Well, iron supplements for me. If I don't take it I am guaranteed to be deficient in iron. At least til I hit menopause. There are other supplements that I think work. I believe I have more energy when I take my vitamin D3 and liquid multivitamin with B complex. I'm pretty convinced that L-theanine helps with stress.

We have a garage, but it is full of junk. And it has been raining all week, so a park won't work. The last time we had a big group over it was 22 people and we felt our house was as full it could be. Crowds give me such a sick feeling in my stomach and I have no idea why I did this. Well, besides trying to make my daughter happy.

This we can do. Rearranging furniture would probably help a lot.

Saturday

I need to be calmed down about my daughter's birthday party. We had planned for an outdoor party with chili in the backyard and now there is 90% chance of rain. :( There are 18 children and 14 or so adults coming. We cannot fit so many in our house. Ack! I didn't expect everyone to say yes to the invite. And when I gave to option of dropping off or coming with the family, I expected some would be happy just to drop a kid off. Nope. I guess they all like us. I don't know what I got myself into. And I'm an introvert with a usually manageable level of social anxiety. We cannot throw money at the problem by renting a place or enormous tent. If anyone can calm me down I would be so so grateful.

I've experienced the same thing. While I've never written in cartoon characters, I will leave it blank if needed. I'm not really into politics, and don't get the local paper. I don't have family connections either. So the only information accessible to me is the Internet. If you can't bother to set up a website, how into this are you? Or if you don't bother to participate in the newspaper interview with the other candidates, to me says this candidate is lazy or has something to hide.

I think that's normal. My husband doesn't brag, and we do have a very limited budget, but otherwise alike. It reminds me of my husband wanting to talk programming and web design with me. It's his job, not mine. I like him, and am interested in him, but talking about the details of his work is not my thing. I get that your kids are more important, but the education part is not his thing. When a friend of mine and I would get together to talk, her husband called it "talking shop". Really we were getting together to talk about our (SAHM and child education) jobs, although I hadn't thought about it that way.

The trouble with taking time off for being sick is that little guy and I will be sick for at least a week. We don't bounce back as quickly. That and my kids cry and whine at the drop of a hat when they are a little under the weather. We usually only watch tv on Fridays and Saturdays, so any video, no matter how boring, will have the bigger ones glued to the screen. Quietly. (Little guy holds out for Kipper. :) ) I just signed up for a free month of Netflix. We also have Prime, whatever we can get at the library, or occasionally buying something from Amazon. I've just added these to the list. Thanks! Any reccomendations for memorizing math facts, or learning grammar? I wish we could still get How It's Made. Any how-things-work videos like that?

Thanks! I've got the first one in my Amazon cart. It looks like things my son would really be interested in. He always wants to know how things work and why. I noticed a page on that website with YouTube links. Those are the same ones we've been watching, and a couple new ones. Too bad we don't live near the tracks. Those sound like good activities. (I mean, too bad for my son. I wouldn't want the noise.)

We are all sick here, and I need more ideas for educational TV. I have littles. Leapfrog Letter Factory is my best example. The kids really learned letter sounds from it. What else is like that, and I haven't heard about it yet? My kids also watch Odd Squad and Wild Kratts, and learn a little math and animal facts. And Life of Mammals. But I don't mind something crazy educational and boring. Any subject.

I'm following this. Let me know what all you end up using and how you like it. I might be able to tweak it and use during the summer. I have a 4 year old who is also an advanced reader for his age. He is OBSESSED with trains. We drive 45 min to the train museum often, and did a full day trip on a train this fall. We both liked a lot of the Usborne books on trains. And there are some great YouTube clips on how steam power works. Even I started to get it!

I cook it by baking or microwaving. I cut mine around the middle rather than lengthwise, and take the "noodles" out with a fork, to get the longest possible noodles. I use it as a replacement for spaghetti, so I put Pesto or tomato meat sauce on it. I've also used it as a sub for rice noodles in pad Thai, and Thai chicken peanut sauce noodles. I prefer other squashes for side dishes. Spaghetti squash is kind of stringy and bland to want to eat for its own merit. But as a low carb sub, I like it. It is more moist, so recipes don't turn out the same. Don't put cheese sauce on it for squash and cheese and tell the kids it will be like Mac and cheese.

We don't actually have a play kitchen, too cheap and protective of space. But we have a bin of play food, cooking utensils, dishes. My almost 7 year old still plays with it, as well as the young ones. Play food gets played with nearly every day. They will feed animals, pack picnic lunches, go "live in the woods" with some food, etc. We might not be typical in that we are a food loving family. I really like to cook and bake, and we all think about food often. So any pretend play might include meals. ;) IKEA is a great source for play food.

Smitten kitchen! I used to like Joy the Baker, but I tried 3 recipes in a row that were flops. I was a big fan of food.com back when it was recipezaar, but with each change I like it less. I still use it though. I need a good recipe website with reviews where I can search for recipes in chosen categories with chosen ingredients. Like main dish with pumpkin and black beans.

