Using your name isn't small town, especially when it comes to Photography. Personally using your name, or a name, rather than "Blue Sky" defines your business. When people want to tell their friends, they aren't saying, "so and so, of Blue Sky Photography" they will just say your name (or your daughters name, or maiden name, or whatever you choose) but it's still a name none the less, rather than something more generic.

LOVE our front loader washer & dryer. We bought the cheapest Samsung set we could find. The washer never smells. I typically leave the door open after I've done a load of laundry, but I'm not always consistant with that. However, I have a family member who has Woorlpool or Maytag FL's, I can't remember which, but has issues with the washer smelling, hers is an older set, not the newer ones. I'm not sure if it depends on brands or what. My Samsung set does a great job, and I've been very pleased, and it has been through 2 moves, as well as washed MANY cloth diapers (2 kids worth) and is still going strong, and everything comes out clean!

I've not heard of anyone being behind in math with HOD. They do use Singapore, on grade level, and Singapore is known to be more advanced than other programs, even the US Edition! I also am surprised about being behind in LA! Rod & Staff is very thorough. Those two subjects are actually the reason I went with HOD. We had already been using Singapore and R&S English. What I like so much about HOD is that there are added activities, the guide is a nice layout, and I no longer feel like our schoolwork is completely disconnected. It seems to flow. I don't use the devotional though. Instead on the days the devotional is scheduled, we use "The Dig" which is a study of Luke, my son loves it! The emerging readers are good choices, and the questions in the back of the guide are great. My son loves the poetry. Unfortunately I had not exposed him to much poetry before starting HOD (Beyond) but he loves poetry. The History readings are quick and easy, and my son LOVES the notebooking pages, and looks forward to doing them.

We really enjoy HOD!

HOD Bigger Hearts Singapore 3a-3b R&S English 2 Cheerful Cursive R&S Spelling 3 Elemental Science

We love C-Rods as well. However, I did buy a cheap base 10 set on Amazon for $16 (its yellow). Great quality, great price!

I agree with this. Unfortunately, I am on BC pills, and I hope to stop taking them soon. It has been easy for us to get pregnant and I wanted to avoid pregnancy, as the last 2 years or so have been very, very stressful. But I hate being on the BC because of my personal convictions, exactly as you stated. DH and I need to pray about it for sure. Of course the BC pill commercials, etc, tell you that it stops you from ovulating. But the info sheet along with the prescription says that fertilization can happen. Yet of course, there would be no way of knowing...

Ugh, I mentioned my indecisiveness... Now I can't figure out if we should bother with the corner sofa, I'm now thinking just a sofa and chair, or sofa, chair and love seat? I noticed that the grey is not just $100 more expensive, but $200 more expensive!! Or maybe the one with the chaise, and then the chair? Too many choices! Good grief!

I've thought about beige, but I don't care for it, but I absolutely LOVE the white and the grey! Frustrating the material is dry clean only...still, I prefer the grey!

ooh yay! I'm so excited, we're supposed to be closing on our first house on Friday! I'm nervous, but very excited, and I've always been hesitant to get the Ikea sofa's, but after reading the rave reviews, I'm ecstatic about having a sofa with slipcovers, they look nice and have a very homey feel. I didn't want something so elegant but uncomfortable, I also didn't want a "modern" style sofa as they don't have a homey or comfy feel either. I love the slipcover look and I LOVE grey. We're actually planning on painting the kitchen and kids rooms (boys room and my daughters) a light grey, and then "dressing" the rooms up accordingly. The boys room will have red accents and my daughters will have light pink or coral, and light blue. I don't want to paint a color I'll regret later, and I want to stick with something that won't be too childish a few years from now. However, I want the bathroom to have boards & batten in white and purple above it (DH was hesitant until I showed him a picture of what I want to do, and he liked it! eek!) Anyways, I'm way off topic, but I'm now finally feeling a little more comfortable about the idea of an Ikea EKTORP! Only other thing is, we found a sectional we like a rooms to go, but doesn't have a nice matching chair, the chair with it is ugly, and I can't seem to find any other chairs that'll flow with the couch. The couch is CHEAPER than the Ikea version, but I guess I can eat the cost. I get so nervous about having buyers remorse, I tend to be very indecisive!

Should I buy a back up cover for the grey? A second grey cover, or maybe a white slipcover?

DH and I decided that we will get the EKTORP sectional sofa. I've read online reviews about people loving it, and very few poor reviews. I am very nervous to have a white couch though! I like the White, and I like the Grey. Problem: White couch is prone to getting dirty, and I will not be stripping the couch every other week to wash it and swap out covers. The grey couch is beautiful, but it's more expensive and the material is dry clean only! But I do believe it'll stay cleaner longer. Can I spot clean a dry clean only couch?? After all, most couches don't have the option to be stripped and washed anyway! Which would you choose and why??

