So, yesterday I *think* I had my third migraine in a year, but this one was different. I developed a severe headache that hurt worse when I was sitting or laying down. I felt extremely nauseous. After suffering for about an hour, I started to vomit. After vomiting several times, I felt better enough to lie down and go to sleep. My headache was gone this morning,but I have a little one now which I think is coming from my neck pain. I will say, I did give up coffee yesterday, as well as started my period. But, the vomiting with the severe headache scared me.

It's nice to see home prices go up because I hope it slows down the growth here in NC. We moved here 14 years ago and the growth has been phenomenal. We have owned 4 homes and each one that we have sold has gone for asking price(or above) in a matter of days(or hours in one case). That includes during the housing crash. NC is one of the most beautiful places to live, imo.

As I'm sure you know, there is no blood test for Kawasaki. It is based on clinical symptoms. If it were me, I would head straight to the ER of the best children's hospital I could get to that has an infectious disease specialist. I'm praying for you. My son had atypical Kawasaki disease at 5 months old. That was literally the scariest time of my life. Please keep us updated.

He wouldn't have the fever that long if it was Kawaski disease. My son had it.

Amazon Prime also has a show featuring the Wellie Wisher girls. We have enjoyed watching the episodes (:

For birthday, we usually buy what they want. My 15 year old boys asked for new baseball gloves this year. They were $250 each. For Christmas, we get a mixture of both...what they want, plus things like underwear and socks in their stockings.

We are revisiting our budget today and my husband and I are disagreeing about the budget for birthdays and Christmas. I grew up in a family with no budget, so we had tons of gifts. My husband grew up in the complete opposite in a very blue collar family. We are having a hard time figuring out what is a fair, *normal* amount for gift giving. Now, we have never budgeted these things before, so we are really trying something new here and want to commit to it. The only variable we have is that our twins will turn 16 next December and we would like to save to purchase them a car to share(we are thinking 5K). Otherwise, we would like to set an amount for other children's birthdays, as well as Christmas. If you don't mind sharing, I would be so grateful.

Does anyone know of someone we can call??? We are all freaking out over here.

Lady Florida...I'm the total opposite. I grew up in Florida and couldn't wait to leave. (:

So, my husband and I have been going back and forth over this topic. Thought I would address it to the hive and see what you have to say over the matter. We live in the piedmont of NC about 2.5 hours from the mountains. I absolutely love the mountains and can see us retiring there someday. Husband would love a small condo in FL as well. I would love to buy a small cottage near a cute town on a rambling creek up there. Tourism is great and we could rent it out sometimes. However, I've always loved to travel. We love exploring lots of places (although end up loving our same haunts). We love the idea of escaping to Florida or Charleston when January rolls around and the weather is gray and rainy in NC. We had a camper many years ago and all have very fond memories of our camping trips (in fact,they were some of our best vacations). We can only afford to do one at this time. I'm torn because our oldest children are going to fly the coop in a couple of years and I want to really cherish this time together. I did ask them and they said the camper, but I think it's because they are scared once we get up in the mountains, I won't want to come back home..lol The little ones don't care either way. Wanted to add, during the school year we are really busy with sports and extra curricular activities.

I have twin boys that are currently in 8th grade. They play baseball with a competitive homeschool league. Next year, the level on commitment ramps up at the JV level. They are required to attend practice 4-5 a week. These practices are not late at night, but rather in the afternoons. They are also interested in a political club. However, I'm so concerned how we are going to get everything done. They will be in several online classes with Landry Academy, so those teachers have assignment deadlines that must be met. How do I balance this without stressing them out (and me), but yet keep up with the academic rigor that is necessary for 9th grade? One idea I had was just to take a longer time to complete those subjects that we do at home requiring us to school in the summer and using Friday's (they don't have online classes on Fridays) as a catch up day for assignments not completed due to baseball games. Wanted to add, when games begin, they travel some far distances, so at times it requires us to be out of he house by 2pm. My boys love and need baseball, so I don't want to take this away from them. It is a fun outlet with wonderful other homeschooled boys. But, I also know they desire a college education so I'm trying to be the best mom guidance counselor I can be (:

