I just bought my dh a pair of wireless headphones that he can wear to watch movies late at night. You know the kind...he wants it loud & in stereo to get the full effect, but they aren't movies I care to see, so I go to bed...only to have my bed rattled by the explosions and battles downstairs. Hopefully he'll still get the stereo effect, but I'll be able to sleep better. :001_smile:

A friend of mine had our family over a few months ago to teach us how to can soup. We made vegetable soup with potatoes, carrots, onions from our garden and celery, seasonings. It was so easy--we just chopped it all up, filled up the jars w/ veggies & seasonings, filled it mostly to the top with water, put the lids on and put them in the pressure canners. We made 21 quarts. With vegetables and meats it has to be a pressure canner, not the hot water bath kind. Those can only be used for fruits & jams. Before we went to my friend's house, I did a few google searches and found some helpful websites out there. There were tons of recipes out there, too. http://farmgal.tripod.com/PressureCannerVegetables.html http://www.canningpantry.com/using-pressure-canners.html http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/uga/uga_can_veg.pdf I'm giving my parents a pressure canner for Christmas, so next year I plan to 'help' them with their harvest & share in the bounty, too. :001_smile: Good luck!

Way to go! I love thrift finds, too...my weakness is books...

I'm a napper, too...I have found that even if I just get 30 minutes of laying down with my eyes closed, it helps me make it through the rest of the day. I've felt guilty about it for years...which is a crazy thing to feel guilty about...but I am just so much happier if I get my down time to rejuvenate myself! Maybe some of us are just wired that way?!? Maybe we all need to go to bed earlier?

What about Christmas tree ornaments?

:grouphug: My heart hurts for you and your friend. I can only imagine what a shock this must be to everyone. I'm LDS, too and have served as RS president, so I know a bit about the responsibilities that you have. With it being so personal, it will be tough! Remember to delegate--use those who are so willing to help. Your counselors, her visiting teachers, the compassionate service leader. I'd imagine the whole ward is going to rally about for this one. Is one of these an older sister who you can ask to take on being the one to deal with all of the needs/assignments...and allow you to just be a friend to your friend? (Not that it has to be someone older...but I found it so helpful when I was a young RS president to have a more experienced/in some ways wiser person as my right hand man). Also, remember your Bishop...discuss freely with him what you both feel needs to be done and the best way to coordinate things. Perhaps it would be helpful to list all of the ways you'd like to see help coordinated and ask someone to take over each area. And then each one of those areas could have a few key individuals to help for a few weeks. For example: Meals for the family Funeral arrangements (perhaps childcare during service, if needed) Meal after the funeral Household chores--laundry, bathrooms, vacuuming, grocery shopping Childcare for the other children Christmas--perhaps the YM/YW could do a service project & gather gifts You can do it. You can hold your friend as she cries...and cry with her. That's probably the most important thing you can do in the days to come. It's going to be hard...but you can do it. Pray...ask Heavenly Father to help you be strong for your friend. Remember Nephi--when asked to build a ship, he didn't say, "That's too hard, I can't..." He said, "Okay, how do I do it? Where do I start?" (Paraphrasing, of course). Same as this...it is hard, and it feels completely overwhelming. Take a deep breath, say a prayer, and figure out a few baby steps to take...then pray to know the next step. Heavenly Father will help you through this...He'll help you know how to help your friend. Hugs from a fellow RS sister...

I like christopherandbanks.com. Fairly fashionable, yet modest...not tons of dresses, but skirts & blouses/sweaters.

I hope you've been able to get a few ideas! I saw this post yesterday but didn't get back on to reply until now. Here are a few ideas, if you are still looking. Using Christmas fabrics or scraps of red, green, tan, etc...sew together small four-patch squares, add a backing, stuff & sew a button in the center of the four-patch. sew on a loop of ribbon to hang with. Using felt--make mittens, stars, trees, snowmen--sew around the edges, stuff, trim. Wooden ornaments are my favorite with the kids--let them paint them, embellish with buttons. Use wire or ribbon to hang with. We have a bunch of gold stars that we put on the tree. Styrofoam balls with scraps of fabric covering. I don't know if I can explain this well enough, but it is the easiest, goes pretty fast & looks cute, too. Just take all kinds of scraps (I do Christmas fabrics/colors), and using a butter knife (not too sharp) push the edges down into the styrofoam ball. Where one fabric ends, grab another scrap & stuff in until all of the styrofoam is covered. Wooden spools--you can paint them to look like snowmen...paint the top black like the hat, the center white like face, paint on the face, and then paint the bottom a different color & tie a strip of fabric around the bottom as a scarf. If you find little mini wooden spools, you can take three of them--paint off-white or white and using a strip of fabric you can create a snowman. The top spool has black painted on top for hat, face drawn on it; middle spool has three buttons drawn on (I just used a sharpie); bottom spool is just solid white. Take a strip of fabric (I used red & white gingham) and tie in a loop, turn it so there is a knot at the bottom & string the spools on in order so it forms a snowman. Then you just use the fabric loop to hang on the tree. I usually make a different ornament with the kids each year...so I need to figure out the new one for this year!

