Thank you for trying to accommodate their needs. If you would like to go for a baked good that isn't horribly expensive, Amazon sells Pamela's Baking and Pancake mix for a reasonable price. The box contains 3 large bags, and those bags go a long way. There are easy recipes on the bag for coffee cake, muffins, pumpkin bread and more. I have tried them all, and even Non-GF folks don't realize it is GF. Gluten free cereal, fruit, etc. are good options.

My 12 year olds wear leggings. They have them in several prints and colors. Or they just wear pants to church.

My cousin recently spent some time in the ICU because of an untreated abcess. The infection spread to her heart. She is ok now, but it was pretty touch and go for a while. I wouldn't play around with it! ( That said, I'm STILL trying to convince my SIL that she needs to have one in HER mouth taken care of...she's been dealing with it off and on for nearly a year!)

The smell goes away pretty quickly, and it really doesn't take long to get used to it.

Some of these menus sound divine! If I don't do the traditional southern bit, my family will revolt. So, we will have: Roasted Turkey Ham Mashed Potatoes Turkey Gravy Broiled Brusell Sprouts Green Beans Corn Cranberry Sauce Sweet Potatoes Mac-n-Cheese Dressing (dh's aunt is making it) Rolls (from Costco) Desert: I'm sure dh's aunt will bring something yummy, plus GF pecan pie GF pumpkin bread To Drink: Sweet Tea Hansen's Root Beer San Pellegrino Sparkling Orange and Lemon.

Congrats on your paper!!! Our menu: GF toast and a fried egg for breakfast, leftover spagetti squash and greek yogurt with kiwi for lunch, and brats with cabbage for dinner.. My plans...well, my preschooler is here today, so we worked on a Thanksgiving lapbook. Then we went to the butcher to pick up our turkey (22lbs!!! :w00t: ) and had a run to Walmart. Now I just need to keep her occupied until her mom picks her up. Thankfully dd12 is being nice and playing dolls with her. Then dh and I go to pick out windows for our house, and go see how much framing they got done today.

I don't brine, and have great turkey :) I usually mix my seasonings with a lot of salted butter. Then I rub that butter under the skin. I cover well with foil and when it is almost done, I'll pull the foil off so it can brown up.

Mine are getting clothes, some room decor things (we are moving early next year and the twins get their own rooms for the first time!) art supplies, and books. For stockings, I usually put some candy, and toiletries in those. (toothbrushes, hairbows, lipgloss, deodorant, etc.)

1. How many Christmas trees do you put up in your house? Well, I used to put up 3. One large, and two small. This year we'll be lucky if I can squeeze in a small one somewhere. The rental we are in is just too small. 2. Artificial or real? Artificial. I have a dd that would end up in the hospital otherwise due to allergies. (as a side note, when BIL was little he got pneumonia every year at Christmas. It took them about 4 years to figure out that it was the live Christmas tree :( ) 3. Do you decorate yours with a color scheme, theme, or is it a miscellaneous mix of family decorations? Mixed. I love all of our decorations we've collected over the years. 4. White or colored lights? White. With all the mixed up decorations, white just looks better. 5. Icicles or garland? If I had to choose: garland. We haven't had icicles since our first year with a dog :tongue_smilie: 6. Have any ideas for a cute theme for a kids' Christmas tree? dh's cousin had some really cute ones for her kids...she did an all lego tree one year. (hung legos as ornaments) She did a John Deer one, and a hot wheels one too.

These are my daughter's favorite sketchbooks:http://www.dickblick.com/products/canson-xl-mix-media-pads-and-sheets/ Good, thick sheets, nicely bound, and it can lay flat. These are pens she loves. (she draws a lot of anime-type stuff) http://www.dickblick.com/products/sakura-pigma-sensei-manga-drawing-set/?clickTracking=true I love Prismacolor colored pencils and markers. These are pretty much the only pencils I use for drawing: http://www.dickblick.com/products/sanford-design-drawing-pencils/ Also, make sure she has both kneaded erasers and plastic/vinyl erasers. They work a bit differently and both come in handy :)

Sleeping in is anything I can manage past 7.

