Tuna packets String cheese Trail mix Dried fruit Fruit Nuts/seeds Muffins Homemade granola bars popcorn Bagels with Pb (those little packets are perfect) We're road tripping before our camping trip next week and that's what we usually pack.

I have no problem with donating your clothes- everything- Abercrombie and otherwise. It's the whole "cause" I have issues with. Demoralizing the " least desirable" class to stick it to Abercrombie.

I see it more as, hey I have this shirt in my closet that I refuse to wear on moral grounds, so I'll go give it to someone who will take any shirt they can get-- someone who won't care about morality-- surely they'll be thankful to me. It's almost like donating expired food. Donate your clothes, please do to those who need them, but to only do it to make a political statement rubs me the wrong way. eta: I'm sure the idea comes from a good place, but it sends a bad message, imho. He's saying that homeless people wearing abercrombie will be the biggest insult to the brand. Saying that homeless people are an insult is wrong to me.

Newly 5 year old dd interested :)

I just remembered another that my kindergartener loves. This step by step drawing book http://teacherexpress.scholastic.com/follow-the-directions-draw-it-all-by-yourself-mkt940

Interesting idea, but I tend to agree with this article. http://www.lateenough.com/2013/05/do-not-give-abercrombie-fitch-to-homeless-people-while-boycotting-it/

My dd loved the Pre Writing book and we're enjoying the Year of Hands on Science. The Outline Maps book is nice, too.

I would have gone to the car. I can't stand when restaurants don't have changing tables though and there's no way I'd use the floor, changing pad or not. If that wasn't an option I'd either find somewhere else to go- outside or a store, etc. And I'd definitely take up my concerns regarding their lack of a changing table to the restaurant.

Yep, the Leap Frog Letter Factory dvds are great!

I always have to have a full bladder, too. They usually check a few things, then let me go to the bathroom, then do the rest of the u/s. It's annoying. Last time, I had to pee so badly I *had* to go when I got there and probably emptied at least half of it. I thought I was going "get in trouble" and be forced to drink more. When she started my u/s, she commented on how full my bladder was. LOL She had no idea I had just emptied half of it.

Forgot two more: homemade pizza (just have to make the dough which can be made ahead- I almost always have enough for 2 pizzas in the freezer) Mac and cheese (just make a simple flour and butter roux, add milk and cook until thickened, then add cheese and pasta. Serve as is or bake for a baked Mac and cheese.

Our easy meals: Roast in the crockpot (current fav is venison roast cooked in jalapeno jelly) Grilled cheese and tomato soup (I cook the tomato soup in the crockpot) Chili Spaghetti or penne in tomato sauce pesto pasta Burritos or nachos pad thai Burgers sloppy joes Goulash (elbow noodles cooked in tomato sauce, onions, peppers, cheese and Chili powder)

I use the Tahitian and the regular (cheapest) :) I use both interchangeably but he Tahitian is more floral.

I seriously love the saffron and vanilla I got from saffron.com. They were super juicy and not dried out at all. I use them to make vanilla sugar and homemade vanilla extract, as well as in ice cream.

I buy mine from saffron.com

My girls enjoy Sequence for Kids, Connect 4, Busy Town board game, go fish, and snail's pace race. My five year old really enjoys Wildcraft, too.

I use my kindle fire all day long as a tablet and for PDFs primarily. Most of the books we are reading on it right now are PDF books, from the library's Ebooks or in the public domain like the Burgess books. We use it for the I See Sam readers, too. Dd is also using it for YouTube videos and to watch a few art lessons.

Expecting number 3 in late August or early September :) We're thinking either Josephine or Hudson (although I like Hawthorne) for names. We're not finding out gender.

I agree with this completely. Oftentimes (not saying anyone here!), parents don't think their kids can "handle it" so don't even bother trying to teach them. I have so many friends who don't even let their kids clean up after themselves, use real cups until they're 10 or help with anything in the kitchen, and have so many "off limits" places for their kids. Those kids aren't going to learn that they're able and CAN do it themselves. I am all about raising my kids to be independent, able bodied individuals and it's up to my husband and myself to teach them that they can be, whether it's using knives, climbing a tree or as simple as learning how to play in the garage next to dh working on his truck with power tools everywhere.

We usually do a park day, library day (including story time for my youngest), soccer or other "gym" activity like gymnastics or dance and this fall we're trying co-op classes on Fridays. I didn't sign up for every week though - it evens out to be every other. Soccer ends up being two technically, since practice is on Wednesdays and games are on Saturdays. My kids are young though - so take that with a grain of salt!

This article really resonated with me. We parent this way as well- my 5 year old uses real knives (and sharp scissors), both my kids have almost always used real dishes, they climb trees and we cosleep :)

Most days, I'm up at the same time- around 7-7:30. This morning I'm relishing in my quiet time- they're not up yet so I'm sitting here with my coffee :) and they went to bed an hour early!

The Good Deeds dress was the first one I did this year and I LOVE that pattern. The floral ones I posted are sewn from vintage sheets :) Love seeing everyone's pictures!

Oh I love that ottobre lingonberry dress xixstar! I haven't sprung for any ottobre patterns yet but I've been tempted to many times.

Thanks! I updated my post with tutorial/pattern links :)