Wow!!! Happy Nirthday to all, and to all a good booyahhhhhhhhh! (that’s 9 Hs, or supposed to be. Someone with younger vision can double check for me) Next year, double digits! 🤯 😱🤩🥳😎 Love, Duck

I'm considering this for my DS (with dyslexia/dyscalculia). We've seen dramatic improvements over the years in his numeracy and number sense, and he regularly reviews his times tables, but I'd like to mix things up a bit just for variety, and would love to see improvement on his speed of recall and confidence.

Under orders from Dh, I'm planning for next year. Not because he cares about planning (he's a fly-by-seat kind of guy) but he because he wants me to print off as much as possible before beginning his new job next week (which does not offer him printer use like his current job). Bah. I really think we just hold everyone back a year and call it a day.

Peek-a-boo!

A (sheepish) hello to everyone! I haven't been on the boards in a while, but have missed you all. Ducklings are all doing well, and are growing so quickly. I don't get much screen time these days, but do enjoy following each of you as much as possible. Love and hugs to all of you!

We discovered this book when our oldest DS was 7, and needing waterproof pads changed on his bed at least 2x/night, often 3 (we layer-caked the pads between extra sets of fitted sheets, btw, just to save our sanity in the middle of the night). I'd never heard heard that constipation could be the root of it (especially since DS seemed to have the opposite problem) but the book was an eye-opener and a game-changer. We followed the "clean-out" protocol it recommends (and continued for many months... I think we tapered down to one clean-out per week by the sixth month). But we continued because it was so successful: DS was dry through the night in the first two weeks, and even the very rare relapse disappeared within a year. A few of our younger children also had wetting problems, though not as severe, but responded just as well to the approach. YMMV, of course. A friend of mine gave it a try and had great success with one child, and less success with another. But it's certainly worth a try. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

C-Rods. And base-10 blocks. Hands-down the big winner around here. They go into my "If all you could teach from had to fit in a backpack" backpack.

My wild yeast isn't yeasting. Pizza nite is in coming up fast, folks. We Need Yeast. Also my stimulus money isn't....stimming? "According to information that we have on file, we cannot determine your eligibility for a payment at this time." We are indeed eligible. We haven't been using Direct Deposit in recent years so I really wanted to get set up for it and was supposed to be able to do that starting today. Pooh. I think it's time for a glass of whine wine.

It's amazing how long I'm lingering here at 0%

Me too!

laptop is dyyyyyyyinggggggggg and the cord is in dh's meeeeeeetiiiinnnnnggg........

Isaac Llewelyn

My lefty has the prettiest cursive in the family. So there's that. Maybe Isaac Oliver? But still coming back to Isaac James. It fits with your classic sibling names. I love it. DO IT.

Ditto on Isaac James. Tell No One that Every One Else disagrees.

Yay! Congrats! Buy Awex a puppy. Names: First thought was Isaac Alexander, but that could be a little family redundancy. So.... Isaac Nathaniel Isaac Eliot Isaac Benjamin Isaac Dorian Isaac Theodore Isaac Jude And while I'm leaning toward not-two-syllables, there's... Isaac Colton

He is Risen! We've had a lovely, sunny, Easter Sunday so far. Online service this morning, followed by cooking up a storm for me. Everything came together ingredient-wise for beef bourguignon, a dijon salad with apples and Swiss crisps, and the last of last fall's butternut squashes, roasted. Dh made strawberry shortcake for dessert. We won't eat until later this evening, though, as Dh's family is having a giant zoom session get-together first. Oh! and the kids had their backyard hunt, and Dd9 is utterly dumfounded by the brilliant technology that has brought forth her incredible PEZ dispenser, and a drive-by Easter Bunny left ME some toilet paper on the front step. God is good, always.

No lawn yet, but I need to get some heads mowed.

Dh is working from home, which has been stressful (the Not Enough Space kind of stressful, the Naked Kid Crashing your Zoom Party kind of stressful, the Feeling Like You Aren't Getting Anything Done kind of stressful). But the flexibility has been nice, so we've been hiking every afternoon that the weather allows. I am trying not to stress about how our house isn't going to sell so we aren't going to be buying our dream home and the single solitary reason for it is this stupid virus. But it's hard to not think about when there is nothing.else.to.do. In happier news, Me and my IRL girlfriends are getting together for a Zoom Girls' Nite In later this week. There will be wine (I think; I need to check the pantry).

(((Ikslo)))

LOTR is the best. Kids re-enacted it while we were on a hike yesterday (it was a very Shire-y sort of hike, except one part that was deemed Mordor. And the parking lot.)

Dh says there are two options for tonight. Action, or some polio outbreak flick. Who taught him to set me up with choices like that? So it's action, I guess. Sigh. It's a Bad Accents, Car Crashing, Blood, Gore, Loud Noises, and Everything But a Plot For An Hour and a Half Booyah!

Howdy. It finally warmed up enough to move the pansies from the garage to the window boxes. All the front windows now have them and they are delivering a much needed dose of spring cheer. We watched Giant Mechanical Man last night. Good movie. Not apocalyptic, which was nice for a change.

Palm Sunday blessings to each of you! We have online church in about 30 minutes. Our Dds sent videos of themselves doing Scripture readings for it, and I'm so grateful to the team of volunteers who are working so hard to make our services happen. Our expired tabletop daffodil is donating its "fronds" for the cause. 🙂🌿

I climbed on DS12's bed to pray with him, and the mattress fell through. Apparently it is my fault and has nothing to do with the wrestling match DH and the boys have at bedtime each night.

Happy Monday! Queen's favorite day. The kids built a mall out of legos and it has happily occupied them since breakfast, so I moved school to afternoon. We do what it takes to fight boredom around here. DD11 was given 7 books for her birthday party on Friday. She's knocked off 6 of them and is halfway through the seventh (Little Women). We may very well be quarantining ourselves to a high school degree by age 12.