When my oldest started TT a couple years back, we supplemented with Timez Attacks. It worked really well for memorizing. She still plays it sometimes for fun.

The Fox and the Hound. I'm not sure if it was my first, but the first I remember.

Finished in October, before all of the crazy crowds started rolling out. Now I can relax at home instead of fighting the traffic - both on the roads, and in the stores! I don't enjoy shopping or mobs of people, so I would be miserable if I had to be out there with them.

My oldest really enjoyed the research guides when she read the Magic Treehouse series a few years back. She's collected them all, and has read them all at least twice. She's got them all organized and ready to pass on to her sister, who should be ready to read them soon.

We had the same thing happen to our tree a couple years back. The lights decided to go out in weird sections, and it just looked sad. It was just way too big anyway, so I was glad to have an excuse to get rid of it. The last couple years, we bought potted trees and planted them in the back yard after Christmas, but I don't have room for anymore. This year, I got a 4 foot tree from Hobby Lobby and put it up on a small round table. I really like it. This new one has parallel circuiting so whole patches of lights won't go out together. So, if you do go with pre-lit, try to find a parallel circuit so you don't have lighting issues years down the road.

A nice hostess gift would be nice, to say thank you for the invite. We have a cute little shop in town that sells specialty olive oils and balsamic vinegars - I like to stop there and get some mini bottles and wrap them up in a pretty baggie for a nice gift.

I bought her along with a bunch of her accessories back when the original post started about her retirement. She's on my bookshelf in my room. I wanted her so badly when I was a little girl, and my mom swears she had no idea. â˜ºï¸ I'm glad I decided to get her.

Mine is getting a travel humidor full of his favorite kinds of cigars. He's also getting a 7 layer V-Cube, a copy of William Shakespeare's Star Wars, and the rest of the Marvel Lego sets that he doesn't have. He bought me a Toyota Tundra 4x4 - I hope he likes his gifts as much as I like mine!

I didn't read the article, but if it encourages half dosing like the above poster stated, I wouldn't do it. I give my Shih Tzu Heartgard Plus for small dogs up to 25 lbs. I started giving it to her when I brought her home at 9 weeks old, and she's gotten it ever since on the 1st of the month, EVERY month. I have the Heartgard app on my phone to help remind me, too. Heartgard is reasonably priced, and preventative care is important. For my dog to get her yearly shots, checkup and a year supply of Heartgard it costs less that $100.

We are also fans of John Lithgow books - especially Micawber! He just came out with a new one that we picked up for the kids last week called Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo. It's a cute story - the kids enjoyed it.

Yeah, all toys, except for LoF.

I recieved an eNews email from RR that they'll hold their sale from 29 Nov to 2 Dec. The sale items are listed in little boxes on the homepage of their website.

My dd10 has a green machine. She loves it, but it's not really designed for regular riding. She rides in the street and gets going fast, then pulls one lever to do donuts. We went for a long walk a few weeks ago and she brought it. She kept crashing into the wall and running in over my feet. The sidewalk is narrow with a stone wall on one side, and she couldn't keep it straight. But, she has a ball with it in wide open spaces where she can spin it. In order to keep it going straight, you have to keep the levers aligned at all times because they're supposed to be off balance to keep the back wheels angled to do donut spins. It takes some arm effort and some practice to keep them straight. Aside from that, it's sturdy and takes a beating. I didn't think the big plastic wheels in the back would last long, buts it's held up just fine. If you want it for regular riding, it's not really a good choice.

Funnix is giving their program away for free from Dec 2-20th. I've never used it, but maybe it might be a good fit for your dd. http://www.funnix.com

I just cover the spring pan with foil or plastic wrap and chill it overnight, or 2 nights. ðŸ°

I make my cheesecake with ricotta cheese - an old family recipe from my great, great Grandmother. I wouldn't substitute the ricotta, if your recipe calls for it, but I don't find that too many people make their cheesecake with ricotta. I've never altered my recipe - only the toppings. But, I found this recipe: http://www.joyofbaking.com/PumpkinCheesecake.html It doesn't have sour cream in it, but has a sour cream topping. Maybe it might be similar enough to your recipe that you can figure out how to alter yours, or add the topping layer to yours to add the sour cream back in. Sounds yummy - hope it turns out well for you! My cheesecake will go in the oven tonight, after my ricotta pie is done. :drool5:

