Your husband came through and confronted his parents. If he said the visits are over... the visits are over.(And I am not one of those patriarchal folks where dh is always right, but yeah, in this case he's kinda the hero.) Sorry your kids will be disappointed, but it's not like they didn't spend any time at all with their cousins. My dd would play with her cousins 365 days a year if she had a choice in the matter, but the chemistry goes awry after a while. Our philosophy is "keep a puppy hungry," meaning make the time they have together just enough for some good memories but not so much that they start wearing on each other and fighting. Your SMIL sounds like one manipulative piece of work. I definitely wouldn't go over there because somebody else drove all the way to visit. Let SMIL reap the consequences of that. :grouphug:

I used one for a couple of years. I didn't actually buy one, I just used a built-in bar-height counter. I loved it! I currently don't have a great place for one. Well, I guess I wouldif I got rid of my big ole sit down desk! I had a business friend who installed one in his office. He said he felt waaaaay more alert and productive. The stand up desk allowed him the space to also place a small (think 4 person round) conference table in his office, which he used for meetings and an occasional spread-out project. This friend is very active and "high up" in his field, so it's a high usage office. He is the one that inspired me, but he claimed inspiration from Ben Franklin! In fact, my friend was so excited he once mentioned the possibility of reintroducing them to the market. Hey, now I am curious. I am going to follow your links and see if one of them leads to him!

My quick, general reply would be to stay north of the Orlando area (I mean, anywhere in the state north of Orlando). South Florida is a fantastic place to visit but for a number of reasons I would not (personally) wish to raise a family there. Of course, others will disagree. :D As with any state, if you locate in a university area you are more likely to have a greater variety of cultural offerings and higher quality of life opportunities for your family.

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:grouphug::grouphug: You really are in a can't win spot with your inlaws, aren't you? I know what it's like to have grandparents who want to parade a trophy grandkid around at their church activities. In our experience, it's really been much more for the benefit of the grandparent than for the child. I hope you do find more opportunities this week to relax and rest up. Your MIL sounds like a true blessing.

Oh, my parents had chairs! My mom was actually more territorial than my dad. It was unspoken, but we all knew to move our fannies if one of the parents was ready for the evening sit-down and we were in their places. Memories! DH and I have chairs, but we share. They are recliners and they are "assigned" because we each picked out the one that best suited our body types (upper body vs lower body weight/strength). He loves "my" chair and will sit in it if I am not using it, but I don't sit in his as much because I am not topheavy enough to easily push it back.

The thought of not blasting a steroid up my nasal passages daily is pretty appealing to me - I might just dust off the juicer and promote it to daily use if my allergies would settle down! Might have to give this a try, and do a test run on dd as well.

I am glad you asked this question, I need to build it into our day. I know there will be times when she is ready to start before my morning coffee kicks in! I am taking notes as I read all the replies.

Ugh, my 7yo is off to a bad start. Last night she "couldn't sleep"so dh gave her a Boxcar Children to read. I caught her with the light on at 1am. "But moooooooom, I only have 3 pages left!" What can I say...the apple didn't fall far from the tree.:001_rolleyes: ETA - If there's a yawning smilie icon, it would have been a better choice!

I voted yes but drawbacks. I think it's kind of expensive. I don't do it regularly, but about twice a year I will juice fast for 2-3 days to kind of reset my digestive system. I love the benefits but I don't like the waste. To eat the whole fruit/vege I am juicing would be so much more filling. But, i am sure I would never eat a whole raw beet!

I have nothing to share about the legos except to say that for some reason I find myself relieved that your child is not having a tonsillectomy because of legos... am I the only one who drew that mental image?!! I agree on keeping ahead of the pain medicine, give it when due even if your little one says he's feeling okay. Seems counterintuitive, like you are drugging your kid, but it really is for a short time and it will speed recovery. Don't know if you will get this at the hospital, but if you are doing the outpatient surgery thing, don't let 'em rush you out. Make sure everyone feels ready to go home. My dd had that surgery combined with another procedure at age 3, she did very well, but we were at a large children's hospital and they treated her like a queen. We were able to arrange for her to have a soft first meal sent up before we took her home. Again, this may be coming too late, but the hardest part was keeping her distracted from the IV. Books helped.

