We just watched the movie version of The Railway Children. It's an older BBC production. We loved it! My daughter and I love Edith Nesbit, and the storyline. My son loves seeing the old steam trains. (His obsession.) Something bad has happened to the father, but nothing is shown and it has a happy ending. Oh, and we watched Music Man because I wanted to see it, and was surprised that they loved it too. There are a couple of songs with inappropriate content, but it will be years before they understand the lyrics.

My last little guy liked to bite, pinch, pull hair, play with the other nipple, squeeze the other boob. I'd get him to quit one thing and he would start a new thing. I wanted this to be the baby I nursed til 2, but that did not happen. We quit around 18 mo. Also, I never bought a nursing necklace, but I tried using necklaces to distract him, and he broke them. If I held his hands, tried to substitute a toy, etc he would often refuse to nurse, or start biting. I never tried a toy with long hair though. That's a great idea. The pinching was least objectionable, and I settled for letting him pinch me while nursing to fall asleep. A few bruises on my upper arm was a price I was willing to pay. Anything for baby sleep! (I also had low supply. I think it's common to take a break, and try again later. Show the baby you will not put up with that. But that led to lower supply for me, so I couldn't do it til we were ready to quit. Also, the slower flow and less milk of low supply can be the cause of some biting. :( ) It's crazy that I think back nostalgically, and miss those nursing times. That habit of grabbing for my other boob stuck, even though I always tried to deflect him. At 3, when I rock him he still grabs a boob. So weird and annoying.

Automatic ice maker. Before that we had ice cube trays, which were a pain to get ice out of. And the ice would usually sit picking up freezer flavors. If there is an occasion for a cooler full of ice, I start stockpiling ice in our chest freezer. I have a hard time paying $8 or more for some frozen water I can make for free.

I did a Whole30 while breastfeeding a 10mo old. I don't think I got enough carbs. I had a really hard time keeping my weight up. And I did experience a dip in milk supply. And I was eating a sweet potato and an avocado every day, as well as plenty of fats. Yes, I know everyone brings up women in 3rd world countries. But maybe some of them have more sensitive milk supplies too, and their babies don't make it. As a person who has had issues with making enough milk -don't jeopardize your milk supply!

Words related to God we've explained that we don't use in our family out of respect and it's been no problem so far. And the kids haven't brought up any other words they've chanced to hear. I don't bring anything up, but I wonder how/when to comment on a word that has changed usage. We have run across so many in old books! And my husband would rather I keep my mouth shut. The only one I've explained so far is ass. Also, a couple years ago my daughter was excited to find a big stack of Dick & Jane readers secondhand. I really think I should tell her why people are not called Dick anymore. Try keeping a straight face with sentences like, "Sally is little. Dick is big. Little little Sally. Big big Dick."

Wow. This is exactly how I feel. You are not alone.

http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00PS07TBA/ref=twister_B00NJEN4T8 Amazon has free returns, and if you price stalk, you can find a deal. I was recently looking for a sandal with arch support, good for some walking, and also in the water. I also wanted an open toe look- cuter and more airy. Teva sandals were on sale and I spent less than $25 for a pair on Amazon. I love the Tevas! Not quite as good as running shoes, and not suitable for real hiking with the open toe and lack of heavy duty ankle support, but just what I was looking for, especially since I couldn't go over $30.

To answer your question, maybe your husband could help with one favorite subject. Or help with chores while you are dizzy, so you can nestle in bed and teach a child. Or read aloud to them at bedtime. Or supervise a hands-off subject. Would your kids do well in the evening? Does he have a flexible work schedule? My husband doesn't, but he could. After schooling would not work for us, when everyone is tired and we're in the supper to bedtime crunch. And he is not the type to always be looking for educational opportunities, or give detailed information to kid questions. He leaves all the homeschooling philosophy, curriculum decisions, etc to me. He does supervise leftover math, read to the kids, play games with them. But he is smart, very patient, and good with our kids. If I had the education and skills to get a well paying job (I don't), and he wanted to be a stay at home dad, he would do well. I'm sure he would get into the curriculum decisions, day planning, and field trips. He would choose different curriculum, and have a different approach, and that would be ok. I would have the worst time being hands off and supportive. ;) He does a good portion of the cleaning now, and if I worked instead I would expect to do a little less than I am doing as a SAHM. I would still do all of the cooking. But my husband homeschooling the kids is just a fantasy.

