I am making a goal to get back to reading this year. I love it, but just haven't been making the time for the past several years. That said, if I could only read three books this year, what three books would you recommend I read. I do plan to read way more than three, but I'd love to see your top three recommendations! I lean towards fiction, but I am interested in trying out a few non-fiction titles too!!! And keep in mind I haven't read much in years so I am sure I've missed some gems. \

I am in for sure. My number one goal for 2013 is to conquer meal planning. I don't like it all, but I know that when I do take the time I save a TON of money. I've never thought of planning for an entire month, but I just might give that a whirl this month. Curious, those of you that plan a month, do you shop for a month too? I would love to do one big trip each month, then just pick up the perishables (milk, eggs, produce) weekly. Hmmm..... I've got to put the baby to bed but I'll be sitting down with a paper and pencil tonight to get a January plan down :)

I am searching for old threads about best books in different years. I am coming up blank. Is anyone good at searching? Also, has there been one for his year that I am missing?

A little of both here. Growing up mine were unwrapped, DH's warped. Now things are unwrapped for toddlers down, but wraped otherwise (unless wrapping is too difficult like a bike or something). So I don't have to hide the paper they select their Santa paper (must have Santa on it) to leave out on Christmas Eve with the milk and cookies.

Ours died last year. We went 6-months without before replacing. I'd wait :) my DH was the oe who thought we were nuts for waiting, but dealt with it just fine. You can heat food quickly in the pen or on the stove top.

The tree explodes on Christmas morning here with gifts from us and Santa :D It was this way for both my husband and I growing up too. The biggest difference was that he had wrapped Santa gifts, and mine were unwrapped. I prefer unwrapped because it is so much easier. But I do wrap them. My kiddos each pick out wrapping paper with Santa on it (it is the only Santa themed paper allowed in the house!) and set it out, along with tape & scissors & ribbon, for Santa to use. I plan to leave the toddler's gifts unwrapped this year just because of what they are. We'll see what the older thinks of this.

Thanks! My mil got him Star Wars Legos a nd thought these looked fun to go with. She knows how selective I can be, but I don't have time browse through it myself.

Anybody read this? Trying to decide if it would be a good fit for my almost nine-year-old?

We don't buy much throughout the year (except for books & art supplies of course!) which finds us able to spend more at Christmas. I'd say the gift count is low, but quality is high, so I don't feel like they get too much. Birthdays for us are experience gifts, so Christmas is really it for the fun things!

I tend to gravitate towards fiction so I look forward to a push in the opposite direction :D Hopefully we can get a great mix of titles to read.

The same thing happened to me this year - ordered mid-November and was still without the item 3-weeks later. It took about a week to get a response from my e-mail and they told me I was out of luck. I submitted a PayPal inquiry 5-minutes later and had a full refund in a couple hours.

Thanks for the link. I marked several books on my list for next year :)

We go year round, but I don't really count days, just make sure progress is being made as each week passes. Typically we school 3-4 days per week. One day each week is reserved for a day long class (if I had to count I would count this as a school day). The optional 4th day of school really depends on how much we got done on the other three days. It is all toddler dependent really :) I like to keep Friday (our optional day) open for friends/grandmas/nature/trips - those type of things, so I cross my fingers for three good days each week. As for longer breaks, I find we tend to take off Thanksgiving-Christmas. Everything else we take off tends to be for travel. If I feel like we need a break I schedule that in as I go along. I do understand the need to schedule them. If I had to I'd probably still take the longer holiday break (it fits us well) but go 5-6 weeks on with a 1 week break the rest of the year. I'd fudge this a bit once I knew travel dates and such.

I've missed reading so much and I am really looking forward to the challenge next year. I am browsing the old lists to see what I can add to my TBR list. Next year I hope to read more of the books my son recommends. He's almost nine and keeps putting books on my nightstand that he thinks I will enjoy. I hope to split my time down the middle - 26 books from his recs, 26 from my list. Right now I am reading, per his request, 39 Clues: Maze of Bones. And per my request, Pandemonium, which I am having such mixed feelings about. It is nothing like the first in the series, but I keep hoping it will get better. Looking forward to next year. And also the best book lists that I hope to see around in the near future ;)

I've seen this mentioned several times recently. I think I need to give it a read...

Yes to the intense friendships being exhausting! I recently had a friendship end because she just didn't understand my need for space & alone time. I never realized how much that friendship weighed me down until it was over.

I really relate to this...

I don't mind being around people, but I do like to decompress by myself after I have too much socializing. I am very guarding, but not really shy. I was similar as a child, but really think much of this began in high school. I have difficulty finding friends that understand this. They tend to think I am inflexible or uncaring because I need to take a step back for a couple weeks.

This has been a fun read :) I'll agree with those that stated WP American Story. I tried. Really tried. But... For me, most of the failures have been things that just didn't fit. After our experience with WP I learned quickly to avoid that type of curriculum and stick with reading stacks of books.

Getting sick builds the immune system. It's not fun. We just had a week of croup for the toddler (not fun and I am still exhausted). I remember my older one getting it quite often as a toddler as well. Now his immune system is awesome and he'll get sick for about 5-hours now!

We dabbled with Lively Latin mid-November and really enjoyed it. Our plan is to pick it up regularly come January. DS is really looking forward to it :)

I'd be interested :) But I am not on FB and have no plans to join.

Love the battery idea - I'm using that one next week at our family party! The hits at my husbands party this year: Lottery tickets A stuffed white elephant Rubberband gun Rubber stamps that had the fb like symbol Drinking bird

Thanks! I look forward to carving out some time this weekend to look these over :)

I am curious if anyone out there has any good blogs to offer up that focus on children's literature? I am having a hard time finding some good ones, but I know there has to be some out there somewhere :) I'll take blogs that focus on any age.