My mother buys the kids ornaments each year. They're always either Lenox crystal or handcrafted by someone. This year, the kids just graduated to their purple belts in karate, so she hired a woman to hand paint caricatures of each of the kids doing a karate move wearing uniforms with purple belts on little ceramic disks. She also has a yearly family ornament done for us as well. Both my parents and dh's parents gave us our ornaments from childhood. We don't put them all on the tree, but rotate them and hang a couple each year. We have fun looking at them every year and telling the kids stories. We also buy an ornament when we travel someplace - those are the most fun for the kids. They get to pulling them out and there's a whole lot of "OOHHHH, do you remember when......?" We get lots of great stories - and so many things that they remember that I've forgotten about! So, I love hearing their stories every year about our travels.

How about a magnifying glass, and maybe some pocket field guides for identifying bugs and plants. The Home Science Tools website will have some great products to look through to get some fun ideas. They'll probably have some holiday sales, too.

I haven't read through the previous posts, so I apologize if this has been suggested already. Have you looked into government student loan forgiveness programs to see if your job qualifies you to have your student loans paid off? I don't know much about them, but if you're in health care, and in the right location, you may have a good chance of qualifying.

They used to have some of his special episodes on Netflix. Unfortunately, they cycled them out of the streaming library a while back. I don't get the DVD service - so they may be available there for borrowing. I'm hoping some of the seasons will show up eventually on streaming since Netflix has contracted with Disney.

Bill Nye is owned by Disney - they don't often box entire seasons of series to sell. They'll usually sell a DVD containing 4 or less episodes. I'd buy the Bill Nye box set if they sold it. My kids enjoy watching him, and the Disney Imagineering science series. It would have been nice if those also came in a box set instead of individual episodes on 1 DVD. We've found almost all of the episodes on YouTube. I made a bill Nye bookmark and filed them in there for the kids to find easily.

Our kids each get their own - whichever one they want that year. Youngest always picks Lego City, middle picks Lego Friends, and oldest switches back and forth between Lego Friends and Star Wars. I buy them from Lego.com with VIP points that we've earned throughout the year. They're always great fun - they look forward to them. This year, we'll be traveling for quite a while in December - I'm trying to decide if I should let them open all the days that we'll be gone before or after we get back, OR if I should bring them in the RV. That's a guarantee for lost pieces.

The Dodge vehicles I've owned were mostly old - like the hand me down my parents gave me for my first car: an 88 Grand Caravan, complete with the faux wooden side panels. :laugh: Though, they've all been dependable, and taken the abuse I've pushed on it. I've never had one die on me. I was drawn to Toyota because of the safety ratings. I was going to mention that If I could change one thing about the Highlander, I would make it longer. When both 3rd row seats are up, there is only a couple inches between the back of the seat and the door. However, we very rarely use both 3rd row seats at once, so it is a minor issue for us.

We have a 2011 Highlander - It's by far my favorite vehicle that I've owned. Prior to the Toyota purchase, I've strictly been a Dodge owner. As far as head room, I have a custom made memory foam seat with a full back that I put in the driver seat in my Highlander - it lifts me off the standard seat a little more than an inch. I'm 6 feet tall, and I still have more than enough head room. I like it most because It has a lot of room for my kids to spread out. We've got 3 kids and a dog, and always having them in a bench seat together was torture. We travel frequently by car, like coast to coast type travel. Now, they can pop up seats in the back, and they can spread out with plenty of room to travel comfortably. When we load up the back (which has heaps of room, by the way, when the 3rd row seating is folded down), there is a middle seat that stows under the center console that is simple to slide out and pop in the middle for all of the kids to sit together. When one is sitting in the back, is folds away, so there is room to walk into the back without crawling over the seat. Video of how the stow away seat works: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9d8uo_toyota-highlander-center-stow-2nd-r_auto I tow a 20 foot, 3,000 lb box camper trailer with it quite frequently, and it does it with ease. They come with tow packages standard, I believe, since 2010, and can tow up to 5,000 lbs. Mine also has changeable manual (clutch free)/automatic transmission for towing. I fill up the gas tank once a month, and can travel about 400 miles on a tank. Toyota customer service has been fantastic to deal with whenever we need to go in for maintenance. I'll keep it until it dies, and buy another one when that happens.

Here's a picture of my girl with her blanket. She doesn't sleep under it, but she's rarely seen without it.