CNN has it: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/obama.transcript/index.html

My son was sooooo touched last night, watching President-Elect Obama speak to the crowd in Chicago, and watching Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey in tears as he spoke. He commented that he couldn't imagine what it must be like to view this through the eyes of an African-American who had lived through the days of segregation and the civil rights movement. As a friend of mine pointed out to me last night when we spoke about it...Jesse Jackson was standing next to Martin Luther King, Jr. when he was assassinated...and to witness Obama's victory last night --- wow. I can only imagine how sweet (and yet bittersweet) a victory it must be.

I will be thinking of you! :grouphug: Please keep us updated!

We (the hubby and I) had to show our IDs and state our full names and addresses. Nothing to sign, though.

Didn't take that long here!!! (We're in a rural area also) All told it took about 15-20 minutes. We got there around 9 and we were out by 9:30. But it was a great turnout, from what I could see!! When we voted in the primaries, we were one of five people there...and the only ones under 70. ;)

Thanks so much for the link!!!! I had just a plain old US map printed out, but this one is even better because of the electoral college information!!!

My 6 year old daughter has special needs and she is profoundly delayed in the areas of language and fine motor skills. She sees an occupational therapist once a week and a speech therapist twice a week. The OT rewards my daughter for using a proper pencil grip with a sticker on her written work (and we do that in our homeschool as well. She loves having a sticker placed on her paper and she tries to work carefully to ensure that she receives that sticker!) Her speech therapist rewards her with those mini-containers of play-doh, which is one of my daughter's favorite things, if she has a good session (my daughter has to work extremely hard, just to speak words aloud). And I've also encorporated this into our homeschool. At the end of a good school day, I try to have something small for her. Sometimes, it's a new pencil or a new box of 8 crayons, or a small container of play-doh, or a handful of M&Ms. For my daughter, it isn't so much rewarding her for doing what she should as it is rewarding her for something that takes extraordinary effort on her part. What would come as natural for an "average" child, such as talking, is something that she has to work extra hard to accomplish.

I'm not sure if you're looking for something to support monetarily, or "in person", but my children are very involved in Special Olympics. Two of my children have special needs and play on the teams, and my other two children volunteer as "buddies". If you don't have a Special Olympics chapter in your area, you could look for another organization that my children are involved in called Little League Challengers, which is baseball for special needs children. Two of my children are on the local team, and my other two children volunteer as buddies (I'm one of the team moms and my husband is an assistant coach). Buddies in both organizations cheer loudly and, in Little League Challengers, they help the players to manuever the bases (some are vision impaired and need to have their hands held, some are in wheelchairs and need to be pushed around the bases. And buddies are also assigned to every child to make sure that the players aren't injured .. many times, they can't see the ball, or they don't process information in a timely enough fashion to avoid being hit by the ball). I'm not sure if there's a minimum age for being a buddy with Special Olympics, but buddies can be as young as 8 (as long as it's a "responsible 8") for the Little League Challengers.

You may want to try a teaching store and ask for "loop scissors" My youngest daughter has fine motor delays and she used scissors like these for a year or two, and she can now use regular child scissors. I found them at a local teaching supply store for less than $10.

I hope this isn't considered a 'political post'! If it is, feel free to remove it, dear moderators! John McCain was in two skits last night and he's very funny! http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/mccain-qvc-open/805381/ http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-sen-mccain/805401/

Yikes!!!!!! That's a lot of moola!!!

I have the Dora's Talking House. I think it's $88 on Amazon.com. (I went there when I read your post to make sure it was the same thing we have!) I don't think I paid that much for it last year (I bought it at Toys R Us). Then I purchased several of the furniture sets to go with it. I remember finding the furniture sets (which each come with a different character) at Wal-Mart.

:thumbup: My 6yo daughter plays with her Dora Talking House nearly every day!!! It was all she wanted for Christmas last year, too. It's a great toy. I will tell you to make sure you find the little characters - Dora, Boots, Swiper, etc., - and furniture sets early, because I had trouble finding them the closer it came to Christmas! It doesn't eat batteries. I don't think we've changed them more than once or twice since last Christmas. I hope this helps!!

