since January. It's a long scarf and it's a pretty boring knit. I'm saving the rest of it for our vacation drive - I can talk, read a map, get in and out of the car and not lose my place. :) I've also got a hat and cell phone case (both for our oldest daughter) that I'll take with me - both are quick projects that will give me the satisfaction of having gotten somewhere with my knitting. I also have a lace shawl in the works, but it's so complicated that I need I need some time with no distractions to work on it - and that's a rare thing around here, lol.

This is our third time back in VA, thanks to the Marine Corps. The first time we were here, he was stationed at the Naval Base in Norfolk. We were living in VA Beach and it was a nice, but busy area. We then moved to Newport News when he was transferred to the Naval Weapons station. NN was much quieter and we enjoyed being closer to Williamsburg. We were at Quantico during our second tour here. We enjoyed the area (Stafford), as it was close to DC and Fredericksburg, but far enough away to avoid the traffic. We're now in Central VA, near Richmond. We like the weather - mild winters, pleasant spring and fall, and my husband loves the summers (they're a bit warm for my taste). There is so much to do here and so much history to see. We're a couple of hours from DC, a couple of hours from the Shenandoah mountains, a couple of hours from NC (and our daughter) and a couple of hours to the ocean. Homeschooling is easy and there is a lot of American history here. I like the Richmond area because we're close to the big city without the big city feel. It's kid/family friendly and there seems to be something going on all the time. I'm just a short drive to a yarn store, a quilting shop, a farmer's market, Whole foods and Trader Joe's, a museum (or two) and some great shopping. We're close to a state park and we do a lot of hiking. The only downside for me is the humidity of the summers. I grew up in WI and, while I don't miss the winters, I get too hot in the summer.

Our oldest daughter had this problem with everyone in the family, but complained the most about my husband's chewing, breathing, and moving (wiggling his foot, rocking in a chair, any repetative motions). She was finally diagnosed with Asperberger's (after being diagnosed as ADHD, OCD, ODD, anxiety issues, and depression). She's got other sensory issues, as well - certain tastes and textures will set her to gagging and throwing up and she can only tolerate certain fabrics against her skin. By the time she was diagnosed, she was too old for Occupational or Physical Therapy to be truly beneficial, but the OT/PT she's had has been a little helpful. She's able to sit at the dinner table with us and is able to wear socks with her shoes (the seams would irritate her toes). If it's possible, have him see a pediatric psychologist or a behavioral psychologist. With early enough intervention (whether or not this is Asperger's), he can get some help and you can get some relief. (HUG)

My son was almost 4 when he finally toilet-trained and had accidents up until he was almost 5. Sometimes he would be so involved in something that he would put off going until it was too late. Other times, he just didn't feel like getting up and going to the bathroom. We had him clean himself up when the accidents happened. He would take off his wet things, drape them over the tub, wipe himself up and put on clean clothes. He would also lose Wii time in the evenings. We didn't make a big deal out of it, we didn't yell (although it was very hard not to in the beginning) - we told him calmly to go take care of things. It wasn't mentioned again unless he got pushy about getting to play the Wii, at which point we'd remind that he lost the evening's playtime because he wet his pants. This was enough of a motivation to encourage him to get to the bathroom on time. And over time, his accidents decreased and he's not wet his pants in nearly 5 months. Oh, and he's still in pull-ups at night. He's having more and more dry mornings, but he still needs them most nights. An idea for getting her to pick up her toys - anything that she chooses not to pick up, gets picked up and put away by you. And by put away, I mean where she can't play with it. Let her know that you'll be putting the toys away for a while since you had to pick them up. I usually keep the toys for several days before giving them back to the kids to put away. My sister tells her boys that nothing else can happen until the toys are put away - no tv or computer time, no trips outside or to the park, no games or snacks until things are put away. When I get overly stressed, I have been known to call the school day to an end. I know that if I've gotten to the point that I'm yelling or threatening, I'm not going to accomplish much for the rest of the day. My daughter will dig her heels in and oppose me every step of the way because she's upset, too. Sometimes we take the rest of the day off and stay away from each other, other times we'll do something fun together, like go to the pool, bake cookies or have a movie afternoon where we close the drapes, watch movies and eat popcorn. Anything that will move us away from what was stressing us out. I hope you and your daughter have made peace. HUGS from one stressed mom to another. :)