Shaking with laughter. When I'm checking Craigslist, I'm asking myself, how could I spell this differently, to get more search results. I'm not creative enough though. I was looking at pets and saw a Multi Pooh. I think that's what you get when you cross many many copies of A. A. Milne's stories with maybe a Maltese and a poodle.

This. If everyone gives cash, it is so easy to compare. Jaxon gave me $25, Sophie $30, Emma gave me $8. We aren't a crafty family, but with coupons, sales, etc it is possible to give the appearance you spent more than you actually did. A nice gift on a budget. It's very uncomfortable to have the income disparity right out in the open.

What version do you prefer? You will need to decide version, before seeing what is available in that version. My husband and I have switched to ESV, which many believe to be the most accurate translation. If she is a strong reader I might go with that one. I'd be more likely to get a NiRV. That's New International Readers Version. It's about a 3rd grade reading level, great for young readers and non native English speakers. It's a dynamic equivalence translation (thought for thought rather than word for word). That's more accurate than a paraphrase, but easier to understand than word for word like ESV or NASB. This is the bible I chose for my daughter, because I really want her to understand the Bible, and not get lost in the vocabulary. (We still memorize in ESV, and I expect she will switch to a grown up version by high school.) There are a couple of pink ones on Amazon, or this one with a pink case would be nice. http ://www.amazon.com/NIrV-Study-Bible-Kids-Zondervan/dp/0310744032/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1443800060&sr=1-17 I also get opinionated about Bibles with a bunch of extra stuff, whether it's jeeps and jungle adventures, or princess bibles for girls, or mini devotionals trying to be hip, current, relatable for kids! I want a bible to have just the text, or extras that are helpful for studying the bible, like study questions, historical background, a little bible exposition, etc.

My 2 year old hid my phone, a few days before I was flying alone to a family funeral. I looked everywhere! After a few days I was offering a big reward. $10, all the chocolate you can eat, or a full day of movies. Faced with those awesome prizes, my 6 yr old got the little guy to talk when I couldn't. It was wedged into the folding bracket of the futon, where it could not be seen from above or below. The bounty worked this morning with my husband's lost Fitbit. One episode of Odd Squad before school. ;) We've also found things packed up with seldom used items, like toothpaste tubes in the hot roller box, or favorite toys in the Christmas ornaments. Also the tiny gap between mattress and bed frame is a good place to wedge things. Oh, and buried in the dirt of a potted plant. And our middle child "disappeared" several things permenantly, probably by garbage can. That moment when you realize your only camera is now at the dump...

I had a near drowning experience when I was 4. Plus a dad who liked to put me in water over my head so I would figure it out. My sister learned to swim just fine with that. But I have a deep deep phobia of swimming. I joined an adult non-swimmers class for a while. But I stalled out at going beyond where I could touch, and trying to swim a couple strokes and get a breath. My anxiety before a swim lesson makes me truly sick. So because of that I have a hard time getting my kids in water. I have 3 nonswimmers and don't trust my ability to save them. Also there are no public pools in our area. There is a lake swimming area 30 min away. I've asked my husband to take them the long drive to a pool on weekends, but that is not happening. We can only afford one session of lessons each year for the older 2, 8 lessons over 2 weeks. I hope they will learn eventually. The 6 year old wants to swim. She can float for a few seconds, and pick things up from the bottom of the pool. I wish there was an easy answer.

I used chia and alfalfa seeds, and they are sprouting now. :) Thanks for the help, the kids liked putting it together. We've got a plastic hippo and crocodile waiting by the banks of the Nile. Many of our neighbors use a lawn service, and the ones who don't pay for that don't care as much, and didn't have seed. Like us. (I've always been able to sprout lentils from the grocery store, so I guess they are not heat treated here.)

The flooding of the Nile project sounds fun, but I really do not want to go to the store and buy grass seed. Don't want to leave the house, and need to save money. Do you think chia seeds or lentils or something would work, or should we just skip it and move on? I know it's kind of a dumb question, and most people would just buy the grass seed.

I was taking a bath and my 3 yr old daughter was making all kinds of comments on my body. Body hair, stretch marks, nipples, etc. I said, "You know, SOME people like PRIVACY in the bathroom." She cheerfully answered, "But not you, Mom!"

Talking about not letting the government know what you're doing... I knew a couple families back in the day in Montana who did not send in a declaration of intent. Their children did not have social security numbers so the government wouldn't find them. Those were some real off the grid homesteaders. Paranoia.

Yes, our dining room is a library. If the dining room is not the only eating area, it could make a good schoolroom. Also, underbed storage for toys, like long plastic bins. Coffee table and enertainment center with baskets for living room toys are so helpful. We now have a schoolroom/playroom, but we still have 5 baskets of toys in the living room. They like to be where I am. Will you have an attic or big garage? Keeping out a small amount of toys and rotating frequently would make space. We also have an old wardrobe in the garage, just outside the kitchen, full of craft supplies.

We were there once for a week, for a friend's wedding. I have always wanted to go back. It was beautiful, so beautiful. We loved the people and the whole feel of the area. Yes, I would retire there, if I was nearer to family and friends, or could easily afford a lot of travel. Or I would move there now if we could pull up roots, and a great job was there.