Thinking of all of you moms-in-waiting! Btw...I had a Superbowl baby almost 9 years ago! We got to the hospital at 6pm, she was born 30 minutes later, and we were all snuggled up in bed by kickoff time. ;)

:grouphug: I'm so sorry for your loss! We waited for a few months before going to the shelter to look for another dog after we lost Jake. My kids ended up falling in love with TWO litter mates, so we now have 2 dogs who will be 5 years old this spring. They couldn't replace Jake, but they are great dogs in their own right, and they have helped to liven the place up. It was way too quiet without our canine companion. Thinking of you today.

I agree. We had to do this 5 years ago with our then-14 year old lab. My hubby and I went together, and both cried together. He was our first baby. I wouldn't have wanted my hubby to do that alone. The vet was very understanding and left us alone with Jake for as long as we wanted afterwards. They said not to worry about payment. Just come back in a few days when we were up to it and settle the bill. The office also sent us a nice condolence card in the mail with a beautiful poem inside. They also took Jake's footprints and gave them to us to keep. I'm so sorry! :crying:

Add in a few games of Chess & Monopoly and that's exactly what my boys did when they had their friends here last weekend! Oh...and it was a sleepover...although "sleep" wasn't accomplished until 2am! :lol:

I read the blog to my kids a little while ago! :lol: I loved the one about having to actually go to the library and look things up! I had to explain to them about the library having card catalogs with drawers and drawers of index cards...and that was how you found the book you were looking for!

We're going to Disneyworld in 19 days!! :party: My SIL owns a timeshare in Orange Lake and we're renting a week from her for $250.00. I think you can go to the Disneyboards and find folks who are willing to sell weeks there as well. Not sure what they'd charge, but at least you know what the base price is (before they add any "profit mark-up"). We just ordered 7-day tickets this morning, and that was $1570.00. :svengo: We purposely wanted a condo for the full kitchen, so that we can eat a large breakfast before heading out to the parks, grab something light in the parks (a hot dog, ice cream cone, etc.), and then eat dinner at the condo in the evening. We are doing one character breakfast during the week we're there, as our youngest wants to eat with Mickey Mouse. So the condo is paid for, and the tickets are paid for. Just need $$ for groceries once we get to Florida, and the cost of gas (around $300 is what we estimate for Virginia to Florida and back again). The kids received $100 each from their Grandmother for Christmas and they're saving it to spend at Disney (t-shirts, stuffed animals, etc.) We are SO excited!

Microwave Toaster Flour - Sugar - Rice Canisters Large Bucket of Utensils (spatula, ladles, etc.) Crock Pot Liquor (a few bottles of scotch, kahlua, etc.) Bread & Rolls Coffee Maker Blender Knife Block with Knives Paper Towel Holder

When we lived in Maryland, I woke up one day to about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground and went out to the get the paper. Noticed my neighbor had her young son bundled up and they were waiting for the bus. I called out to her, "The schools are closed." She was from upstate New York. She looked at me and shook her head. "In Buffalo, we call this SPRING!" :lol: I don't hear much complaining from my neighbors for schools being closed on account of snow, although I do hear grumbling when either (a) it's supposed to snow, but hasn't yet, and they're already closed, (b) there's barely an inch on the ground, and they're closed, or © they wait until 6:30 or close to 7:00 to announce a closing. I can understand the last one. If I didn't have to get up, let me sleep!

My oldest two have cell phones, but my younger two do not. Mainly this is because the 11 and 8 year olds are never home alone, nor are they ever left alone at any outside activities. The oldest daughter is at college and a cell phone for her is a "social must", not to mention very valuable for safety / security reasons. My 16 year old is left at home sometimes and we want him to be able to reach us if he needs to, and vice versa.

Same here! Adding in crescent rolls too (have 2 unused rolls from Christmas that I want to use before they expire!)

We have a Wii in the family room; everyone plays it, and the kids have an XBox-360 in the basement rec room. My kids love them both -- and I really enjoy the Wii! (I've been using the workout DVDs and am amazed at how much they're helping to get me in shape!) My boys have the Nintendo DS, but they're reserved for car trips. They don't play them much at home, although they have been playing them at home lately, simply because they received new games for them for Christmas.

Another vote for Tae Kwon Do! My oldest daughter and youngest son have their black belts and they love TKD!

Since I have been lambasted for my post about the dinner, I want to say that the grandkids would've eaten what you posted! Corn, mashed potatoes, turkey or ham would've been great! There was only prime rib - and big slabs of it - which was hard for the 2 year olds to literally eat. Asparagus was THE only vegetable on the table. (I don't care for it myself, but my hubby and kids love it). And there were scalloped potatoes with cheese, which the little ones were able to eat successfully. I suppose my :001_huh: moment was that there wasn't a 'kid-friendly alternative'. Not that the meal should've consisted of chicken nuggets and mac & cheese, but that something would've been offered that would've had more appeal for the younger ones as a side-dish / substitute entree. And this party took place on the day after Christmas, not Christmas day. This was the family get-together and, usually, we have a 'buffet spread' (ham and turkey sandwiches, veggie tray, stuffing balls, Chick-Fil-A nuggets, fruit bowl, etc.). So I think the menu took many of the family members by surprise.