I feel your pain. We're moving for the second time in a year, but this move will be to our retirement home after moving the with Marine Corps for 22+ years. The military usually moves us, but we've done a few moves ourselves and both of them suck. We're doing this one ourselves. The house is on the other side of town and we're going to take a week to move things over a bit at a time, so we'll be stretching out the pain. My plan is to unpack boxes as we take them over; maybe that will help ease the stress of living in an unorganized house for days on end. We've been decluttering and purging for a couple of weeks now and I'm wondering how we could have so much to get rid of when we did this only a year ago? I'm trying to be positive about this move as it's going to be our last, but I'll be happy when it's all over.

We eat many of the things listed here, especially fruit. I also offer: brushetta toasted bagels with goat cheese and salami snack tray with several of the following: cherry tomatoes, olives, pickles, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, mandarin orange slices, apple slices, grapes, pear slices, melon, and different cheeses, usually feta or cheddar melon and fruit pieces on a skewer with greek yogurt to dip them in

I try to keep things simple when I have guests. And, if there's a lot of them, I put them to work chopping vegetables and putting together a salad. Crockpot lasagne with a big salad and garlic bread Pulled pork sandwiches (done in the crockpot), cole slaw and a veggie tray BBQ chicken on the grill, serve with potato salad and fruit kabobs Grilled pork tenderloin and pasta salad with fresh vegetables Roasted tomato or red pepper soup with chicken caeser sandwiches (recipe from Ina Garten on Food Network) Let the guests treat you to dinner out :D Dessert can be simple, too - ice cream, homemade cookies, fruit cups, strawberry shortcake. A pan of brownies makes everyone smile, too.

I'll play this week! Wordless Wednesday

I've bought everything for 4th grade except science and I still have no idea what to buy. We tried RS4K, but my daughter didn't care for it and the experiments didn't always work. I bought the Usborne and Kingfisher books and tried to cobble together my own program, but ended up doing nothing. I then bought Adventures of Atoms & Molecules and it came with a wonderful (handwritten) schedule of readings and experiments, but the my daughter hated the Kingfisher readings. So I used AA&M with RS4K and it worked for a while, but I didn't like having to figure it all out myself so science didn't get done. Science was never my strong point when I was in school. I found the textbooks dull and the lectures coma-inducing. I never understood chemistry and even rescheduled my physics class for an art class. What I need is a program that is laid out for me. I don't want to have to figure out what chapter to read next, what experiment goes with what chapter, or figure out what supplemental readings to pick up for the material. I'd like a CM based science program and my daughter wants experiments and activities. I'd like to learn about scientists along with the scientific principles. It needs to be fun and secular. Is there a science curriculum out there for us?

I left for Marine Corps boot camp 12 days after high school graduation and married my husband 5 months after that (we'd know each other for 3 years). Our first child was a surprise, born a few weeks before I turned 21. I left the Corps after 6 years and started college, but we were transferred (he's a Marine, too) before I finished. Some of my credits transferred, but nearly half didn't. And when we moved again 2 years later, not all of my credits transferred. I was at the end of my VA education benefits and we couldn't afford to do it on our own nickel, so I dropped out a year before my degree was completed. It's now ten years later and I wish I'd found a way to finish college. But we've had 2 more children and my husband is pushing to finish his degree before he retires in 2 years, so I'll have to wait a bit longer. I want my children to be able to support themselves (college or not) before they have children. Our oldest is almost 20 and attending a community college, working full-time and living with her boyfriend. I would have preferred that she live at home while attending college, but this is what she chose. She was ready to get married and have babies after leaving high school, but 6 months of struggling to make ends meet while going to school had her rethinking her future.