Yes, that is tacky. That message would go straight to my round file.:D

Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung Knowledge of the Holy by AW Tozer

Wow, that is surreal. I suppose there's probably just a true lack of social grace and professional business savvy going on, but.... you can count me among those who would be taking inventory of personal items and thinking about calling the locksmith.

Thanks, I will have to try a recipe! Part of our challenge is that we also have to be nut-free, that cuts down on some of the better tasting gf items we could use.

Sometimes I want to finish a book more quickly. Sometimes I just want a lighter read. It takes a lot of mental energy - for me, anyway - to digest something like Moby Dick. I found myself actually, well, studying it. Sometimes with a really great work, I like to stop and ruminate on things I find striking. That means it takes me a loooooong time to read such literature. Sometimes I just want to finish a book more quickly. Also, many of the folks I hang out with would be more likely to engage in a discussion of The Help than a chat about Hesiod'sWorks & Days. So I guess I count popular fiction reading as keeping me culturally literate. :D But no more Patterson. Can't abide a writer that doesn't even write his own books.

THAT! IS! AWESOME!!!! That will definitely cut down on my shopping time. I will start by scanning every tortilla package in the place.:lol: We tried our first gluten free cake mix for the holiday. Yuck! We would rather abstain from dessert!

We are moving into gf eating and I am enjoying all the suggestions. I keep instant brown rice on hand, my daughter loves it. I also keep frozen veggies, which can be microwaved quickly. Cottage and cheddar cheeses are staples here, and usually I have fruit fresh or in a can. So it's often a very simple meal, but gluten free. We are trying to avoid what I think of as "mixture" meals as we get used to leaving out the wheat (and the million other things with hidden gluten!). So we are missing pizzas and tacos for now.

Told a child that she would not be returning to school in the fall, but would be home schooled instead. Never done that before. :D

I found myself thinking the same thing as I read. It was a bit too melodramatic. edited - oops, I wasn't thinking about writing an article, I just meant I also thought it was over the top and possibly just created to stir the pot.

Oh, I realized I skipped over Saxon 2! Still, I donot want it to be that teacher intensive - well, I don't mind it taking a lot of my time for something like the LOF, I just don't want all that extra teacher prep that appears to come with the first few grades of Saxon.

Wonderful news! Happy for you!

Did you feel this more at any certain time of the day? I experience it at night (well, duh, it goes along with sleeplessness!). I have experienced one of my warm waves in daytime but there was no anxiousness. A few days ago Tibbie Dunbar posted a list for dealing with stress. I have been trying to start being good at following that, it was such good advice. The first thing was "stay hydrated" which was a good wake-up call for me, I really need to drink more water! I think that alone can help so much!

DD is coming home after doing K & 1st at a local private school. I have been looking at MCTLA and believe it will be a great fit for her. In addition, she will do Spelling Power, some writing with an outside tutor to meet her at her level of ability, and transition to cursive writing. Of course, lots of reading, no real program, just interest led. Do you add copywork and dictation to the MCTLA, or is there something in that program to cover the same skills/accomplish the same goals? For the past two years her classroom day has begun with "journal" work. She has come into class with something - the date or a short sentence - written on the chalkboard. She copied the words, then added an illustration. It would be easy for me to continue that practice for her. I just wondered if it would be redundant. And, it wouldn't really cover dictation. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and suggestions with me. Am I leaving anything out in the language arts department? Before I know it, it will be time to start schooling. I want to be ready!

Thanks, Melissa! That helps me with the yearly line up. So, We can do LOF A&B, then start to blend LOF C-F throughout Saxon 3/transition. Do you divvy up the LOF and Saxon by number of days spent in each, or have you found there are natural breaks in the Saxon into which you drop the LOF?