I have terrible seasonal allergies that last from April through August. Every medication I've taken works for a few days and then not at all. This year after trying a few new ones, I did bee pollen and the allergies were gone within a week and stayed gone. I'm continuing to take it as I read that taking it everyday even during non-allergy season prevents the allergy symptoms from beginning. I'm not promising it'll work, but might be worth a try. I take a tbsp first thing in the morning with a spoonful of honey. Both are from a local beekeeper.

I use long grain brown rice 1:1 ratio plus a half cup of water. I put the rice in from the beginning with a dash of salt and a drop of olive oil. I bring it to a rapid boil and turn it as low as possible with a tight lid. When you can smell it check that the water is gone, turn it off and wait 10 minutes. Fluff and serve. I've converted lots of "white rice only" people. :)

Coming from a large family, I can understand the above attitude of the kids. We are a lot of kids >20. I always hated it when people would ask how my parents manage and they would explain that "the older kids are such a help". That was all we did! From the age of nine I don't remember ever being mothered; I was mothering. My sister and I raised our brothers and sisters, and our two brothers that with us make up the four oldest were always doing chores. We potty trained all the kids. We slept with them when it was time to wean them. We homeschooled them. We cooked the meals. We did the laundry. We were mature and responsible and our parents were so proud of this. Yet we were overworked and depressed, as well, and they were too busy to notice. With no free time and with the stress of being on top of things and making our family run smoothly, there was no time to be a kid or teen. I assume from your comments your family isn't run this way, but all my friends came from large families and this was a common issue. I understand that it's difficult for a mother to be pregnant when the last one is six months old or less especially if there is morning sickness and teething going on or to be recovering from a C-section or a miscarriage, but it's a lifestyle choice that the parents make not only for themselves but for the older kids as well when they delegate them to the role of free live-in nanny. They can't be expected to have no opinion. Obviously, I am quite bias on this point. Pardon any rudeness.

This is just mean. We only know one thing about her. I would encourage her to stay in the school until the end of the year at least. Homeschooling is not a decision to make overnight. Maybe she's too close to the trees to see the forest. It's a great opportunity for her to teach her son about patience, fairness, taking turns, etc.. If there was no ordering system he might be last everyday all year for being the youngest. Hope everything works out.

Thanks. Looking online to order now. Dh and I were raised in families that only allowed religious books, so this is all new territory for me.

My biggest surprise was how angry the teacher was when I told her my ds who was five at the time could read. She actually told me it wasn't true and that since Kindergarteners are not tested on reading skills there was no way to prove it. I think she was in denial because differentiating lessons is a lot of work. The school finally did test him when an intern arrived to help teach that class and suggested testing. He tested fluently on a fifth grade level and began doing sixth grade reading comprehension work with the intern during reading time. I was glad he was learning, but the teacher remained very cold toward me. Other parents noticed as well. Since then I've had some great teachers for my boys. She was the first and I was shocked having never gone to school myself.

Ds (8) has been having a Harry Potter summer. He started with the books and is now on the movies and full time discussion part. Seeing how much he is loving it, I made a mental note to remember to introduce the series to ds (5 & 3) when they turn 8 respectively. That got me thinking that there must be other books that were must-reads for this age bracket before Rowling came about. What are they? What did you or your dh read as eight year olds?

Dh loves to leave stuff in the kitchen. Problem is it's tiny, nine square meters and the dining room table takes up most of the space. I designated a table top to him. It's not in the kitchen. Anything he leaves around that is small I put there. It's a big collection of empty envelopes, junk mail, wires, rechargers, nail clippers, important papers, work related stuff, bills, etc. Whenever he asks me if I know where x is I tell him I think it might be on the counter. I do not help him look through the stuff unless it's urgent. I don't have to get frustrated becuase I have a place for the stuff, and I don't have to help him find it because, of course, it's always on the counter except when it's in his pants pocket in the laundry on the floor behind the washing machine ...

Nope not one bit.

I needed to hear this. :) Thanks everyone who offered advice. I'm a morning person in that I like to get all our "work" out of the way so we can have fun in the afternoon. I obviously have to adjust myself to the needs of my family sanity though. Trying to keep them quiet has stressed me out daily, but I was conflicted in my decision because I want the kids to be considerate as well. I thought maybe I was taking the easy way out. Dh is very gracious about the noise. He works nightshift permanently 5 or 6 days a week depending on the schedule, yet he will wake up at 9:30 sometimes after coming home at 5 and say it's okay because he wants to spend time with the kids too. But I see him tired a lot and it stresses me out, especially knowing that it's not just for a short time but an on going career. I'm thinking to get out of the house in the mornings, and when we do stay, due to weather conditions, to try to avoid conflict and teach consideration gently as per above. Changing my kids schedules has been a losing game. They wake up with the crack of dawn. I'm actually no longer homeschooling them since we moved abroad, but there are so many vacation weeks here and no school on Wednesdays, not to mention summer vacation; so, the noisy days add up. Two school days are his days off! Any ladies out there who have husbands who work night shift, I'd love to hear more about how you've managed to fit everything into your lives together. Please!

I agree with your son.

