Probably beans and cornbread. Southern comfort food night. :lol:

For the record....that didn't sound like any Southern Baptist funeral I've been to :001_huh: A friend of ours was sitting with us during my dh's best friends funeral. We were all pretty torn up, and it was a very sad event. But his friend's nickname was Muffin. For some reason, it was VERY hard to keep a straight face when the oh so serious Catholic priest would say "Muffin". The friend that was sitting with us actually horse laughed OUT LOUD when he said it. We figure Muffin got a kick out of it anyway :D

We had a partially finished basement in our old house. I liked having windows. I would paint the walls a bright cheerful color, because even with windows it can become cave like. I would have LOVED a bathroom. I would have installed a wall of cabinets and counter-top for crafts and messy school stuff. Lots of bookshelves. I would have a laminate or tile floor, with rugs. Much easier to clean up messes.

Well.... Our entryway closest is stuffed to the brim with school and art supplies. The dining room (first room you see) has bookshelves on every wall, two computers, and science equipment out. The kitchen has a map and two white boards hanging in it. The refrigerator currently has a human body poster hanging on it. The half wall between the kitchen and living room always has our big SL binder sitting on it. You are very likely to find various experiments in the kitchen. Every room in this house contains books. Maybe it does? :lol:

No vacation here either. :) Our vacations for the next several years will be going home to visit family. :auto:

My 13 year old just began lessons a few months ago. She's making progress, but still struggles with watching her hands. Her teacher said that it's never too late, but it just takes more effort and time when you are older. And lots of practice to develop the muscle memory. Her younger sister is about to begin lessons, and I'm afraid that she'll pass up the older one. But not much we can do about it...lol.

I would let him. Give him a few months to try out the new name to make sure, then make it legal. My daughter has an R impediment, and her name is Miranda. It frustrates her to no end that people cannot understand her when she says her name. (They always hear Melinda or Amanda) Her speech is slowly improving, and I believe eventually it will be barely noticable. If it was pronounced and had little chance of improvement, I'd let her change her name. With your son being a boy, I'd be even more inclined to let him change it. (It just seems like it would mess with a boy's self esteem even more so than a girl)

I finally put mine up, although it really wasn't the photo I had planned on taking. The week went by too quick!

I'm usually in bed around 11:30 and up around 6:30. Unfortunately I never sleep all the way through. I get up a couple of times most nights. And some nights I wake up nearly hourly. But I usually feel fairly rested.

I drive a little 'o6 Kia Spectra. I love it. Even with 3 kids! lol. It's a zippy little car that's great on gas, and we've never had any trouble out of it.

Yep. I just knew I was going to have a little boy with red curly hair and green eyes. I dreamed about him. I saw my dh with him in my dreams. I can still see his face to this day. I gave birth to 3 blond haired, blue eyed girls, and not a curl among them :lol: I'm holding out for a grandson ;)

You can do it :) Get a small, easy to use camera (we have a little Kodak Easy Share that is for carrying around, and it takes pretty good photos. It also fits in my pocket.) Don't tell your kids to smile. Just capture them doing whatever it is they are doing. When they have to stop and 'say cheese' they get frustrated and uncooperative. Plus you will not get those beautiful natural smiles. Don't dismiss photo ops if they aren't looking at the camera. Some of the best photos of my kids are when they are absorbed in something else. Take a second or two to make sure your subject fills the frame, but without cutting off anything important. Try to get close enough that they don't get lost in the background of the photo. Have fun, and don't be afraid to delete the shots that fail. It's digital. Get a decent photo editing program like Photoshop elements. It can correct lighting issues, red eye, etc. Upload your photos often, and burn them to disc or some other storage device. Set up an account with a photo printing company like Snapfish, Walgreens, etc. When you get your pics uploaded, send the ones you like off to be printed right away. (or get a photo printer and do it at home...)

My kids also like to make paper doll clothes with it. http://www.dollstreetdreamers.com/back_alley_articles/shash_paper_doll_template.gif

You can freeze the blackberries for use in cobblers. Or make jam http://www.pickyourown.org/jam.htm (hey, I saw a fig jam recipe on there too!) Squash can be sliced and frozen, but you want to use it in casserole dishes later because it gets kind of mushy. You can eat it raw too...good with ranch dip (my kids think so anyway). I'm at a loss for figs...never had any that weren't dried.

Oh, I think you may have hit the stubborn dog lottery with that breed combo. We've had chihuahuas. They were by far the hardest of all the dogs we've had to house break. One never did get it. We have a Jack Russell. The most. stubborn. dog. ever. She is uncannily smart, but will do nothing she doesn't want to. She was fairly easy to house train, but I think it was only because she prefers going outside (she can bark at the birds while she pees :glare:) I cannot imagine that a mix of the two breeds would be easy to train. (Sorry, I know that's no help!)