I'm Orthodox as well. I would attend Friday's service between the two. It's beautiful. And no one cares if you buy a candle or not. Most of the people are moving around venerating icons, lighting candle, or in my case, wrangling children. Just come in, sit or stand where you feel comfortable and take it all in. Do you know where you plan to go yet? Did you happen to see if the services are in English? Usually, I've found, if the website is in English most of the service is as well. If you have to use Google translate...well, not much will probably be in English..lol

Let me first say, I've changed my homeschool room several times and can never seem to get it just right. I am lucky in that we do have a dedicated room for homeschooling, I just can't seem to get it to work. Right now, we have a large table in the center, a wall of bookshelves and another with posters and white board. I do have a large age span in my children (ages 14-2). With the current set up, the older kids have online classes. So, the cord from the laptop goes across the room so they can have power. We are always tripping over them and it looks messy. Another concern is the height of the table. My little ones will be starting penmanship and writing and the table is too high. I thought about making a wall of desks, but the walls aren't super long. I also thought about putting desks in the big boys rooms for privacy and quiet during classes, but I think that is opening the door to potential trouble. Any setups or links to rooms you like that work well for a larger family?

My twin boys will be starting 9th grade in the fall. They both excel in math, but struggle in writing....really, really struggle. I have signed them up for Writing ER with Landry Academy that will begin this fall. This class is basically a remedial writing class for high school students. However, I'd like to begin to help them before that. Right now, they are assigned a 5 paragraph essay for their present Landry class on Alice in Wonderland. I've been trying to help my son, but to be honest, his essay is horrible. I really don't know what to do. He can squeak out a halfway decent paragraph here and there, but it's a battle. I think part of this is not trying, when I give him 45-1hr to work, he will work for 15 minutes. Then, I look it over, tell him what needs in improvement, he will then rewrite in 5 minutes. Repeat.repeat.repeat...until I'm so exasperated. This is the first essay he has written with regards to literary analysis, so I think some of this is really new and confusing to him. I guess what I'm looking for is some help. What do I do? Is there a curriculum I can purchase that we can do when Landry ends (early May) that can walk him step by step in how to write an effective paragraph? Or should I focus more on literary analysis? I really don't know what to do. Thank you so much for any input or advice. I really appreciate it.

We switched curriculums mid year last year which is putting my 8th grade boys finishing up this month. I know it's too late to jump in on a class that has already started in the fall, but I'd like them to be in a class. They have used the Art Reed DVDs with success, but I think at this point, I'd like them to be able to ask questions if they are having issues. Do you have any recommendations?

We would like to purchase a laptop for each of our boys for Christmas. They are not gamers, but take a couple of online classes. Next fall, they will be in 9th grade and we plan to have them take even more classes. I literally know nothing about computers. I have a laptop and a Kindle and use them, but I have no idea what to look for. Ideally, I'd like to keep them around $300 per laptop. Do you have any suggestions? What should we look for? When are the best deals? Any future Cyber Monday deals you know about? Thanks so much for your help (:

Our twin boys will be turning 14 soon. We have been trying to think outside the box for their birthday present and we thought of a neat idea. The boys love all things money. They are interested in learning about the stock market, but we have no idea where to start. We thought we could give each boy a couple of hundred dollars each for their birthday to invest. But, how? Where do we go? How do we start? I would love some resources or for those that have done something similar, perhaps some advice?

You may not want to share, but your current town sounds lovely. If you don't mind, can you tell us where it is? I want to move there!!

We are spending a large amount of time at the ball field 3-4 nights a week. I'd like to pack some easy, healthy picnic dinners rather than heading to the fast food joint. Any ideas?

