I've had Brooks and Saucony and have liked them both. My second pair of Brooks hurt my feet, and I ended up taking them back. Definitely go get fitted. It's free and worth the time.

We use a market tote similar to this one: https://www.amazon.com/Fabric-Collapsible-Market-Basket-Black/dp/B009G3VBIW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1509837893&sr=8-2&keywords=market+basket It holds more than you might think, and the fabric is nylon or something, so pet hair doesn't stick.

We use WWS for our writing block and Killgallon took the place of R&S for grammar this year. It's working great and dd loves it. The two programs have a very different focus and complement each other well, I think. We do not try to tie them together at all; KG is 1-2 exercises about 3 days/week, and WWS is broken down as needed -- some "weeks" we finish in a week, and others take 2 or 3. This is my first middle-schooler so I don't have experience with writing curricula other than these two. But I would recommend starting with WWS1. IMO, the way SWB scaffolds skills would be hard to follow if you started in the middle. But if IEW is similar enough, it might work. We started WWS in 5th grade but it was slow going, even for my naturally prolific writer. We are still going at basically half pace in 7th, and I anticipate not finishing WWS3 until sometime in 9th. I don't think starting later would have hurt us at all. I definitely anticipate starting ds in 6th or even 7th.

Tonight we're celebrating ds's birthday so it's hot dogs and s'mores over the bonfire, followed by chocolate cake!

Tracking your spending for a couple of months is the best way to do this. It can vary so much between families, and even more so in a situation like yours with multiple kids in and out. Even if you do not need to *buy* items like laundry detergent and toilet paper you can keep track of your average usage. If you know you go through, say, 1 roll of toilet tissue per person per week, you can determine how much you will need to spend. While you're tracking, also try to keep up with sales cycles and see if you can determine the rock-bottom price of you preferred brand. If you can get on the same cycle as your store and stock up when prices bottom out, it can help you keep from having to buy the cheapest thing available in a pinch. I do buy Clorox wipes and the like, but mostly we try to make our own cleaners when possible and use washable rags instead of disposable products. Most surfaces can be adequately cleaned with a mix of vinegar and liquid dish soap. I save Clorox for the very germiest of messes. A large container can last us 6 months.

One-pan gnocchi with spinach and chicken :drool5:

We gave up family get-togethers on my dad's side last year after his horrible sister and her NPD son managed to boot us out of our home (among other things). I hate it for my dad, as they are his only remaining family but I refuse to subject my children to them anymore. On the bright side, this makes our Christmas Day so much more manageable by cutting out the last of our multiple stops. It was so relaxing to come home from dh's grandmother's last year, put up our feet, and watch the kids play with their new toys!!

I am not as skinny as my avatar!

Yes. I hate those things. And the way they're all "don't take it out don't take it out don't take it out TAKE IT OUT NOW!!!!"

I just had jury duty last week. In my county, we were told explicitly no cell phones allowed in the courtroom at all, and no bags, purses, etc. of any kind until you were seated on a jury. I took my wallet, which has a clip on it for my keys, and a book. Nothing else was allowed in. About halfway through the morning, the bailiff said we could actually have cell phones, they just had to be completely turned off inside the courtroom, but the letter we received had clearly said otherwise, and apparently several people were turned away at the door and had to put their phones in their cars.

I disagree, to an extent. I think allowing kids to play on their phones during class actually trivializes the meaning and purpose of being in church. It sends the message that what we are doing here isn't really that important, and we don't care if you pay attention to it or not. I don't think banning phones altogether is necessarily the answer. Certainly there can be reasonable use (a Bible app, free time, etc.). But IME bending over backwards to make something fun can backfire.

DD12 was born on Memorial Day. We started her in kindergarten the fall after she turned 5. I wouldn't have considered holding her out another year; she would have been even more bored in ps than she was. If DS had had her birthday, I definitely would have considered red-shirting him, though. He just needed more time to mature.

We just got one. Haven't been but haven't heard such great reports so far. It's on the other side of town so not convenient for us. On the plus side, our Food Lion has slashed prices to compete, so we're lapping that up!

I like this approach, thanks. And yes, my goal is to help her make these goals/choices for herself. She is beginning to have more and more opportunities to make food choices on her own when she's away from home. It needs to be something she wants for herself. This is true. I don't have a problem with the cereal (we stay on the healthier end, not the really sugary kiddie cereal) and yogurt, per se. I think they can have a place in a balanced diet. They are probably among the "worst" things we have in the house on any given day, which is why she picks them. We buy a fixed amount each week and when they're gone, they're gone. What that essentially means is that she eats less and less throughout the week until we go to the store again. I just want her to branch out a little bit and learn that not everything has to be super sweet or super salty to taste good.