I'd almost forgotten, but my daughter did this for about 4 months. It was several times a day to almost nonstop. She outgrew it, or learned to be private. No UTI, she just liked the feel and it was comforting. Now I'm trying to break my 3 yr old boy from constantly picking his nose in public. (And sometimes eating it. Ugh.)

I'll share my story, so you know other outcomes are a possibility. I've tried going gluten free several times because everyone raves about it. I've also done dairy free though I was not excited about it. I hoped it would help with some minor health problems. I was gluten free for a whole summer, did the whole 30 for a month, and later to support my husband, went gluten, dairy, corn, soy, almond, sugar, etc free again for 70 days. No difference in how I feel. I don't do well with extremely low carb. I feel just fine when I reintroduce bread. I feel great when I eat cheese or a bowl of yogurt. I don't regret trying these diets, but it's not for me. I eat less gluten now, and more alternative whole food carbs, which I think is healthy. But I don't feel bad eating gluten. Dairy is not what causes my drippy nose, it is allergies. With Whole 30, I did discover that I feel better eating a ton of vegetables, but that is all I learned. Cutting back on sugar and processed carbs helps me with moods, energy, etc, but ice cream is not poison for me. I'm not trying to discourage you. I'm just saying don't be discouraged if you don't get miracle results. Gluten free/dairy free is not "life changing" for everyone. Not EVERYONE in the world has a problem with gluten and dairy. I hope it works for you, and that you can think of it as a fun project/experiment as you get started. I would do both at once, so you don't find dairy free meals you love that have gluten, or vice versa. I like having some GF/DF meals the whole family likes, that we can serve to guests who follow that eating plan.

Also mosquito related, we tried all the natural Deet-free mosquito repellents I could find. Including my MIL growing her own herbs and making her own! Repel Lemon Eucalyptus worked the best for us. It works pretty well in the yard, at the lake and beach, hiking in the woods. We haven't tested it in a severe bug situation yet though.

We have a lawn company spray our entire lawn twice a year, for about $200 each time. We do it for the red imported fire ants. But it also reduces flea, tick, and mosquito populations. I think with treatment it's about 25% of what it had been, big reduction. We tried natural methods and everything you can get at a Home Depot and similar. But the fire ants are too resilient, and had taken over the yard. Now, I do hate to spray something toxic all over our yard. I feel bad about how it affects all the other living creatures. But on the other hand, we can't set foot in the yard if we don't fight this invasive species. On frogs, bats, etc, don't you need some kind of water to draw them, a breeding ground for mosquitos to attract them? When we were reading on how to attract bats, the Internet said we needed water, which of course would also up our mosquito population.

LibraryThing is a relatively inexpensive way to catalog home or small libraries. I bet there are other systems out there too.

I like this so so much!

I've seen tiny dogs in purses, arms, the seat of the shopping cart. It's not very often, and always a small dog. It's never bothered me, but I can see why it shouldn't be allowed in some places. I do see dogs at pet shops and Tractor Supply, and am glad to see them. It's nearly always well behaved pets. The few service dogs I've seen have always been larger breeds, serious about their work. In a related note, my kids and I love the show Dogs With Jobs. The first episode about a service dog for an autistic boy gave me happy tears. http://smile.amazon.com/Bruno-Police-Dog-Honey-Companion/dp/B0112O9GZC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462924567&sr=8-1&keywords=Dogs+with+jobs

Ok, I eat them raw/dryish every day. The only trouble I've had is they get stuck in my teeth. I sprinkle them on plain yogurt or oatmeal and eat immediately. If you want to eat a large quantity, there are a ton of chia pudding recipes, but just a tablespoon works fine sprinkled on about anything.

I have no useful information. But yay! That sounds so exciting! My daughter and I are big fans of the books, and it is on our list to go camping there during pony penning day someday. I am afraid of the bugs though. Sand is not so bad for me if there are showers.

What exactly is a reaction to disposable pads? I have no rash or irritation. Just wicked cramps. It's hard for me to believe that changing the kind of product I use would do anything for the cramping, pain, heavy flow, length of period. For those who say it makes a difference, how does it work? Very curious here.

