And you're just going to leave us hanging?!? What is it?

I got some placemats one year, and put both of the kids' handprints on the sides of the placemats. Also stenciled some Christmasy pics like gingerbread men and such on there, and labeled their prints with name and age. You could probably also do that on an apron??

Check out bravewriter.com. Lots of free ideas to get you going.

I picked up some Sugar Creek Gang movies for dd, and a quilting book for kids. Think I'll fill a sewing box for her, too. Thanks for the idea! For everyone, I'm getting MarioKarts for the Wii. We enjoyed that last spring at someone's house. Not sure for the boys. They both want new roller blades...

Beans! Bean or pea soup with bread or rolls, or bean and cheese burritos.

Make stuffing out of em! I save them up in the freezer.

Just saw this thread. And it's gone already. :(

Thanks! Picked up the DIY chemistry to do later. :)

Thanks! Maybe I'll look at those books. If it looks too good to be true... (plenty easy... ) :)

Bumping it up in case someone has used it... :)

Has anyone used Teaching Company's A Brief History of the World? I was thinking of using it for a faster go through, so I could call world history done. We're running out of time. Ds is a jr and may do PSEO classes next year. He's also a slow reader, so I need to concentrate more on other basic classes. Thanks for your opinion.

How often do the dogs get the bones to clean their teeth? Daily? Weekly? I've got a lab mix. Gave her a knuckle bone last week, and she just loved it!

We're having chicken and dumplings, something I cooked up last week that went in the freezer. We had the leftover frozen vegetable soup last night. :D

Here's the list I currently pick from when planning my week's menu: Beef meals hamburger/rice hot dish (with tomatoes) round steak rollups, mashed potatoes mazetti pot roast beef/pork ribs with BBQ sauce meatloaf, baked potatoes, scalloped corn Hungarian goulash Polish cabbage rolls Cabbage burger bake- Beef stew Hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes Hamburgers, beans, coleslaw, fried potatoes Meatballs and ‘gravy’ over noodles Pizza hotdish (Rigatoni casserole) Shepherd’s pie Porcupine meatballs Beef Stroganoff Chicken/Turkey meals chicken and dumplings honey curry chicken turkey dinner turkey tetrazzini smothered chicken Chicken enchiladas Lacquered chicken Teriyaki chicken Chicken and noodles Nora’s chicken over rice Baked breaded chicken Chicken and barley bake Garlic lime chicken Ginger chicken delight Chicken cacciatore Hawaiian rainbow chicken Sweet and sour chicken Foreign/pasta beef/pork chow mein, eggrolls, fried rice tacos, spanish rice spaghetti/lasagna pepper steak sweet and sour pork over rice crock pot lasagna Chinese beef and pea pods Quick stir-fry sauce Stuffed shells Pizza Wet burritos Pork meals pork ribs with BBQ sauce ham, scalloped potatoes ham/French fry hotdish tangy pork over rice baked pork chops Caribbean pork ribs Chalupa (need dry pinto beans) Stuffed pork chops Side dishes Green rice casserole CP (need evap milk) Fresh vegetable stir fry SP Bowtie surpise with grilled/roasted veggies-notebook Broccoli salad Fried rice (need tamari sauce)-in notebook Rice/lentil pilaf –in notebook Mandarin orange/pineapple/cottage cheese/cool whip salad-in notebook Lemon-garlic green beans SP Rice, corn, and cheese casserole JB p. 377 Carrot and broccoli stir-fry JB p. 517 (need sesame oil/seed, fresh ginger) Ratatouille JB p. 520 (need eggplant and zucchini- 1 ½ lb ea) Garlicky green beans JB p. 514 Apple salad JB p. 533 (need pineapple, cr) Crunchy barley salad JB p. 535 Dilly bean salad JB p. 537 Fruited slaw (pears and tart apples) JB p. 541 Potato-green bean salad JB p. 545 Gerri’s strawberry jello Apple juice syrup-in notebook Strawberry sauce/rhubarb sauce on pancakes, too Fish orange seared salmon with almonds salmon patties tuna noodle casserole mahi/mahi, tilapia, walleye Lunch/Vegetarian Colcannon JB p. 379 black beans and rice Potato kielbasa casserole JB p. 383 Scandinavian salmon salad JB p. 413 Rice pudding cereal JB p. 508 Laughing Cow garlic/herb cheese chicken salad Soups tomato soup Bean with ham soup split pea with ham soup chicken noodle soup hamburger vegetable soup chili Wild rice soup Beef barley soup Cream of cauliflower soup JB Pb vegetable chicken soup JB Lentil and brown rice soup JB black bean and rice soup CP wonton soup Asian soup-notebook (need bok choy, pork strips) Baked potato soup-notebook Savory lentil rice tomato soup-notebook Lynette’s tortellini soup-notebook Minestrone soup-notebook (with tiny meatballs)

We don't do permission slips, because the parent is always with their child(ren). We haven't had any problems in the 10+ years I've been involved. We've set up field trips to every place we could imagine in those years. Some trips are geared more to the younger, some to the older, but all are welcome at all places generally.

It does sound like a good decision for him! Congratulations on preparing him so well! :)

SO Cool! Thanks!

Forgot to mention that the new 'in' thing is longboarding. Their friends are doing it, so they do it with them. Also airsoft guns nad paintball. lol I think the key for a lot of my boys activity is the fact that it's a social time. Every Friday afternoon for a couple hours they get together and do something sport related! Do you have other hs kids around where you could plan a sport activity once a week? A couple of the moms are the goalies for the hockey, and we're there by 1, so they get a couple hours exercise before the schools get out. Sometimes a mom or two is the motivator. ;)

My boys love tennis (I taught it to them and some of their friends) bowling, biking, and rollerblading for individual sports. The kids in our co-op get together weekly for a pickup game of soccer, Ultimate frisbee, voleyball, hockey (skates not required), football or whatever. This is especially great for us, since we aren't too competitive. When they were younger, they tried various sports through community ed or (name your sport) associations.

Yes, a zucchini bread that's not a quick bread?! I'd love the recipe, too, pretty please! And now you've got me going off to make those chocolate cupcakes, too. lol

Two out of three kids chose chow mein over rice with eggrolls for their birthday dinner. The third chose chicken fajitas with eggrolls. :) The side dishes for our meals change all the time--unless it's the Chinese meals! Other meals we all like: tacos bean/ground beef enchiladas, spanish rice chili mazetti-ground beef casserole with corn and tomato soup, etc. stuffed shells or lasagna sweet and sour chicken or ginger chicken or pepper steak with rice/eggrolls country ribs with BBQ sauce, mashed potatoes, and corn chicken and dumplings wild rice soup baked potato soup beef barley soup turkey dinner with all the fixings turkey tetrazzini, salad burgers or fish, baked beans, coleslaw, fried potatoes, sliced fresh tomatoes fish with mac & cheese, green beans meatloaf, baked potatoes and scalloped corn ham, scalloped potatoes, cream corn or broccoli salad ham and potato bake roast chicken, potatoes and gravy, coleslaw or broccoli slaw Swedish meatballs, potatoes and gravy, green beans teriyaki chicken, potato salad, salad beef stroganoff, salad beef or pork roast with carrots and potatoes cooked in with the roast, salad

We have a deaf mother in our hsing co-op who just had her 2nd baby. Her oldest is 6 or 7. Of course she can do it!

Apples have pectin, so you could use apple juice concentrate, I believe.

I thought it looked like ds's idea of a good movie and not mine! The previews were funny tho, and dh and I ALMOST got in to see it. Sounds like we were lucky that it was sold out. Thanks!!