Thank you for the update! Congratulations! I am so happy for your family. Welcome to the world Rosemary.

I was also going to suggest a thermos. You can heat up leftovers or whatever.

Thinking about you and your family today.

I feel your pain. I was so happy when my oldest finally hit 30x30 in pants. It is an easy size to find, and I can just go buy pants. He doesn't have to come. My current problem is my 13 year old daughter. She doesn't want to shop for clothes. What??? My dh told her he was going to the thrift store and buying 80s style floral print dresses for her to wear until she decided to let me take her shopping. She wanted to shop the next weekend. lol

A friend and I took our daughters and their friends last night. It was amazing! We all loved every minute. It was very well done. There were a few moments when we thought "Hermione" should pull out her wand, and then we remembered it was "Belle." Belle has always been my favorite princess, and I think Emma Watson is a fantastic Belle.

I am so sorry!

A good friend of ours recently had both at the same time.

I am also hoping that you have good news.

Good luck, and here's to hoping that you don't have to go mama bear on them!

We had quiche for breakfast and shepherd's pie for dinner. We then had caramel pie for dessert. I was going to read Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi, but I ran out of steam. Maybe tomorrow...

My youngest ds put a Perler fuse bead up his nose. He was probably four at the time. Thankfully my dd was able to convince him to be still long enough for me to fish it out with tweezers from my dh's computer tool kit. It had a very small tip that fit the bead perfectly. My dd also held the light. My oldest ds swallowed one of the metal balls right after his fourth birthday. That required an X ray.

I think it is a matter of perspective. I do not like the cold. I do not like snow that lasts for more than two days (once per winter only). I do not like wearing my coat. I had a friend that lives in Wisconsin wearing shorts about a week ago because it was so warm - high 40s. Meanwhile I am sitting in AL freezing in the 48-50 degree weather with my wool socks, sweats, and down comforter. I would not survive the north in the winter. I would live in a smaller house and cut back on things to pay off the debt, and I hate debt with a passion. I hate being cold more though.

With four kids, there is almost nothing I can cook that everyone will eat. Tonight we had chili. I have two children that will not eat chili. I decided to always serve grilled cheese with chili. All of the kids will eat grilled cheese. I try to alternate what we eat so we don't have two nights in a row that the same child won't eat. We always have sandwich stuff, cereal, or leftovers. I am usually willing to scramble an egg. Some of us do not eat enough vegetables. I am not terribly picky, but there are some things that I will not eat. I cannot imagine being forced to eat one of those items. The thought makes me ill. Good luck OP! It is an exhausting process.

Thank you for sharing this story. Thank you also for taking the time to help her through a horrible situation. Sometimes it is truly the little things that make a huge difference. Not everyone would have taken the time to go outside and carefully look in the case.

We have never had to pay to attend an event birthday party. The only thing close was one time a friend had an event party on a week day afternoon. There was a cost listed if siblings not invited to the party wanted to attend. She made sure there was enough cake for all the kids, but she couldn't foot the bill for the party kid's friends and all of their siblings. I will say that the cost of these parties is the reason most of the parties that my kids had were at home.

I do what someone up thread mentioned. If I can't check the book out from the library, I go to Amazon and see how much it will be. I have bought several classics lately for $2 or $3. It is harder if there is something special that you want to listen to.

Both... sort of. We started this when the children were still pretty small, and I was terrified of raw meat not getting cooked well and someone getting burned. So we make cheese in the fondue pot. Some years this is fancy, but most years we get a tub of white Mexican cheese dip. We dip our grilled chicken, veggies, and bread into the cheese. Then we make a really good chocolate. We will dip fruit and pound cake into the chocolate. It is not very authentic, but we all have a really good time. All of my kids are excited about fondue tonight.

Yes. It's a Monday in February even. Agghh!

Our family does fondue for Valentine's Day.

They are tearing one of the malls near me down right now. I am not sure what is going into its place.

I was also going to recommend the Parthenon.

My kids don't do scents or dyes well either. We use All Free and Clear. I do spot treat with Shout, and I occasionally soak in Biz. I mention the All Free and Clear because my sensitive kids couldn't do Tide (even the free and clear kind).

This one is hard. My dd moved up in swim group last spring. By summer she really wanted to quit swimming, but I really thought it had more to do with the adjustment of a new group than the sport. I made a deal with her to stick it out through the summer. If she still wanted to quit at the end of July, we would find something else. She adjusted, had a great summer, and is glad that I made her stay. It could have easily gone the other way. You may just have to go with your instinct and hope for the best.

It is hard to watch as a parent, but it seems to be the norm. Swim times don't seem to be up and down and then eventually down. My dd has friends that added lots of time to certain races for as long as a year, and then they suddenly drop significant time and are back on track.

We have always gotten ours from the bank. It never occurred to me to look elsewhere. I will shop around before we need more.