I sort of regret switching SM US Edition to Standards. Maybe I just need more time to get used to the different set up? I actually miss the US Edition guide. I know everyone else loves it though! I have Level's 1-3, all are new except for 2b workbook, and I've only gotten through about 3 lessons of the guide so far. My husband would think I was crazy for switching back, because I just owned levels 1-2 and then I sold them and purchased the standards. I just don't know!

I had purchased a set off of Ebay (the expensive one you listed), and it was very fishy. I have a family member who has the same set. Her case was a slightly different color, the cases each individual DVD was in was different from hers, mine were extremely flimsy, and very poorly made. When I compared the bottom of the DVD's side by side with hers, I saw that mine had the "blue-ish" tint, and hers did not. I also found that around the middle part of the DVD on the back, just said "liberty's kids" whereas hers actually had identification numbers on them. Her set had the booklet and map, mine only had the booklet. They didn't play well on one of our DVD players, consistent skipping, etc. They played just fine on our other DVD player, mind you, neither of our DVD players have any issues playing any other DVD's at all. I then went and looked at all of the other DVD's I own, and they all have identification numbers on them (or whatever the number is). I wanted to make sure I wasn't just "seeing things." I looked up "how to tell a fake from real DVD" and found all of these things to look for, and it was extremely obvious. I contacted the seller, and ended up getting my money back, they were insisting the set was legit (selling new sets) and that they would never sell a fake, the seller also told me that to avoid problems with skipping, I should play them on my computer? I don't have the Cookie Jar set, and I added it to my cart, I may just preorder it, so that I know I have a legit copy, plus it's fewer discs!

Anyone use both or switch from one to the other?? We're currently using Singapore (and some Miquon), and LOVE it, but my worry is that MEP might not be as good for us? Though free is very ideal!!

I guess I'm old fashioned too. DH and I watch the show sometimes, but there are parts that make me uncomfortable, and I'm no prude! However, I've also been changed by the Holy Spirit who has convicted me of such things, as what we view on TV. Please don't allow anything to deter you from wanting to approach this matter with your in-laws. You obviously feel very strongly about it, and it's worse to ignore that, than to continue on by sticking your head in the sand. I'm sorry they are allowing your children to watch things that you would not approve of. I personally don't feel Big Bang Theory is appropriate at all for younger viewers, many of the shows have references to sex and whether a child understands what that is or not, if exposure to those sorts of things aren't allowed in your family, than that takes priority over anything else! I would tell them up-front that the kids aren't allowed to watch such shows, especially considering you have young children. They should respect your wishes IMO. Sure, you cannot control every single environment they are in, but politely explaining that the show is not to be watched I don't believe is out of line. Providing something different, an alternative of some sort seems like a good idea!

I have no idea if I would do it. I definitely need new "bOOks" my have seen better days. Breastfed 3 babies and they just didn't hold up. However, my Mom and her sister both had breast cancer. My Mom's had spread to her lymph nodes under her arm, she is in remission, but has lymphedema in her arm. I think preventative surgery would be a good thing, considering there are MANY who do not survive, and MANY who do not catch it early. I know of a woman right now, who is just 30 years old, it has spread to her bones. She is dying, and she's far too young to be dying of breast cancer, which has now manifested itself into a body full of cancer. It's so, so sad. I wish I had the money to get the tests done. Unfortunately I do not.

My oldest and youngest are both boys. Daughter in the middle. BOTH of my boys were breech until 38-39 weeks. My first was pretty much standing in there (footling), and my last was lounging in there!

Doesn't our realtor make the offer?

It looks like fun!

We found a house we think we may want to put an offer on, but I'm so nervous about this. My DH is just all for it, and while I am, I'm so nervous about costs, and we've never owned a home before. The house set up is exactly what we've been looking for, and aside from a couple of small things, there is nothing that we would be "sacrificing" in what we want in a home. I'm terrified of making such a big commitment, but I'm ready to move on from apartment living! I'm praying that God will show us if this is it. We feel it is, but the process is going to send my anxiety through the roof!

Thank you! I love these! We're looking at buying a house, and we found one today, but I don't know if it will work out, obviously the process of buying a home isn't something that happens overnight. However, it is a place we really want to make an offer on, and God willing, we could buy it. We would have the opportunity to have a homeschool room. So these ideas might be able to come into play, sooner than I thought, but we'll see!!!

Do you have a homeschool room? Photos on your blog? I'm looking for ideas for the future! We don't have a homeschool room, but I hope to have one someday!

I'm not planning on switching. Just thinking about doing ECC for 3rd grade, and continuing on with HOD from there on out!

I'm not that great at homeschool planning. I have the ability, but I get so overwhelmed and anxious that I can it! We're doing HOD, and so many have said they can do it on their own, and I thought that before I bought it. I now see, that I really couldn't. Sure I don't use every little tip in the book, but goodness, just to be able to look it up and say, "today we're reading this page" is so much easier!!