:party: Congratulations! Isn't that a wonderful feeling? I remember when both my girls "got" reading. Emma went from sounding out every CVC word to reading Billy and Blaze overnight, it seemed. It was magical, especially since I was ready to burn all the Bob books. :lol: I am excited to teach Schmooey to read!

Another option would be Adventures from MFW. Just thought I'd throw that out there. :D

Oh, Kalah, I know it's a personal decision! I have to come here to talk about it because Schmooey and I are the only 2 people in my life who think we should still be nursing. :lol: I had no idea weaning would be so emotional. Emma and I only made it a few weeks, and Abbie weaned herself just before she turned 1. I felt tremendously guilty about not nursing Emma longer and irritated with Abbie for weaning herself, but I was not so attached as I am with Schmooey. He's my last baby, and he still seems a little bit of a baby while he's still nursing. It's our special time together, and it makes us both so happy. It's fun, nursing a child who can talk. We have a little song about mom-mom, even. When he stops nursing, he will *really* grow up. It breaks my heart to think about it. I told him tonight that the mom-mom is almost gone. He acted like he understood and was definitely more upset because I told him I was going away for a couple of days. I guess we will see how it goes when I get back. I'm so not good at telling him no, and this child can out-stubborn me - that is saying something, let me tell you.

I get to go to the CM conference at Gardner Webb this week - woo hoo! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I love my children but I am not going to miss them very much. :D Here's the thing. Schmooey still nurses 2-3 times per day (morning occasionally, nap, and bedtime). He can go without, and has, but he is quite attached to "mom-mom." I have not really wanted to wean him and don't really want to now, but since he's 3.5, closer to 4, I'm thinking it's probably time, and one of us has to be the adult. I do hate it when it has to be me. I had decided to tell him that after his birthday, that was that, but since I will be gone for 3 nights, I wonder if now is a better time? What do you think? This is what I think: :crying:

Ah, mothers-in law. God's special challenges. :glare: CONGRATULATIONS on your new peanut! How very exciting! Definitely stop answering the phone when the crazy lady calls, unless it's me. :D

My parents have 3 children. Between the 3 of us there are 8 grandchildren. So, thanks to them, 11 fabulous people inhabit the world! :D I should probably also give them credit for my cousin's son. She got pregnant while in college, and lived with my parents up until he was born and then for a while after. I know she'd had a previous abortion, and I don't know that her fabulously talented son would be here today if my parents hadn't supported her! It doesn't change our poll category though. :)

I don't get the paper here, and know very few people, so there wouldn't be much point in my reading the obits. Almost everyone I would know, I would learn about at church. Even then, people pass away and I have no idea who they were - I feel like a big goob but we have a lot of elderly members who live at nursing homes and don't come to church. I should get the little paper from where I grew up. I knew so many people there, and there have been people my age who have passed that I wish I'd known about. I never did read the obits when I did get a paper, but my mom always does. She's a hospice nurse, and before that she was an oncology nurse. She goes to an uncommonly large number of funerals. Rebecca, your story made me think that I should be reading them, even here. I wonder if they are online.

I have littler kids than you do, and we do wear jeans/shorts more than once if they don't get dirty, but we're not outside getting grungy mowing, either. My little guy probably generates the most number of things to be washed, but he's still small enough that he doesn't make more than one load total for himself. :D We do more than 4-5 loads per week, though, I think. We have a denim load, dark load, pink/purple load :lol:, green/blue load, white/tan load, and at least one but probably two bleach loads - towels and socks/underwear. I suppose I could try doing all the laundry in a week and see what it comes out to be. :D We do more laundry when it's cold because the clothes are bulkier. We can do a little less in the summer when we wear shorts and swimsuits.

Wow - thanks, everyone! Lots to look into! Off to research. :)

Hello all! I signed up to teach music to PreK/K kids at our homeschool co-op this fall, and am trying to find something to use for a syllabus. I thought I'd bookmarked something that looked really good, but I can't find it, and all I remember is that the website had a dark brown background. :lol: Does anyone have suggestions? I know I can come up with songs and such, but I'd really like to have a structured plan. You know, as much as one can have structure with such small people. :D

So, the food just sits in there? How long are they supposed to take to hatch? I'd be tempted to clean it out.

This is a good idea, but how long is his sabbatical? "Sabbatical" means extended leave in my mind. If he's going to be gone for a while, it would be better to discuss it with whoever is in charge now.

:iagree: I am from Michigan and even though I have lived in NC for 13 years (!), I still call it pop. The looks I get sometimes when I forget and say "pop" to Southerners are so funny!

There are so many! But, I will have to say that my favorite is Heart of the Matter by Don Henley (NOT that awful remake. Bleah!). I went to see him at Pine Knob in Michigan the summer after I graduated from college. I went by myself and sat on the hill and had a fabulous time. If you have been to Pine Knob you know what I am talking about. The song is amazing in its own right, but add to that the experience of seeing him sing it, at that time in my life, and... wow.

