I would but no one is allowed to own any kind of gun here. Well, except the police and the military. :glare:

No one in this family is allowed to say they don't like something unless they have actually tried it. Then if they really hate it they don't have to eat it. Luckily, there are no picky eaters in this family. My kids and dh will eat anything that doesn't eat them first! Comes in handy when you live in a country where you can't pronounce the name of the food you are eating and aren't really even sure what it is. :D

I vote yes. :D

She will be two this month on the 26th! Hard to believe how fast time flies...

Thank you! But I have to give my amah the credit... She designed the sari, bargained for the price and dressed me. I can only imagine the tangled mess I would have been if I tried to put that sari on by myself! :lol:

I just need to vent, whine, cry... Whatever. Trying to get an immigrant visa for my daughter has been such a long and emotionally draining experience. The paperwork, the money, the obscure details... I am so over it. Every time we think we are near the end, the U.S. government throws us another curveball. We have an appointment on Jan. 10 at the embassy for her "interview" and if all goes well we "should" get a visa for her so we can go to the states for a visit and she will FINALLY get to meet her family. But before she could get this appointment she had to have a BOATLOAD of vaccinations...not just the regular schedule, but a whole bunch of the ones that are usually optional for a child. She has been stuck so many times. And we had to cram them all in a much shorter time than I would normally do. I have been so scared that she would have a negative reaction from all these shots but luckily, she has been ok (although she did get a really high fever from one of them). At any rate, we finally got them all and took her to the embassy-approved doctor for her final check up and he tells us that the U.S. has now added ANOTHER vaccination to the schedule. I know it isn't the end of the world but for some reason it was all I could do to not burst into tears right there. ANOTHER vaccine?!? And another follow up visit. And more paperwork. And more money. And more waiting. I just can't bear to see her little face scrunch up with tears AGAIN. The last time we took her she started crying as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. She has had so many shots in the last 6 months. It makes me sick to my stomach. I know it isn't the worst thing. I know people face worse problems. I know it will all be worth it in the end. BLAH BLAH BLAH I don't care about all that right now. All I care about is my poor little overly-vaccinated baby girl. I need this to be over.

Oh how I hate those things. The last one where people made fake pregnancy announcements actually ended up causing lots of hurt feelings. Here's an idea... How about you raise breast cancer awareness by ACTUALLY MENTIONING BREAST CANCER.

:iagree:

Pogo stick Soccer ball DVDs of his favorite cartoons Craft supplies Match attax cards for his collection Books A watch

:iagree:

I have been involved in several co-ops and honestly the only one I really liked wasn't really a "co-op" per se but a pay-for-the-classes-you-want situation. They had paid teachers and you signed up for what you wanted and paid for it. They offered things I would not normally do in my own home with my kids like Lego Robotics, and chess club, and choir, and Math Olympiad, etc. I could sit and chit chat with moms or read a book or whatever. I was also in one where all the moms had to teach a class or help in the nursery and it was an academic co-op. I did not like it at all. It was a ton of work for me and all the familes could not agree on academic expectations, homework, etc. It led to bickering and hurt feelings. no thank you.

me too.

:iagree: I would not sue over something that "could" have happened but didn't. It was an accident. They are making amends. I am called to forgive. The end.

Some of these uniquely American solutions -- charter schools, private school vouchers, entrepreneurial innovations, grade-by-grade testing, diminished teachers' unions, and basing teachers' pay on how their students do on standardized tests -- may be appealing on their surface. To many in the financial community, these market-inspired reform ideas are very appealing. Um, these are not uniquely American. I work with educators from all over SE Asia and while vouchers from the government are not common, grade level testing is everywhere as are the equivalent of charter schools. Diminished teacher unions? There are no teacher unions in this area! And teachers here maynot get paid more for high test scores...nope, they'll just lose their jobs period if the kids don't score well. Standardized testing is the way of life here. Makes me wonder if this guy did any research whatsoever. And the quote you gave about not using textbooks? Also not true. The school curricula in Asia is heavily regulated and standardized. Every single school in Singapore uses the exact same textbook and they always score at the top. Even the part about teacher training being more rigorous is not true although the part about it being a respected profession is true (but it still doesn't pay all that well). Oh yes, and the part about spending so much time and effort on the hardest to teach kids is LAUGHABLE. Those kids are beaten into submission. There is no such thing as failure in asian countires. You WILL perform or you will regret it. If you aren't an excellent student you will spend your life in tutoring for hours every day and you will be an outcast... Shamed. Special Ed programs are unheard of. They send those kids to a separate school and wash their hands of them.

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

Yikes. Wonder if that will show up on an epic fail blog. :tongue_smilie: We love that show too.

Not without me. :D

How about making one of the casseroles in muffin cups to change up the look? The casserole looks yummy.

Well dh and I cooked up this plan for 2012. Our goal is to pick 12 books that we want to read in order to grow in various areas of our faith. We will do one a month and we will each read the book separately but then talk about the book together. Then we decided to invite some friends to join us in this. Now we have a little book club that will meet once a month. Here are the books we chose: Slave: The Hidden Truth About Your Identity in Christ - John MacArthur; Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself (Re:Lit) - Joe Thorn; Gospel-Powered Parenting: How the Gospel Shapes and Transforms Parenting - William P. Farley Desiring God, Revised Edition: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist - John Piper Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God - John Piper What Is the Mission of the Church?: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission - Kevin DeYoung Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus - Kyle Idleman The Holiness of God - R. C. Sproul Family Driven Faith : Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God - Voddie Baucham Jr. Reading Scripture with the Reformers - Timothy George The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God - Timothy Keller Alone with God: Rediscovering the Power and Passion of Prayer - John MacArthur Jr.

My ds, who has his first "crush" on a girl, decided on his own that, before letting this girl know that he "likes" her, he should ask her parent's permission first. They are in the states and we are here and it really only involves them chatting on FB but he still felt like he should be honest about his feelings so he emailed them. It was such a mature thing to do and I was very proud of him. And I am glad she lives on the other side of the world as I am NOT ready for this stage yet. :svengo:

Well, they pick it up several times a week but you never know when they are coming! They just show up on random days.

For me it is because I am an introvert and a homebody. So I relish my quiet weekends. We do get together maybe once a month with another family we are close with but that is about it.

Congrats!

:lol: :iagree: I'm a sucker and get my kids stuff all the time.

I may have spoken too soon. I am about two thirds of the way through Daughter of Smoke and Bone and man oh man is it GOOD.