6 people, 1 bathroom = has to be the bathroom first. Now, I do care what people see, and try to have people over regularly. It was hard when our kitchen was torn linoleum, the livingroom nasty stained carpet, and we had no couches & chairs, just 1 old futon. It was good for me to get over myself, but still... Our bedroom is the only room left in the house with nasty stained cream carpet from previous owners. Company will see the living room, go up to the playroom, other kids in my kids' rooms, but nobody comes to our bedroom. We will recarpet when we have spare cash. I also spend more on bedding etc for decorating my daughters room than our room. Our master bath will be the last to get wallpaper stripped too. It doesn't bother me. A kitchen like that would bug me. But 6 people can't easily share a bathroom. That will make daily life difficult, not just un-pretty. Can you do the bathroom and look at doing just the floor in the kitchen? Maybe save $ by buying used toilet and sink on craigslist? If you can get the ugly floor gone, maybe you can rock those retro orange countertops for a while. Then paint cabinets white when you're finished with the other projects. Then come up with $$ for countertops or full remodel. Also, you know you won't leave the kitchen forever, and the risk of never doing the bathroom is to great to put it off.

Thanks for all the ideas! I showed my DD italics and New American cursive at first, thinking it would be easier. Got a firm no on that. Not fancy enough, too much like the regular alphabet. Spencerian is so beautiful. I love the way it looks. I only wish I wrote like that. But my daughter's printing is not great, not sure she is up to it. I just realized that we do copy work with ELTL, and they have a slant cursive option. Has anyone used Handwriting Lessons Through Literature? I don't want to give up the printable copy work with ELTL, so maybe my decision is made.

To start off, I'm one who can take or leave cursive. My only requirement is that my kids learn to read cursive and sign their names. But my 7 year old has asked to learn. ;) Isn't that just the way life goes? She's been printing her name with curlicues to make it more fancy. I'm willing to relearn cursive with her, as I hate my cursive. We would both like something pretty, that would look nice on a homemade birthday card. I'd maybe even be willing to buy some fancy pens, if useful. What hand (script, hand, what do you call it?) do you all recommend for us?

We did the same thing with my son, who turned 5 in January. Book A of essentials was so easy, it seemed too easy almost. But, he was learning to sit and do a workbook, write all the numbers, follow directions. Once we started book B he is really learning things. I didn't let him fly through Essentials A, but maybe I should have. We could easily take more time with book B, doing math games and activities. If I could do it again, I would spend 1/4 of the year on book A, and 3/4 on book B plus games. From my experience with Singapore 1a & b, most 4 year olds would not be ready for the amount of work. It should be no trouble to do Essentials as well as 3 day preschool.

From your post, I've tried making all those things at home except Worcestershire sauce. But it wasn't worth it to me to keep going. Yogurt was a definite money savings, if not doing organic. I might get that going again. Nut butters are a waste of time, cheaper and easier to get the peanuts and salt kind. I found making my own salsa was great when I had a garden going, or if I had a source for good fresh tomatoes. But anything where you're going to open a can of tomatoes might not be worth the time. I'm not trying to talk you out of it. It's fun to try these things, and I'd like to make just about everything from scratch once. It's just that I can't keep up with them long term. Or that we didn't like the taste of the new version. Stevia is the hot sugar free sweetener now. You could try that for tea, or use sugar with measuring spoons and cut back each week til you don't need it. Spiced chai (the tea, not that powdered stuff) has cinnamon in it, and tastes sweeter to me. Are you trying to cut out sugar completely, eventually? That was why I made my own ketchup and bbq sauce, with fruit to sweeten it a little. But it did not taste the same, and now I just read ingredient labels and grams of sugar. If I try again to truly cut out sugar, I might make these again. There are some yummier ketchup and bbq sauce recipes with brown sugar or molasses, or maple syrup. I don't know if they are really healthier than a healthy kind at the store.

Brilliant! And laundry marker does stay better than sharpie.

The idea of him coming to me when a word doesn't make sense is nice in theory. But it's never going to happen. This kid is way too independent. He just turned 5, so he's not going to be looking up words in a dictionary. We have a kindle, but I'm not sure that we want him to use it for reading often, or if he would learn to check definitions of words on it. I could ask home questions when I read to him, but I can't tell when he doesn't know a word, and hate interrupting the flow. I do that a little bit, but not much. So I guess I will keep having him read to me, some easy books and some challenging.