I always do corn, fruit salad and cornbread when I serve tacos to my family. Dh thinks chips & salsa are a side dish, so he throws those on the table, too.

I read about this cute 12 Days of Thanksgiving idea this morning. Just thought I'd throw it out there in case anyone else is interested! http://polkadotchair.blogspot.com/2009/09/thanksgiving-advent-ideas-galore.html Fun ideas on this blog, ladies!

We haven't done sleepovers either...although I have lots of fun memories of them, so occasionally I start wondering...hmm, what is the big deal. But anyway, our compromise right now is to do "Late Nights" and that keeps my kids satisfied. Every once in awhile they can choose to invite a friend or two over for dinner & movie & games...and they get to stay 'til late (9:30 or 10:00 :)). It's kind of become the 'trend' around here--so most birthday parties for the tween years aren't slumber parties, but Late Nights. There are certainly families we know that I would feel comfortable allowing my kids to sleep over at their homes, but the problem I see developing is kind of how/when to draw the line. For example, if a neighbor asks my dd to spend the night and I say yes (because I feel comfortable with them) but then someone else asks another night and I say no--well, I can explain it to my dd but don't know how I'd explain it to the friend. KWIM? It's much easier just to say...Our family doesn't do sleepovers. And then...there's the whole issue of the possibility of someone doing something to kids at slumber parties...you know how they say that quite often it is people that they know & trust. I figure if we can just avoid the situations where it is likely to happen, we can cut our chances of it happening. Maybe I'm just overprotective, I don't know. I'd imagine we might let the strings a bit looser as they get older--only then I know there are even MORE things that might happen. :glare: So I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!

I absolutely LOVE white elephant gifts...well, the funny kinds, that is. A few years ago I did a google search and there are lists of ideas out there, so you could try that. We've seen lots of gifts over the years, here are a few ideas: an old trophy bought at the thrift store (for ladies sharp shooting), a huge stuffed porky-pig w/leather jacket (this one was hilarious....simply because my grandma had sent it to me for my birthday...as a REAL present!), huge container of mayo, a Bubble-gum maker cast-off from Christmas, a framed picture of you/your family (this is only funny if the people you're exchanging with wouldn't necessarily want to put out a picture of you...like they are just friends and not family), an old black & white TV, a stool sample kit, a chia pet. Have fun!

We focus on the spirit of giving...and how the 'spirit' of Santa is to give. We do 'Secret Santa' for a family every year--choosing gifts, wrapping, delivering & ringing the bell & running. We talk about how there are many Santa helpers all over spreading the spirit of giving...showing kindness...looking for ways to bring joy. We give money to Santa's helper at Walmart, bring canned goods to Santa's helper at the Food Bank. We make lists of what gifts we'd like to give each year. Santa comes Christmas Eve and fills stockings & leaves gifts...but we each also leave surprises for each other trying to bring joy to others. When our children ask us, we typically say, What do you think? If they say, Of course, Santa is real...we talk about the spirit of giving and how much fun it is to surprise someone. If they say, No, it's you and Daddy, we talk about how much fun it is to surprise someone. Our kids have figured it out quite young and none have felt we've 'lied' to them, but they have joined us in our quest to make the holiday special for others around them. We have decorations with Santa and sing songs about Santa and have fun being Santa's helpers...but our strongest focus is on Christmas as a celebration of Christ. We talk a lot about this as the real meaning of the holiday and how Christ is the one who really brings us eternal joy. Best of luck to you as you & dh decide your family's traditions. :001_smile:

I think you win! :001_smile:

For character & moral building, I'd recommend getting William Bennett's Book of Virtues for young people. It has several sections covering topics such as work, responsibility, compassion, etc. I can't remember details, but if you'd like to know more I'll pull it off my shelf and type it in. Just let me know.

If any of you are teaching your own children piano or are interested in games you can play with your kids who may be taking from someone else, I found a fabulous resource! There are tons of free theory games, note-reading games, music, etc. All ready to print & play! I just had to share with someone... www.susanparadis.com/

I have to admit leg warmers will be awesome for dd2's little legs this winter!

I served as an LDS missionary when I was 22-23. Depending on the area, both sisters and elders (what we call the female/male missionaries) may have bikes or cars. They are assigned specific geographical areas--some areas may be smaller in size than others--and not all will be able to have cars (I'd imagine due to money restraints rather than not allowing cars for some odd reason...). At one point on my mission, four of us shared a car--so we might have the car on T, Th & S, for example. Our safety was most certainly emphasized and we were often cautioned about what types of situations we ought to avoid. For example, we would never go inside a home unless another female was there...two sisters would not go in to teach a single man; needed to be home by a certain hour; in fact, at the end of each day, we called in to report that we were safe & sound at home. But yes, sisters also go door to door. And again, each set of missionaries is assigned to a geographical area, so will routinely visit various parts of that area. Perhaps one of your neighbors was referred to the missionaries by someone--and then they thought, while we're all the way out here, let's knock on these doors, too. :001_smile:

Perhaps you could talk to family members and ask if they'd like to help you 'sponsor' another family for Christmas instead of swapping gifts this year. "Hey, there is this family in our neighborhood who is really struggling--the dad is out of work and the mom is in the hospital. We thought we'd like to surprise them with the 12 Days of Christmas--and on Christmas Eve leave Santa gifts for each of the kids. Would you like to help us instead of buying for each other?" We did this at my dh's law office--it was getting ridiculous the amount of gifts we were buying for each other...all people whom we care for, but it had gotten out of hand! One year I spent almost $100...much more meaningful to put it toward helping a family who is struggling. Best wishes...