O.k. this may not be a particularly popular response, but I have twin tween boys as well and this is what works *most* times. When they are cranky, moody, etc it *usually* helps to have them get some fresh air and physical exercise. Now, many times this is during school hours and they really need to get some work done, but I'm at the point where I may pull my hair out and then their hair out, so what I make them do is run. Now, if I just sent them outside to run and play, they, in their cranky mood, would just sit outside and sulk. So, I make them run our driveway. We have a very, very long driveway. I usually make them run it a couple of times and then come back in. If they are still in a mood (sometimes it takes some time to work it out), I make them run it again. I'm not trying to *break* them of this behavior, I'm trying to: 1. save our relationship-sometimes I just want to go crazy and yell at them like a madwoman, so I need the space and break from them and 2. it gives them a physical release. It does work. Not every time, but many times it does. Most times they will come in an apologize for their behavior, we hug and move on. Sometimes, they need more sleep and at that moment they just can't have it so we trudge on. Last night for instance, they didn't get done with baseball until 10:30 at night. I let them sleep in a little bit, but they were still super cranky this morning. I tried to give them a little grace (my husband was in the room and said I was a saint..lol) but at one point, I had enough...out to run they went.

My 13 year old twins are really interested in learning how to invest in the stock market. Does anyone know of a great teaching resource? I would love an online class about this topic.

Well, my ears stuck out as a child and my parents never considered the surgery, so I had it as an adult. I was a relatively easy surgery, but I will say there is a change the ear can pop back out (mine did). But, overall I was happy to get it done.

I really do love what you've said here and the advice is spot on. I guess I'm just so frustrated because I'm not wired that way. Him not doing what he needs to do when he needs to do it interferes with my getting my things done as well because I have to go back and grade things later. As for the extra activities and hobbies, they are non existent right now because he dawdles so much in the day, he's not done with schoolwork until 5pm. It has nothing to do with the amount of schoolwork because his twin is done already at 1pm. I have tried to motivate with extra hobbies or things that interest him and they do, but when it gets down to the brass tacks of it all, he can't stay on track long enough to get done to do those things. I want him to succeed. I don't want schoolwork to be all day until dinner time. I want him to be able to play outside and build or what eve,but he just can't get it together. I can not sit with him all day. I have 3 other children that need me too...maybe I should just put him in school as it's clearly evident I'm the one to blame here.

I have 13 year old twin boys. We have homeschooled for quite awhile, but these last two years with hormones and such have been extremely hard. We have tried to give them a bit more freedom and in turn expected more of them. In homeschooling, we set expectations and if they are not met, they can't do something they wish to do. Tonight, both boys are invited to a mystery dinner. They are VERY excited about his. On Monday, we talked about the expectations this week so that they would be able to attend the dinner. The expectations were that they completed their homeschooling in a timely fashion, did their chores, and complete a speech they needed to do for an oratorical festival. Well, it's 10am on Friday, one of the boys decided it was a wise use of his time to spend 1 hour (yes, 1hour) on the toilet reading a book. He hasn't started his schoolwork for the day, he is just now starting his chores and his speech is no where near completion. I was angery and told him there was no way he would finish to be able to go tonight. Everyone is tense in the house now and it's not making for a lovely day. I want them to be able to go, the group is counting on them to go because they are part of a plot, but how do I let him go when I know he won't get done and if he does get done, he will probably just rush through his work not doing his best so that he can get done? By the way, this is a constant battle in the house. They have an agenda each day that I put on the board. They know the flow of the day. I don't set times, but we generally do things around a specific time, but this one twin just can't get motivated to do anything, unless it's what he wants to do. I've tried to motivate with fun things (like the event tonight) and it just doesn't seem to work. He's running around now upset and cranky because he's so far behind. I do believe in natural consequences, but them not going tonight will affect the dinner. What do I do? Any tips on how to get them motivated to do their work in a timely fashion? I was so angry this morning, I told him he has to bring a timer into the toilet from now on and set it for 10 minutes..lol!!

Lavender Girl is Blood Builder the one from Megafoods?