We had a pot luck reception at our wedding, because we were poor college kids who had $1000 to spend on the entire wedding lol. A pot luck shower would not bother me, however pot lucks are common here for any occasion, so it would not change my gift amount at all. Of course we are no longer poor college students, so that helps. :)

Lost Pines resort near Austin is nice closeish to home. Texas has several fun places like that. Many states have similar things if the resort atmosphere is what you like. We plan to go to Atlantis in the Bahamas with a family the same size next year, and I hear it is very similar, no cooking, no bed making, no cleaning anything, and I a, looking forward to it. :) It is pricey and requires passports though. There are other all inclusive islands that do not require passports though. My ds wants to swim with dolphins though, and Hawaii is out of the question lol.

We are leaving for California on a Tuesday, because our package was $500 cheaper due to cheaper flights. Definitely check different dates if possible. Bigger airports are usually cheaper also. We just started flying places, and southwest is usually not listed on travel sites, but often has lower fares. You can book directly on their site.

Lol, I love your rule OP! My biggest rule is do not eat all the ice cream. :)

In my state it is illegal for kids under 14 to be left in a car alone, so I leave them at home where it is legal to leave them at any age. It seems silly to me too, but common sense died a while back, so we have laws that treat teens like young children. We have many busy bodies in our community, and I have no interest in getting fined or arrested. ETA: Sorry, double checked, and at least one child must be 14 and no one can stay with them under the age of 7. Yay, my dd can now watch my older kids while the baby and I run into the store. Thanks for the topic, so now they can run errands with me after lessons. They will be thrilled lol.

I have one kid who lost weight because MIL kept telling him he should not eat snacks (he is stick thin), one kid who gets UTIs every visit, because MIL wants them to potty before leaving and dd is scared to ask her when they are out if she can go, and one child who is brushed off when he is having an asthma attack as just needing water to stop cough, so yea MIL wants to parent my kids and is not doing a very good job even in the little time she has with them. Grandparents are supposed to be fun and leave all parenting to the parents. I have learned so much and hope to be a better MIL. :) I have 3 boys, and I want to have a good relationship with their wives. My hope is to have a good conversation with them before they marry my boys and let them know that I am not the bad guy, and I respect their relationship with my son as as the mother of their children. I know people who have wonderful relationships with their ILs, and I am taking notes. :)

I would just unhook the router at night and take it to your room. My dd was caught reading at 2am a few times, and removing all books from her room was a pain. I sometimes wish she was addicted to the computer, because it is much easier to take away lol.

I think $250/$300 is fair. The kids will be sleeping at night, so it comes out less than a normal sitter, but she gets a break at night. :)

Hubby is right, hire a housekeeper! No one can do everything, not even the women you know with 7 kids that seem to have it all together. Something has to give, and your time with the kids and dh is far more important than cleaning your house. The house does not care who cleans it, but your family cares that you spend time with them. :)

We take pix of art work and treasures that create clutter, and then we make photobooks that take up much less space. As for toys, I would make them help you go through every toy they own. We did this a few years ago, and they quickly decided that they had too much stuff. We encouraged them to get rid of things they did not play with to give to kids who do not have many toys. Now we have a rule that nothing new comes in before we clean out old stuff, especially at Christmas and birthdays.

Sweet baby smiles and giggles Children laughing and being goofy Hiking with family Playing games with the kids Traveling That was my happy list from last week. :)

Nope, but we hope to build our perfect home in the next year or two. :) This home was close to perfect minus the tiny laundry room, and then we had more kids lol. Now we need more room.

Good for you! I just stick mine in my pocket, but I have 4 kids, so someone is always talking to me, so I have no time to check my phone lol.

Flying in airplanes It makes no sense, people do it every day, and I get clammy just thinking about it. Dh and I are going on a plane trip soon to try and get me past this. I hope I actually make it to the airport. I think he can toss me over his shoulder and carry me on to the plane if I can make it to the airport lol.

We let our kids pick 2 activities each, and they are all in different things. Right now we have 4 kids, and 5 will be our max, because I do not want to have to limit their choices to things they all have to do together. All of my kids are great at different things, so making them do the same activity to fit my schedule would just lead to resentment and frustration. Then again, my parents let my sister and I try anything we wanted to, so maybe that is why I want my kids do the same. I found my love for dance, and my sister loves golf.

Do you have face recognition on your computer? I had to turn that off in order to keep names from popping up on FB.

We saved the top tier, but on our 1st anniversary I was 3 months preggo, and everything made me feel sick, so I have no idea what it tasted like. :)

It does not take many showings, just showing the one right person. :) Our previous house had only 4 showings over the month it was on the market, but the 3rd couple bought it for full asking.

That sounds very hard, and I would have a hard time living in a place where I did not feel peace. Our community has great people, a wonderful homeschool community, and even though we are a very mobile community and friends come and go, it is like those who are here briefly are friends and family forever. We are in a moderate sized town, but near big cities. We are looking at building our forever home here now that we know we will be here a long time.

What does your teen play with friends? My dd has come up with her own games and asked her friends for ideas when they arrived since they were 13, so I would just ask dd and her friends. We do not buy any specific games. They play games that require balls or hoopla hoops, and other prop kind of things, but nothing out of a box. We have no trouble with kids not playing either, they all engage well, but they ave been friends for 10ish years.

No clue, but be sure to get a very good helmet.

I have never flown with young kids, but I drive with 4 kids to visit grandparents. Bathrooms are an issue there too lol. It is no big deal, and flying would make things easier I would assume. Go and have fun!

That is interesting considering some cancers are triggered and caused by viruses. My son's leukemia is thought to have a viral trigger. He had all of his vaxes up to that point too, but now we are told to be careful, because the viruses in there could be a problem. It would still be nice if they could find the cause and fix it rather than pumping us full of drugs. Ugh.

It has a lot of character, and around here it would sell easily. I totally agree with hiring someone to stage it. Your family heirlooms are priceless to you, and I know I have many also, however making the house look more like it would have when it was built will attract the buyers you want. Looking at commercial zoning is a great idea too. You could get more money for it that way also.

Yes! Our first trip was with 1, 2, and 5 year olds, and the tots had a great time. It does take more planning to keep them from getting over tired and cranky, but it is fun for all ages!