That's what we do -- we tip 15%. 20% if we've called them out in bad weather or on a very busy day (like Superbowl Sunday). My hubby delivered pizzas for Dominos for three years, in addition to his full-time day job, when we had two small children and very little money! So if he sees an older man or woman delivering pizzas, he's been known to tip as much as $5 for a pizza because he remembers the days when we survived week-to-week on his tips!

My youngest son is 9. He has Rock Band for Wii, but he has told us that he wants something for Christmas where he can play the instruments, record his own music, and sing along to his own songs. I'm not looking for something that would break the bank, but this is to be his "big gift", so we're willing to spend up to $125 - $150 for it. Does this sound familiar to anyone? I'm thinking of buying him a keyboard with a microphone, if I can't find something like this with a variety of instruments. And is there a keyboard out there where you can record numerous songs that you've written? (My oldest dd has an keyboard that we bought her years ago, but it only records one song at a time; once you record another one, the first one is erased). Thanks in advance!

I'm so glad we're not the only ones!! My hubby and I don't exchange gifts either! We usually go shopping together and buy one thing for both of us to enjoy (last year, it was a new TV...this year, it's going to be a treadmill). We try to find something that we will really use all year long. Two years ago, it was a potrack to hang over the kitchen island because we both love to cook and we were always complaining about never having any place to put our pots and pans where they were out of the way, but easily accessible. We buy for our kids only, and then for our nieces and nephews (but, like your family, it's a "we're thinking of you" gift. We never spend more than $30 each for them). And our children don't give us presents either.

We've cut back on the number of gifts. Seriously, my kids get way too many presents anyway (by the time you count Grandma, aunts & uncles, cousins, etc.) There are some Christmases where each child would easily have 15-20 presents by the time you count all the family members. So this seemed like a very good time to say "Not so much"...since so many folks are cutting back as well. We're still giving each child one 'big gift'....that's something in the $100-$125 range this year (that amount was higher by at least $100-$150 last year). And then they're each getting maybe 4 or 5 additional presents (DVDs, video games, baby dolls, Lego kids, art sets, new headphones, CDs, etc. -- depending on what they each enjoy) and that's it.

:svengo: Never met a homeschooler who didn't own a crockpot!! Obviously, you've missed a memo somewhere along the line. :D Definitely ask for one for Christmas!!

My 17 year old daughter is going to a Halloween party as a Gypsy. My 9 year old is going Trick or Treating with his best friend (also 9) and their dad. My son is going to be Darth Vader and his best friend is going as a Storm Trooper. My 14 year old says he's too old to trick or treat this year, and my 6 year old doesn't like Halloween at all...it's just too scary, as far as she's concerned, so she's going to stay home with me and hand out candy (and eat plenty of it herself, I'm sure!)

I'm a HUGE Outlander / Diana Gabaldon fan!!! All I can say is :w00t: I can't wait for the movie :party: And as long as Jamie has that Gaelic going, I could care less what he looks like! 'Tis the accent and all that sassenach that gets my blood pumping! :D

First, find a used video game store! You can save $$$ buying used games, and you can find games that aren't available anymore. My boys love all the Lego games (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc.). They also love anything with Mario in it. Pokemon is a BIG hit with my 9 year old!!! They like games with animated characters and there are numerous ones out there...just make sure it's rated "E" for Everyone, since you have a young player.

Thank you for the apology...and for placing a warning label on the games. I appreciate that you've taken the time to do this and to write this post. :001_smile:

Exactly. That's what was so upsetting. The fact that they KNEW what they were going to do and purposely planned on scaring him. I honestly and sincerely believed them when they said it was okay to come up! I thought, no one in their right mind would scare a small child on purpose. I was so livid, but I couldn't even tell them off because I had to take him straight home.

Thanks, beansprouts. 10 years later, it still brings me to tears just talking about it. :grouphug: back at ya.