I did it two years ago because I had a sleeping baby...dh wasn't home and I didn't want my older kids to miss out on trick or treating. But usually we walk. As long as the cars are moving slowly, I don't see it as a problem.

I am going through this right now...trying to figure out if I need professional help or if I 'muddle' through if things will just get better.

We have a weekly family night on Monday nights. Our church actually encourages this and we have a whole program called Family Home Evening (pm me if you want a link to ideas for this)...and church-wide this night is set apart without any church activities planned. We usually have an opening song (hymn or children's song about the Savior/gospel), prayer, scripture story, lesson (on something like sharing, obedience, citizenship, baptism, etc), activity (game based on the lesson or pictionary or charades, etc), and a treat. Sometimes we get together with another family for fellowshipping, or do a service project together or go bowling or something. We use our answering machine. If someone knocked on our door during it, we'd answer the door and say, "Hey, we just started our family home evening, do you want to join us?" It has been a great thing for our family--we love having a planned time set apart from everything else--to focus on each other and to focus on the important things we want to teach our children. The kids love it because we get to have treats!

I just went through this last night. It seems whenever I go on strike (ie: refuse to clean up everybody else's mess) nobody notices & I end up cleaning it up anyway--feeling more angry and resentful. The problem is that I am not clearly communicating WHY I'm mad and what needs to change. So, back to last night...instead of slamming dishes around (which I am prone to do in these kinds of moods), I just loudly announced what they each needed to do (including dh) by a certain time or the kitchen was closed for dinner. So...if I were in your shoes, I would write a large note...with specific chores that needed to be done, tell them to help themselves to cereal, milk & toast for dinner...and say I'll be back at 9. Then I'd go enjoy myself at Barnes & Noble for a few hours. (I'd still have it in my mind that I would probably need to go home and clean the kitchen myself...but I'd enjoy my time away before that happened!).

Rosie, I'm on my way...:001_smile:

really, really dislikes figuring out Halloween costumes? Oh. my. goodness. I wish the entire holiday would just disappear off the calendar. I've spent most of the day making dd10 a Harry Potter/Hermione cloak...actually, making two. The first one ended up being too small. Ugh. Perhaps I should have just given in and bought the darn thing for $30...although I ended up spending only $12 and now I have TWO cloaks. Of course, couldn't talk ds7 into being Harry Potter instead of a football player (old costume, dress up box)...but I'm pretty sure the two cloaks will get plenty of play time throughout the year. Just not so sure it was worth my entire day. :glare: Anybody else want to join me in disliking Halloween costumes?!?

Memoir '44 is a bit similar to Risk, but it is about battles from WWII. Ds 12 loves it.

Wow...I love the wood one. I'd get that over Playmobil for sure. Lucky little girl, I'd say! How fun!

Could she perhaps start a business to take care of pets when owners are out of town? Or a dog-walking business?

I'm also interested in learning more about using towels instead of litter...that sounds SO much easier to change!

We ALWAYS have a can of pringles in each stocking...tradition from dh's family. My kids usually get a few chapter books/board book, CD, chapstick, new socks, new toothbrush, mechanical pencils (they love these), character underwear, matchbox cars, batteries. We each also get a box of Sugar cereal from Santa--wrapped, but right next to the stocking. Kids think it's a great treat! It will be great to see some new ideas!

Yeah, I'm not so sure about some of the drama that is unfolding. I love the story...but certain aspects of this last episode were offensive to me...so we'll see how much longer I can stomach it.

You could also google card games...and find some great ideas on using just a cheap old deck of playing cards. We found one that we all love--it's called PIG. (You could also use UNO or Rook cards) For every person you have playing, you pull out all four of one number. For example, if you have four people, you might pull out all four 5's, 8's, Aces, and Queens. (If you have five people, you'd add all four 3's to the mix). Shuffle and pass four cards to each player. The object of the game is to get all four of the same number. All players choose one card from their four to get rid of--place down on table face down and pass to person on the left--in a rhythm, while leader says DOWN, PASS. Players pick up the cards, decide if they want to keep it/choose which card to discard and leader repeats DOWN, PASS. You keep going, moving fairly quickly. The trick is...the first person to get all four of a kind puts their finger on their nose. The other players put their finger on their nose as soon as they see that someone has done so. The last person to put their finger on their nose earns a P. Then you deal and repeat, building up to PIG. And I guess that person would be out...but we usually end up turning it into PIGGIE or something to keep everyone playing. It is hilarious and we all just love it. Anyway...I don't know if you were looking for something like that or something to give as a gift...but there you have it.

Really? Oh, man...I was thinking of buying this. Tell me more...