Win - my younger dds both got 100 on their math work :) Loss - my oldest (almost 16 years old) got her clothes hamper stuck-ish on her head and cheese grated her nose trying to get it off. :001_huh: I'm not sure how it relates to my parenting, but I'm sure it was a failure on my part...somewhere :tongue_smilie:

I was 12-13 when I hit my current height...started my period at 9. (I'm 5'7.5") My oldest is 15 and has pretty much stopped. It slowed WAY down by 14. She's 5'8". My twins are 12 and still growing, but not nearly as much as they did last year. (they are right at 5'6.5") I see them gaining maybe another inch, but not more than that. Their Ped. was horribly wrong when at 5'2" she said they would max out at 5'3" based on their periods.

Reading back over the posts, and I wonder about something. Some people don't like the idea of "my house, my rules". Personally, I think every parent has a right to enforce what is and is not ok in their home. There is no way I would let another adult that was visiting my home play that music here. Why should I let my teen, who is still living here, behave any differently?

That word is not allowed in our home, regardless of context. I think we have to be especially careful of music. It has a way of making the lyrics stick in our head. IMHO it is different to hear something uttered in a movie or in passing, than to listen to it set to music. The mind plays those things over and over. I am actually much more strict about the music my teen listens to than most other things. I have no problem with any genre...as long as it is relatively clean. N****r is one word that isn't on the clean list here. ever.

:lol::lol::lol: Reminds me of a drawing my sweet dd did around the 3rd grade. (Keep in mind, she is the kindest, most mild mannered child I know) Anyway, it was full of a curly haired, glasses wearing woman (ahem) in various death scenes, some quite um...intricate :001_huh: She SWEARS it wasn't me she was putting through such gruesome torture, but I do happen to have curly hair and glasses. I saved it for future blackmail. I also showed it to my SIL as a witness, just in case ;)

:lol::lol::lol: This had my dd and I rolling!

:lol::lol:

Anyone else feel it? I'm in Tennessee. 2 of my girls and I were standing in the kitchen when my whole house rattled. My other dd was laying on the couch and said it felt like the house "rippled". Actually saw the dog's water dish sloshing around. I called my dh who was less than a 1/4 mile a way and he didn't feel a thing. I don't wish for more, but it was kind of cool since I've never felt one before :)

My dh really, really disliked any non-traditional name. He shot down (in flames) Perrin for a boy and Zoe for a girl. I think we only agreed on Kelsie (my oldest) because he was being nice since my mom had just passed away and I wanted something a little different to go with my mom's middle name. Of course Kelsie is VERY common now :glare: I just gave up the fight altogether with the twins. He picked the names out for them 100%. Thankfully I didn't hate them..lol.

I think we float somewhere on the edge of relaxed. My unschooling friends would consider us rigorous, but my Classical friends would not. :001_smile: For us, I have certain things I want accomplished that are non-negotiable: Being able to write well, having a consistant math program, and being well read. The rest is very fluid. I don't require a lot of written work from history or literature. We just read a LOT. I'm not real strict on science, although we do go through the traditional subjects. As long as I feel like they are grasping what they are reading, and do an occasional lab (to get the feel for them) I'm ok. I have been cracking down on Grammar lately, but only because I saw problems with it in their writing and it was affecting my oldest dd's Latin comprehension. I have a light writing program for my oldest because she does more writing on her own than I could ever assign :lol: For the twins, we are doing a formal program because they needed work in that area. Once they improve, that will probably slack off. They have chosen their own foreign language. My dd is LOVING Latin, and doing very well. I feel like it is because it was her choice to take it. We don't do spelling; I feel they are picking that up naturally. (none of them struggle with it..if they did we would work on it) We do have a daily schedule, but it is just a list of things they need to get done that day. They have the freedom to do them in the order and time they like. I have tried to lose the schedule, but they mutiny when I do. :tongue_smilie: I would LOVE to be an unschooler. However, being profoundly unmotivated to learn runs rampant amongst my kids. I'm sure they would learn something, but it would probably be centered around anime and teen romance!

In 2010 we lived in a rental house that had no insulation. We couldn't get our house warmer than 55. It was MISERABLE..lol. My twins and I would all freeze at night. My dh and oldest daughter, however, wouldn't bat an eye. (my oldest dd sleeps in her attic room that has NO heat, by her own choice :glare: You could hang meat in there) My heat is set on 69 right now. It is a little cooler than comfortable, but easy enough to warm up with a sweater or blanket.

I already have one :D We had one just minutes from my house in Texas...we did a good portion on our grocery shopping there.

:iagree:This is what I have used when teaching drawing. I believe that anyone can improve their drawing, given the desire and patience to do so. Not everyone will be a Rembrandt, but there is always room to develop the skill.