I know you said you wanted it to be for the mom, but you could also include a few preschool file folder games for the mom to get excited about teaching her kids. There are websites where you can print off some cute ones and it wouldn't cost very much to put them together. Just an idea to add to the basket.

We give a time limit with a positive AND negative consequence... IF you unload the dishwasher and sweep the kitchen floor by 11:00 a.m., then you get to play outside this afternoon. IF you are NOT done by 11:00 a.m., then you don't get to play outside this afternoon, but have to fold the towels in addition to the other two chores. In other words, if they comply within the time limit, they get a reward. If they don't, they miss out on the reward but also get an additional chore because of the attitude.

Wow! What a great mom you are!

How important is it to you that he can play the piano when he is older? I have a friend with a ds10 who started the piano at a really young age and is quite gifted at it. Last year they hit a wall and it became a huge battle. Now, to my friend, it was worth the battle...she stopped lessons, but during the time that would have been piano practicing, her ds was assigned chores (and she worked him hard!). Once he realized that he didn't necessarily have free time instead and he'd rather play the piano than clean toilets...his attitude changed and he's doing great on piano. Not saying this is the best way to handle it, just offering the idea in case it fits your situation.

Last year when we pulled ds12 out of school to homeschool the rest of the year, I spoke a lot with his teacher. She was actually very accommodating...even welcomed ds to come on all field trips, to all class parties, whenever he wanted to be there. So we were able to take the best of both worlds and it was a great rest of the year. (Ds ended up going on Fridays...which is out at 1:00 at our school...so he would do individual work from home, go to orchestra, have PE, eat lunch & have recess...all of the things he didn't want to miss.) She did tell me that she had a student a few years previously who left to homeschool and she was so worried about him--the parents didn't seem to have a plan or know what they were doing. She said our situation felt so much different--here she & I were talking about curriculum and she offered to share all of her teaching files, any resources she had. She completely agreed with me that my ds would greatly benefit from homeschooling--the hardest part was that he would miss his friends & miss being a part of the class--she recognized that his social experiences were a part of his necessary development, which was why she was so willing to have him come & go as we could/wanted to. She also shared with me that at one point she mentioned to another teacher friend at our school that she was sad to be losing a student (my ds)...the other teacher asked, "Why's he leaving?" When she responded that we were going to homeschool, the teacher rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, brother...what is up with these parents around here?" I'd imagine it all depends on the teacher...and the other homeschooling families they have had experiences with. It made me count my blessings that we weren't dealing with this other teacher--although we probably would have only lasted a few weeks in her class! I'll also add that when I first approached the teacher that we were considering homeschooling, I didn't come right out and tell her that she was a terrible teacher who wasn't teaching my son anything (hmm...we might have felt that way a bit...but we certainly didn't say so!). I brown-nosed a bit and talked about all of the positive things that we had seen, so it wasn't an us against them type of situation. I think that made a huge difference in how things developed from there.

Oh, and it doesn't count at all if nobody saw you eat it, right?

What a beautiful reminder! Thank you for posting this. To the op, I have a book that I need to pull out to remind myself of this--It's called "A Joyful Mother of Children" by Linda Eyre. She & her husband have a whole bunch of kids and have written quite a few parenting books (Teaching Your Children Values, Teaching Your Children Responsibility and also a preschool co-op program, Joy School). Anyhow...I have it and need to remember to pull it out every once in awhile to remind myself. Basically she encourages you to find ways to notice the joy all around you--even in the midst of toddler chaos or sibling squabbles or whatever. Let's just hope it's pms and life looks a bit brighter tomorrow. At any rate, you are not alone...I think we all struggle with this at various times or stages in life. :grouphug:

What about having her go to a tutor instead of the after-school program? I realize this might cost more money than the after-school program, but it seems like that is taking up a lot of time that could be spent to improve her skills. Maybe you know of a homeschooling mom who would like to earn a little extra money...using a curriculum you provide/choose. I second the suggestion to talk to the teacher & aide--the teacher really ought to be more understanding of the situation. I am shocked that she is forcing her to do 3rd grade work...is there a special education specialist that can get involved? And I agree with the suggestion of having the aide do more than just sitting by her seat...perhaps you could approach it as a trial--let's try having her focus on improving her skills rather than doing 3rd grade work--just try it for six weeks and then we can re-evaluate. I hope you find something that works! It makes me wish I were your neighbor, I'd be happy to have her come over after-school and work with her. :001_smile:

That's sweet that you are being so thoughtful and trying to help her! I had gestational diabetes with my last baby and it was so hard, especially with yummy feasts like Thanksgiving. I probably would have just had smaller portions or tastes of things that weren't the best for me and filled up on turkey and salad (so yes, a small green salad w/lots of veggies and no dressing). Steamed broccoli would be good, too. In my case, I *loved* strawberries & cantaloupe and the serving that counted for each of these was quite large & filling (versus say half a banana as a serving). So perhaps your sil has something like that--that she enjoys and you could add to your meal (or have just for her). And maybe you could find a sugar-free dessert...even if it is just a sugar-free ice cream sandwich so she can eat something yummy while everyone else is eating pie.

I've posted about this game before, and don't want to sound like a broken record, but my ds12 LOVES the game Memoir '44...it's a similar kind to Risk, except you set up battles from WWII. Games are a lot shorter than risk, too...which is a benefit, in my mind. www.daysofwonder.com/memoir44/en/

Has anybody used this patch? I have a neighbor who has been on it for much of last year and she has lost SO much weight...it is amazing! Granted, she's also cutting down on sugar and walking several miles a day, so I'm not saying it is a cure-all magic pill. I've always been a little leary of trying things like this--just not knowing how safe they are--but watching her success has me wondering. I've tried looking online and all I can find are glowing reports. If any of you have any knowledge or experience with this, I'd love to hear!

Wow...I only wish I was able to keep on top of things as well as you do! But actually making it happen...well, that's another story! You've inspired me to try harder though! Thanks!

In the states, the Wii is typically $249...only recently I've seen a few stores selling it for $199. As pp said, it usually comes with Wii Sports (which has several sport games--baseball, tennis, bowling, boxing) and one remote & nunchuck. If you buy the game Wii Play, you can get another remote with it--that's how we bought it and it was cheaper. I'd imagine you can get it online at a lot of different places--Walmart.com, Target.com, Best Buy, etc. Hopefully someone else has some more info about that for you. For our family of 6, we only have two remotes, but we all just take turns playing and it works out fine. In case you're interested, our family favorites are the Outdoor Adventure & Disney Dance Dance Revolution--both get lots of movement out of all of us! These two games are a bit more expensive than other games (around $60, I think) because they come with mats that you lay out on the floor & dance/jump/run on. ETA: I just noticed there is another thread started this morning about someone buying a Wii bundle (Wii console + additional game) on Amazon for a good price. You might want to check that out!

:iagree:

I'll second the suggestion for Blink...around $5 at Walmart/Target.

Blokus was a hit last Christmas with then ds6.

Along the lines of the PVC pipe--you can add magnets to both ends and to the connectors and use on a frig/magnet wall for a marble run. This is a project we're working on for our kids this year...we've had it planned for awhile (bought a huge sheet of metal to hang on the wall) but haven't gotten around to doing it yet! We visited a science museum once that had this and my kids all loved it. We're trying to think of fun, creative things to add, too...such as tubing that you can shape into spirals, funnels, etc. Another thing I'm doing this year is activity gifts...a book w/materials needed. For example, I just bought a kids' cookbook at the secondhand store today for $2--I'm going to make an apron, get a few utensils/measuring cups from dollar store, cookie sheet/muffin tin at dollar store, a few baking type ingredients--and my dd10 is going to be thrilled. For ds12, I'm going to make some science experiment kits--using experiments from ClubZoom (remember Zoom from PBS? They have tons of experiment pages you can easily print off at pbskids.org) plus materials needed (I'm thinking fun, cool things like film canister rockets, mentos in soda, hovercraft, etc). And for ds7, I want to look for a 'building' type book (I saw a suggestion on here a few weeks back, the Ultimate Building Book, or something...but I need to go to Barnes & Noble and see if it's really what I'm looking for) and building supplies--duct tape, masking tape, string, pvc pipe, popsicle sticks, toothpicks, etc.