This is wonderful...thank you all! My daughter is quite a voracious reader and with these ideas I feel like I'll be able to keep her stocked for awhile. Thanks again!

I'm making a list to take to the library. Thank you all so much!

Thanks for the great suggestions, MIchelle! She's read My Father's Dragon but I didn't realize it was a series. Good to know. We're actually doing The Trumpet of the Swan as a read-aloud at the moment!

I really like books by Cynthia Rylant (picture and chapter) and my dd6 does as well. Any suggestions for similar books, authors? My dd is a strong reader and can read well above her grade level but I want to keep her reading the sweet and gentle stuff. Thanks!

This is a great idea. Thanks for doing this! I'd love a copy of the final list when it is done. Thank you!

I think priceline works great for renting mini-vans. You could also check hotwire.

My oldest was just like that until a bit after he turned 7. The whole bathing/shower thing was such a pain. He would never go beyond where he could touch in a swimming pool. The thing that helped him was private one on one swimming lessons. I still don't know exactly what his teacher did, but she had him putting his whole head in the water on day one of swimming lessons. I couldn't believe it. She did have a little "treasure dive" on the last day of classes that she told them about right at the beginning. She put a bunch of pennies, nickels, and dimes in the shallow end and they had to "dive" for them. That seemed to be a real incentive for him. But it sounds like you're trying things like that with the ice cream. I wish I had other ideas for you.

I have a Black & Decker that works well for me but I really only use the chopper blade and rarely the other attachments. I think Cuisinart is kind of the "gold standard" of food processors but it probably depends how you'd use it and how often to determine if the higher price would be worth it. Also, within each brand, they sell different sizes, depending on what capacity you need.

My kids think I'm weird for not having a favorite color so I forced myself to choose one: green

I can't help you but I am just chiming in to say the same thing happens to me when I try and cut my son's hair with clippers. The back part is fine but when I run the clippers over the top of his head, we have problems like you mentioned. My son starts yelling and then I give up. Any haircut-savvy moms out there?

What a great moment. Vindication for the teacher! I am also glad to know that my son isn't the only one who "flops and flails" when something is difficult! :001_smile:

Clarissa and Gwendolyn are my favorites. Good luck deciding!

Great question! I am in the same boat and I go back and forth on what to do. So far we make a trip once a year to visit family but that becomes our big vacation trip for the summer and we never get to go anywhere else. We might try evey other year and see how that goes. Both sets of parents have made visits but no siblings ever have.

Way to go! :thumbup: Want to come organize at my house now? :001_smile:

:lurk5:

Looks good to me!

Thanks for the great info on Sports Authority. We are also looking for a bike for our son and haven't had much luck. For some reason I hadn't thought to look there.

VRBO is great. Another website that has many of the same listings but sometimes different ones is http://www.homeaway.com .

Mine refers to the fact that I am a mom that lives in Iowa (ia). People might be worried about my grammar if they don't realize it's the state abbreviation! :)

Rainy in Iowa. Hopefully we won't see flooding again this year.

Good suggestions, everyone! Nice list, Lori D. I'll be bookmarking this thread for sure.

Now I am practicing how to do this. Thanks for the great tutorial!

I Love Lucy Gilligan's Island I Dream of Jeannie Little House on the Prairie Cosby Show Wonder Years

I think using hotwire or priceline to rent a car is great. With hotels, there is the issue of not knowing which specific hotel you are getting. With cars, that doesn't really matter and you can save quite a bit.

That's great! Congratulations! I love midwives, too--delivered all my babies with midwives.