Yes, I'm seeing it in our area of Virginia. Some homeschooling friends of ours were transferred to Florida last month. They lived down the street from us, same neighborhood. They bought their house in 2007 for $480,000. Sold it a few weeks ago for $330,000. And they were surprised they got that much for it. We have a foreclosure 2 doors down from us that originally sold for $425,000. It's been priced at $225,000 for the last 2 years and still hasn't sold.

Mine wasn't a 'train wreck' but a funny gaffe, none the less! My sister-in-law hosted the family Christmas party. It was nice and the kids had a great time with their presents, but....my SIL served prime rib and asparagus for the Christmas dinner. :001_huh: My kids were fine with it, but we had 4 grandkids there between the ages of 2 and 4. Not a chicken nugget, macaroni & cheese dish, or hot dog in sight. Who invites a houseful of kids to Christmas dinner and serves asparagus?? :lol:

Towers of Midnight -- the latest in the Wheel of Time series started by Robert Jordan (Brandon Sanderson is completing the series after the author's untimely death). Really enjoying the book! Have read several chapters today while watching the snow!

The snow just started sticking here although we've had flurries off and on all day (we're outside of Fredericksburg, Virginia). Just checked our local weather and we're supposed to get 6-10 inches by Monday morning! Yikes!

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm up...and the 8 year old is up. Trying to keep her from spontaneous combusting as she waits for the sleepyheads to rise! LOL :lol:

My oldest son has Aspergers and what you posted describes him very well. What we're planning on doing with our son is to have him go to the community college for 2 years (which in his case may take 3-4 years, but that's okay!) and then transfer to a 4 year school, if he wants to continue after he earns his AA degree. He isn't quite sure what he wants to do yet, but he loves computers and programming, as well as art and design. That way, he can live at home for a few more years and take a few classes at a time. Not sure where you're located, but there's a college in West Virginia (Marshall University) that has a special program for young people with Aspergers. They live together and have "assistants" to help them with social events and classwork. I'll put the link below, just in case you're somewhere on the East Coast. http://www.marshall.edu/coe/atc/services/available_services/modelCollege.asp As far as writing goes, may I make a suggestion? One of the gifts I purchased this year for Christmas for my son is a software called Dragon. I found it at Best Buy. The home edition is $100.00. It writes on the screen whatever you speak. So my son will be able to "dictate" papers and essays by speaking aloud and it will do the spelling and actual physical "writing" for him. I can't wait for him to see it! Something like that may help your son since most college papers are typed these days, and many of them are submitted online to boot. Find out also if the community college has a special needs director. Ours does and he helps students with registering for classes and serves as a 'mediator' between the student and the professors. My oldest daughter is completing her AA degree in the spring and each syllabus for her classes has included a section saying something to the effect of, "if you have special needs please let me know," so the professor can help the student in any way that they can. I hope this helps a little!

My kids love to do this every year! http://www.noradsanta.org Merry Christmas everyone!

We buy new pajamas every year, too. So everyone puts on their new pajamas and we play a new board game. Each year, the game is different. This year, we're playing Yahtzee because it's easy enough for the youngest to play. We eat pizza and shrimp and other finger dishes. My oldest three then help to put out the presents after my youngest goes to bed and they can pick one present to open that night. Nothing fancy or spectacular but my kids love it. Oh...and we always track Santa at Norad! http://www.noradsanta.org/

Mine didn't really start eating table food until around 9 months. We didn't do baby food, but just pureed / mashed whatever we were eating.

I have one. My youngest used to love taking bubble baths in my jetted tub. A few years ago, when she was 6, she was taking a bath and I was folding my laundry on the bed. I heard her call for me and I called back. And she then said, "Help me, I'm stuck." I went into the bathroom and her hair was caught in the intake area of the tub!! Thankfully, the water wasn't very high in the tub and it kept her face above the water, but I stayed with her and put my hand under the back of her head and yelled for my son to get the scissors. Had to literally cut her hair away from the "vent", even after we were able to turn the jets off. So use caution with jetted tubs when you have little girls with long hair!

We're giving our oldest daughter a car for Christmas. The very-used car my sister-in-law gave her when she turned 16 finally conked out in June and we've been sharing my car since then. She drives to college (a 45-minute drive each way) three days a week so I can't WAIT to have my own car back to drive whenever I want to! It will be a new car -- we sank more money into the used car she used to have than it was worth -- we don't want that hassle all over again -- but, believe me, it won't be a Lexus! :lol: Can't wait to surprise her on Christmas morning, though! We're having the car delivered to our neighbor's house and we're going to hang the keys on the Christmas tree and tell her she has a present somewhere on the tree ... we'll see how long it takes her to find them! ;)

Your daughter is not alone! My 8 year old niece LOVES to cook -- and asked for bakeware for Christmas! I kid you not! So we bought her cupcake tins and baking sheets and cookie cutters. I had a lot of fun shopping for her at the local cooking store!