Dh works night shift. Consequently his schedule is totally off mine and the kids. I try to impress on the kids the need to be quiet in the house while daddy is sleeping and why he needs his rest. There are okay days and bad days. Hardly ever a really good day. Dh tries to sleep until noon. We live in an apartment of 45 square meters (485 square feet) that has neither a balcony nor a garden. It seems that without fail either ds 5 will start speaking in a very loud voice or the kids will forget the no running in the house rule which results in big vibrations on our all wooden floors or ds 8 will begin singing loudly or ds 3 will do any number of noisy things. Then there are days when all these things happen and more. This morning a whole shelf's worth of books came crashing down accidentally. Once Dh wakes up he can't fall back asleep. It's been over a year now of trying to teach them to be quiet and considerate in the mornings. Are these expectations realistic? Do I need more patience and a strategy tweak or is there a practical alternative?

Stuff we've loved Como Park Zoo and Conservatory Minnehaha falls and park Minneapolis institute of art

What I understand of this situation reminds me of my own path. I tried multiple times as a young adult to gently let my extremely religious parents know that I had doubts regarding what they had raised me to believe. These confessions always resulted in reading lists. Sometimes the books were even handed to me and I was "checked on" to see if I'd gotten a chance to read them yet, which was awkward as often my reaction as a non-believer contrasted with theirs. I wasn't looking to be cured. I was anxious going through new territory and wanted a confirmation of their parental love and acceptance.

Solarmovie.eu Cucirca.com Watchseries.it When you open a movie or show you have to close pop-ups that are usually porn related so I usually set it all up before calling the kids over. Some links work better than others. Vodlocker, fire drive, clicktoview, or fcore buffer the fastest. Enjoy. I also watch a lot of movies by just googling "watch x movie online" mega share or putlocker are good links for this. The YouTube links are usually bad.

I always line the dough with the cheese then put in my meat or veggies and then the eggs. The cheese keeps the crust from going soggy and tastes wonderful melted against it. I also use puff pastry. My kids love onion cheese quiche.

I would go quiche. Easier to transport and you don't have to peel all those eggs.

How do you count your steps?

Been in your shoes. My advice, embrace the adventure of life. Don't worry about what category you fit into or will belong to, enjoy the journey. Enjoy the freedoms that come with less dogmatism. Keep your old friends but slowly make new friends too. The old friends who are true will stick around. Don't let the religious restrictions of your friends dictate your actions, I don't really see the need to "come out of the closet" unless you have some understanding that you are only friends for religious support. Let your kids make their own choices and conclusions. If you need to vocalize your emotions or just have a person detached from your situation hear your difficulties from time to time, you can pm me. Saying the things I was thinking but couldn't dare bring up around my old friends was a huge stress relief for me.

I've drastically reduced our food bill by changing our snack items. We now only eat seasonal fruit or bananas. Except once a week when we have a treat like ice cream (frozen bananas blended with chocolate or berries) or peanuts and raisins. You might also be able to get away with using less meat if there were more vegetables served at each meal. I'm assuming the vegetables are cheaper than the meat. I serve at the table, but I bring the first course separately, a salad or vegetable dish, and the kids really fill up on it. Once I bring out the main dish with its accompanying vegetable the kids aren't starving. I don't like to portion serve as I feel that hunger varies and the average need may not reflect the need of the diner, especially my oldest son who is thin as a rail and does sports. I have plenty of go-to meals that I use at the end of the month when I'm stretching my euros to stay within our budget maybe others do too and we could swap. Do you eat yogurt?

In-laws live there. Been there enjoyed it immensely. Visiting the rainforest, zip lining, flamenco beach, street food. Going again this year.

Can someone please explain this and other similar comments suggesting that of all places not to allow the heavily painted look church is the one? I'm not a churchgoer, have gone once as a child with a friend. So I really don't understand the reasoning. Would you allow the girls to wear this type of makeup if friends from the church were hanging out with your family, but just not in the church itself or is it that other Christians would be the least understanding of makeup improperly applied? Is it against your families religion? I have no experience with church, but always assumed it was more of a family setting where people have known each other for many years and there is no need for images. Are church relationships generally more superficial? I guess this is a spin off, but I don't think it's worth starting a whole thread. Sorry OP.

I keep a paper on the fridge for household/grocery needs. When something runs out as I'm cooking I add it to the list, but I only go to the grocery store once a month. Stopping to pick up one or two things stresses me out as it always takes me longer than I anticipated. I've also saved a lot of money doing this. If we don't have an item for a few weeks we learn to do without it or find substitutions. The first couple months were tricky, but we've gotten the hang of it now. Fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy and eggs I buy weekly at the farmer's market. Twice a week I give my boys a bath. The other days they wash up with the shower head, but no hair wash. After the baths I clean the bathroom. The floor is usually soaking wet anyways, and I start with the sink and toilet while they are soaking. Then wash them. While they dress I clean the bathtub, and after they go out mop the floor.

What do you do to make sure the drains aren't clogged? Can you explain how you do this. Do you use the pod or the tincture or vanilla sugar?

I was homeschooled as a child, but my kids now go to school. I ask out of sheer ignorance and because I worry for my babies. Do you think there was something you did that brought you to the bullies' attention? Like why you? Did you try too hard to gain their friendship giving them a sense of power, for example? Also if you were not super talkative what were signs that you were being bullied or little ways you tried to let your parents know? What could your parents have done to help if moving schools or homeschooling was not an option?