I've lived down here for 13 years now, and I still don't say y'all. I just don't have the right accent. :) It's still "you guys" for me, too, and if people don't like it, I usually get a little grace because I'm a Yankee and can't be expected to know better, after all. One of the people who worked at the gas station by my house said he had to take sensitivity training for referring to a group of ladies as "you guys." Apparently one of the ladies protested to his manager. :lol: Clearly I have never heard a native of Baltimore say the word, because I can't even imagine it without the "t" in the middle! :confused::lol: Is it kind of like how people in KY say "Louisville," that no one else can figure out?

:iagree: It was a rather nasty shock for us when we moved down here from Michigan and ordered iced tea for the first time. Personally, I think sweet tea is from the devil, as are sweet pickles, but that's just me. :D You can get unsweet tea, though, you just have to be specific. The main issue I have is that the tea is brewed to be so STRONG. I think they have to sweeten it here because otherwise you can't stand to drink it! :lol:

You could call her Belle instead of Bella, or just call her Isabella. :) I totally understand where you're coming from. Your reasons all make perfect sense and would be enough to steer me away from the name too. That, and the fact that it's the name of the main character in Twilight, would make me want to say "no way, honey, we will have to agree on another name." However, if your dh is really set on Isabella, it would certainly not be the end of the world. You'll get used to it in no time and you won't be able to imagine her as anything else. Does he understand why you don't like it? Is he willing to compromise on anything else? I Googled "names like Isabella" and here is what came up: Alessandra Allegra Anastasia Angelica Arabella Christiana Clementina Cressida Eliana Engracia Estella Francesca Gabriella Isabella Isannah Julietta Liliana Mirabella Raffaela Tatiana I really like Isannah! It doesn't have a particular meaning; the web page said it seems to be a combination if Isabelle and Susanna. (What about Susanna, by the way? That's a lovely name! Additionally, it has a great song to go along with it!) I found another page that showed Jezebel as a possible alternative, but I am not so fond of that. :lol: Arabella has the same flow as Isabella, but it's not Isabella. It means "prayerful." Would that be a possibility?

That's what I was thinking too! :lol: I remember thinking it was WAY cool when I got paid $3 for 3 kids. I guess it must have been standard to pay $1/child. I would pay my niece whatever I'd pay a regular sitter - probably more because I like to spoil them and I would want them to want to be willing to do it again -and choose me first over other clients if there was a conflict. :D I think $8/hr sounds about right. Actually, I think it's a great rate. There is a babysitting service we used to use in Raleigh, and when we started it was $9/hr for 2 kids. I think it's gone up and now we have 3 kids and don't live there anymore, but the point is, I think $8/hr sounds good. Do you know any other babysitters in your neighborhood? Any moms with teens who sit? Just wondering if you could get the going rate in you area for reference.

This is what happened to me! I thought Em had more time; I think we'd talked about it before, but I only found out what had happened when my mom was doing laundry and told me to talk to her about it. Poor kid, I can't believe she didn't come rushing to talk to me when she started!

That is AWESOME, Aubrey! They should be fighting over you. You will most definitely need an iPhone! I can't wait to hear which one you choose, because clearly you will get both offers. :)

Glad to hear this! I just bought it the other night to read to the girls. It looked fabulous.

Hoo, boy, have I been there. After 16 years (this Friday! woo hoo!) I finally have dh trained to call almost always. Every now and then he won't and I try not to yell at him but I do let him know my displeasure. He seems to have no concept of how worrying it is not to know when he's going to be home. I hope your dh is OK! Be sure to let us know he's safe.

Hello, wonderful people! We are currently using FLL/WWE 3. I think FLL 3 is probably too easy for my girls, but it's what we have for now so we're using it. I've done some of it with Emma before, but not with Abbie, and while some of it is review, I think it's working pretty well. I know when I used it with Emma previously, she did not understand the diagramming, but I think they are both going to be fine with it now. My question is this. In looking at the placement test, I know they could easily place into CLE 400 after this. They will be in 5th & 6th grade next year, though, so I would *really* like to put them in CLE 500. Is the curriculum "spiral" enough that we could do that, do you think? Or should I really just go with they placement test? I want to push them a little harder in this area; they are more than capable. I don't want to frustrate them, though. Thanks so much!

Well, Singapore hurts my head. A lot. I needed the HIG for 1A/B and I could hear the people at the homeschool store snickering at me. OK, not really, but I was sure they would have been, had they not been so nice. :lol: I *like* MUS. I was thinking about switching, because I didn't think it was working for my oldest, but then I realized that I've been a really rotten math teacher. :o She's had a tutor helping her lately, she's getting it now, and I think we can continue on with MUS. My younger dd wants to continue with MUS (I bought Saxon for her) so we will probably do that. If you have MUS, and it would be cheaper for you, I say go for it. Singapore makes me want to beat my head against a wall because it would be more fun than trying to figure out what the heckito they are talking about. :lol:

You can get them from Amazon (Kindle reader) and Barnes & Noble (Nook reader). iBooks is the Apple reader, I think, and you can get books on iTunes. There are lots of free books out there - both Amazon and BN list them. You can also check out Project Gutenberg for free public domain stuff.