I see many of my pet peeves listed already. :) Using the phrase "All New!" to describe a tv show. Would they really only put a few minutes of *new* show into an old show? I know they use the phrase as a way to tell us the show isn't a rerun, but there must be a better way to say it.

I'm from Milwaukee, now living south of Richmond. We're a Marine Corps family and, after 20+ years of service, this is our last duty station. We considered moving back to WI, but just bought our retirement home here in VA.

I really don't have a bad gift story, but my MIL used to buy me what I thought were bad gifts - soft, pink, fuzzy sweaters (didn't see she the Ozzy tee shirts I wore then?), sleep shirts declaring that I wasn't a morning person and to stay out of my way, knick-knacks, and cookbooks from the bargain table (commenting on my lack of skill as a cook). But now that I'm about to be a MIL myself and have tried to buy nice gifts for my STB-SIL, I'm finding out that gift-giving isn't easy. My MIL didn't know me very well and we moved away shortly after we were married (I was in the Marine Corps and dh joined a year later). We didn't talk much and when we did see each other, we didn't know how to act. Looking back, I was trying to make a good impression on her and she was not sure what to make of me (I was so different from her dds and her other DIL). She used the knowledge that she had of me to buy gifts and, because we never really got to know one another, the gifts never seemed right. But they came from a good place. She got the sweaters because she knew I was always feeling chilly. The nightshirts were her way of including me in the family - everyone had a quirk that they were teased about. And the cookbooks were not a comment on my cooking but because she knew that I didn't learn to cook before I left home. Having said all that, my husband is the worst gift-giver. He doesn't do gifts. His birthday is just another day for him, so he ignores mine as well. Mother's Day goes un-noticed because, as he told me after the birth of our first daughter 20 years ago, I'm not HIS mother. Valentine's Day is ignored, as well. I've told him over the years that my birthday and Mother's Day are a big deal to me and would like, at the very least, an acknowledgement, but he never seems to remember. So I was floored this Mother's Day when he handed me a gift. He knew I wanted a rooster for the kitchen (not a real one) and had wanted one for a long time. He found a gorgeous one at the PX and I was so happy - until he asked for money to replace the money he spent out of his savings for a guitar.

I "Y"-ed my face and my pinky lands in the middle of my forehead. It's not surprising because I have a high forehead, lol. I've been wearing bangs for years just for that reason. If you want bangs, go for it. It's just hair and will grow back if you don't like them. :)

My kids love fruit kabobs with sandwiches. I made some today with lunch - cantaloupe, strawberries, apples and grapes. If I have any on hand, I'll give them some yogurt to dip it in. How about a corn and tomato salad? I heat up some oil in a skillet, then add the corn (fresh or frozen). Cook until warmed through then add halved cherry/grape tomatoes. Toss well, season with salt and pepper, and top with sliced green onions. Cottage cheese topped with fruit or tomatoes is another favorite here. Grilled fruit is good, too. Pineapple and peaches work best. Or a veggie tray - olives, cherry tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber slices, anything you like. Add a ranch dressing, hummus or guacamole for dipping. Now I'm hungry, lol.

I throw away every one of the toys that comes in a Kids Meal. I don't like knick-knacks, tchachkes or momentos. It's just one more thing for me to dust and pack up and move every 3 years. I'd rather read a book than go out. I hate exercising. I hate being hot and sweaty. I do it anyway. I love the way clean sheets smell. We're going on vacation this summer and will have a cabin in the woods. My mom and several of my ILs want to come stay with us for several days each, but I don't want the drama (or the complaining) they bring with them. So I lied and told them all that there is a charge for more than 4 people in the cabin (there is a charge but it's for more than 4 adults in the cabin) and they would have to pay it.

I've found tall sizes at Kohl's (my husband is an XXLT). They're a very good length and haven't shrunk yet (he's wearing shirts from 2 years ago). They're hidden within the regular sizes, so you'll need to look a bit. A couple of the Wal-Mart stores I've been to have had tall sizes, too.

I'll be thinking of you!