You beat me to it. My dh used this in a sermon (and made the entire congregation squirm)

Guess I'm WAY out of style then. I wear big, very un-cute tennis shoes with ankle height socks, with shorts, capris, AND my jeans. (If I wear anything else very often, I get severe foot pain) I also have yet to meet a pair of no show socks that don't end up wadded up somewhere near my toes after about ten minutes. Oh, and I hope, hope, hope the low rise jeans don't go away!! I'm one of those 3 people that they fit better than the high rise.

:bigear: The only t-shirts I've found that actually fit me right are the Old Navy v-neck t's. I'm very long waisted and most t-shirts are too short. I would love to find some that are a bit better quality though.

I cringe every time I have to go buy my tennis shoes. But they've kept me able to walk, and from having surgery. Well worth the money ;)

Sometimes getting ideas across in a message board is tough. I don't think the family should be together ALL the time. But what I often see is a youth group doing EVERYTHING separately. They even sit separately during worship. It's like the youth are treated as a separate church altogether. Yes, I think they should OFTEN do things with the entire family at church. I don't think everything should be tailored to the teen. Teens are capable of participating in adult worship and service. Instead, they are often getting a watered down feel good message coupled with snacks and games. I don't think that is doing them any good. (and yes, I know this isn't the case at all churches, but I've seen it more often than not) Yes, age appropriate classes are important. I'm not talking about Sunday school. And I don't think it's wrong to have events for fun. What I don't agree with is wrapping every single thing a teen does at church into a youth group geared towards fun and entertainment. It's a time of life that they can be productive participants in serving Christ. Parents should be involved in the church their children attend, and know what goes on in the youth groups. I don't think it's crucial for a teen to spend large amounts of time with other teens. I don't think the huge amount of separation in the church is needed, or helpful. Youth groups have their place and and uses, but they are not vital to a healthy church. I think church as a supportive community of Christians is being replaced by an institution. There isn't a sense of community in many churches. It's turned into a place where you walk through the door, go your separate ways and learn things you never apply to your real life outside. People can attend the same church for years, and never even know half the congregation. I'm not saying to nitpick over every little thing. My issues are exactly what you are getting at. Love God and love one another are getting seriously overlooked in the youth groups that I've seen. It's become a race to out entertain the world to keep them coming. I see very little love for one another, or to love God more than your stuff being successfully promoted. What I do see is the whole say a prayer, bam you're saved, now bring friends so we can get our numbers up. I would love to find a church that has it's heart and soul built on love for God and His people. We just haven't really seen it yet. (although we are hoping the one we attend right now turns out to be that way...we haven't been there long enough to know yet.) I want to see a church that pratices true acceptance of all people that want to come to Christ, no matter what their background. And I want to see that church promote the family, not a teen based culture. And for the record, I'm not against youth groups in general. I'm just disappointed in what I see them producing. I know there are good groups out there, that have strong leaders. But there are many more out there that are not places I want my girls learning some of the most important things in their lives.

I agree with that 100%. But that isn't the problem I have with youth groups. It's the segregation from the rest of the church, and the break down of teaching what a Christian should be. It's why we've had such a hard time finding a church. We expect to be able to build relationships with a church family as a whole, not have our kids divided up just like at school. And we would like to see sound Biblical teaching, not church-lite with an entertainment focus. Sorry, this is meandering off-topic a bit. :tongue_smilie:

For us it's a few reasons. We have visted many churches (due to a move out of state, and just trying to find a place to serve God) and we see the same problems over and over. There are many parents who leave biblical training of their children up to the church. Churches are feeding into this with the youth ministry mentality. Which if they used youth ministry for actual discipleship, it could be helpful. However, the youth at many churches we've been to are almost completely segregated from the church as a whole, and then their 'entertain me' mentality is fed. I've seen very little fruitful training in youth groups. It's all about making friends, and getting kids to church. But once they get them there, they aren't doing anything productive. Churches need to focus much more on teaching parents how to disciple their children. Then, there is the fact that they are making the youth programs look so much like the rest of the world. Recreational dating, bullying, materialism, they are all rampant in the youth groups. Leaders seem to be doing very little to discourage these things, and in some cases the environment actually encourages it. Youth ministers seem to be seriously dropping the ball when it comes to teaching teens how to LIVE as Christians, not just carry the label around. Then there are the five billion camps, programs, etc. that they promote like your salvation depends on them. It's frustrating to me when they 'advertise' all these fun and exciting camps and so-called mission trips that cost an arm and a leg, and end up being little more than church sanctioned vacations. Then if your children do not go to these things, they get left out of the group friendships that revolve around these activities. I'm not against Christian teens getting together to have fun. I like to get together with friends and have fun too. But it shouldn't be the focus of church. God isn't there for our entertainment, but that's how He is being presented to the youth in many churches. If a church wants to set up a recreational program for youth to get together, fine. But they shouldn't make it the foundation of the youth program.

Personally, I wouldn't. If I didn't agree with a church's doctrine enough to attend, I certainly wouldn't hand them my children. (Youth groups and their let's have fun all the time mentality are a bit of a sore spot for me anyway)

Great idea! I'm playing!