We read aloud when the littlest gal snoozes mid-day. Otherwise she's a bit of a ruiner.

Craigslist! Have your son's teacher help you check out a piano that you're seriously interested in - I'd bet s/he'd be willing.

Boiled with chicken broth, onion, garlic and a little bit of crushed red pepper. Delicious!

Don't worry about when you move - just do what you like! Whenever the time comes, you'll be shifting things around and probably putting 1/3 of everything in storage anyway.

The kids should say every time, "you should talk with my mom about that - she loves to talk about homeschooling." The secret part is the bigger deal. By far.

I agree with you that "would you please" sounds more like a mandate.

Ugh. I would have rathered a poke in the eye than a conversation about any of it. I don't think I talked with friends about it, either. It just seemed private and personal.

I remember being embarrassed about the whole thing and I'm sure I didn't mention it the first go-around. But I love my mom! And I always did! Things were fine!

For a wedding!? Tacky. Seriously. For a get-together? Totally cool. Bowling? Cool. A baby shower? Okaaaay. But a wedding!? Tacky.

Swimming! And read-alouds! And early in the day hiking! And hopefully some sort of road trip! Woo hoo for summer!

Thermarest is probably the gold standard - if y'all are a people who camp, you might go ahead and get one.

Scouting of some kind? My people do AHG and it's a good fit for my super-reserved girl.

All of the U names are pretty, um, uncommon... I wonder if your pre-existing kids are common named (Adam, Olivia, Elijah and Isabella type names?) or have names that are more along the lines of the U names suggested? Truly if they're the more common names, an out-there U name won't really fit, even though it begins with U.

I think you did great.

My grandmother's sister was Uma. Ina, Ona, Uma, Avon and Grace. I'd probably pick a Y name, personally. Or Ulysses, which is really cool.

5 year old soccer is a hoot! And seriously, it'll be one evening a week for a hour long practice and then one game per weekend. No big deal. Plus' it's probably just a six week season, right?? You don't have to commit lock, stock and barrel. Down the road, if he loves it, there is probably also a recreational league even though some kids play more seriously in third grade. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Let him give it a go.

I think you'd still do okay in the rain -- it wouldn't be AS fun, sure, but a bunch of kids will pretty much have a good time together.

I would try to assume that the God Himself was moving her heart to sing, and see where that got me. I'd very hesitant to inwardly criticize or dwell on someone for following God's prompting despite their own deficiency. (I'm not totally saying that's what's going down, just that it'd help me cope.) I totally agree that you should never never ever say anything to the flat lady. Ever. And honestly, the choir guy should be more discreet or more direct, either way. He ought to say something or say nothing, not hint and speak privately about it. Someone unthread mentioned her switching to be a lector - how's your church set for lectors? Maybe if a few more people offered to cantor and some of the lectors quit...

Tell it! Tell it! Here I am, eating an apple like a dufus...

I think this is just lovely! You've taken something that would otherwise be a friction point and turned it into a connection and a sweet time for your family. Lovely!

I meal-plan on Sundays, with my calendar. And grocery shop Monday morning. Always.

I can think of dozens of things I'd rather do with little kids. But it probably depends a lot on what type of kid you have. My people are not happy in crowds and do not like loud busy things. For us a walk in the woods, or throwing rocks into a river, or any number of other things would be way more fun. But if you have a kid who feeds on that energy and enjoys the busy busy, it'd probably be super.

They bungled it. Make sure you tell them when you go back how you would've liked that situation to be handled. (A tender phone call would've been the right thing.)

I wonder if there's some other way y'all can earn the money for you two to go? Do you have stuff you could sell on Craigslist? Could you forgo eating out? Cancel the cable for that time? Obviously I have no idea about your budget or spending habits, but in your shoes I'd try to stick with the agreed upon savings rate and work together to make the trip happen some other way.

I'm a crier, too. Frustration, anger, embarrassment - you name it! If the emotion is big, I cry. And it always makes me feel like a wimp. I think the writing it out suggestion is a winner, if the guy won't accommodate y'all's very reasonable schedule.