I am struggling with how to encourage DD12 to branch out on her food choices. She has always been a picky eater. She likes carbs and junk food and pretty much nothing else. She doesn't like any kind of vegetable and very few fruits. She won't eat most kinds of beef, chicken, or pork and no seafood or fish. Basically, if it's not a starch, it has to be deep fried for her to touch it. For breakfast, she usually eats cereal. Lunch is a pb&j -- usually two -- and maybe a yogurt, the kind loaded with sugar. If I insist, she might have a piece of fruit. I cook a healthy meal for dinner 90% of the time, and more often than not it goes untouched, or at best picked at. If there are potatoes or rice or another starch that she likes, she will eat that, and drink a glass of milk. She would rather go hungry than eat something she doesn't like. We almost never keep sweets or chips, crackers, etc. in the house. We always keep a big basket of fresh fruit and plenty of veggies that can be eaten raw or easily cooked. There's no lack of choices, and we have talked many times about the importance of good nutrition. More exercise might increase her appetite, but she's fairly active as it is, and still she would rather not eat at all than eat chicken or broccoli. She is healthy and not over- or underweight, but I know that will change with time if her eating habits remain the same, and I want her to start building better habits now. I don't want this to become a battle, but I know her tastes won't change if she never tries to develop them.

Would she like any of the really old stuff? Mr. Ed or Dick Van Dyke or I Love Lucy? I loved all those shows that used to come on Nick at Nite when I was a kid... but I'm a little weird. :)

The ginormous yard with huge pine trees and enough room for ds to roam without ever getting bored. The cathedral ceilings in the living room with the floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace and windows. The loft over our dining room that makes a perfect playroom/reading nook and comes with a spiral staircase. The new color scheme that we picked out when we (finally) went from renting to buying in July. The fact that all of the most special touches were picked out by my mom and crafted by my dad during the 30 years the house was theirs. The many, many happy memories... and the new ones my family is making now.

DD12: The First Tee (golf club), golf lessons, confirmation class, violin DS6: Violin, kid's fitness class at the YMCA, The First Tee and possibly soccer in the spring. Wanted to do Boy Scouts but there weren't any other boys his age signed up so decided to wait another year.

I really had mixed feelings on that episode. As the always-chubby (ok, let's be honest, FAT) daughter of a thin, beautiful mother, I relate in a lot of ways to young Kate. I remember feeling that I would never measure up to my mother. And I do think in some ways she overcompensated with praise, etc. because of my weight. BUT -- And this is a big BUT (no pun intended :D ) -- grown-up me also knows that I, as a person who has always been fat, have always seen the world through my "fat-lens." Meaning that I assume others' behavior/feelings/etc. towards me are affected by my weight. I'm not talking about discrimination here, but normal everyday interactions with people I love and who love me. My weight is such an inextricable part of the way I see myself that I can't imagine it not being an integral part of the way others see me. I think this is something Kate has yet to learn. I hope she will.

This makes sense to me, but I wonder: if that's the case, why did I get two different lists the first two times I searched? And why, after I'd blocked everyone on the second list and then immediately searched again, did it say, "No matches found"? Genuine question, no snark.

So is mine. But I had over 30 people following me when I checked this a few weeks ago, and more than 10 new ones when I checked again today.

My 7th grader and I designed her science this year: Chemistry and the Science of Food. She started with Ellen McHenry's Carbon Chemistry to get a basic understanding of organic chemistry concepts. Later, she will be applying that knowledge more specifically to the science of food, exploring how scientific principles can impact cooking, nutrition, and food safety. We are using 4H's food science curriculum as our spine for this part. She'll also be looking into various food science careers, including hopefully interviewing or shadowing someone in the field either at a locally company or a nearby university. We put this together to combine two of her favorite things (chemistry and food!) and it's working great so far.

My 1st grader has the same issues and we are using SOTW 1, which is easier to follow than later volumes. I try to frame discussion with him as more of a natural conversation, where more often than not, I end up answering my own questions. I've found that if I put too much pressure on him he shuts down and everybody ends up frustrated. He is doing plenty of narration using FLL and WWE. With history and science at this stage, I feel like the goal is exposure, not mastery, so as long as some things are sticking eventually, I'm happy. I reinforce SOTW with supplemental readings throughout the week and hands-on projects (we do this with science too). He's retaining much more that way. He also loves the maps, so that's been a surprisingly good tool for us. FWIW, my gifted dd was TERRIBLE at narrations and recall in history (well, really, across the board) for the first year at least that we did them. And this despite the fact that she started with SOTW 1 in 3rd grade, after we took her out of public school, when she was reading and writing well above grade level. It really is a skill, and one that some kids pick up more easily than others. Give him some scaffolding, and don't make him compete with his sister for answers (that NEVER works out well here). Reinforce what he is learning with reading or videos or fun projects or just talking about what you're learning outside of a formal narration context. And remember that he will study this stuff again (and probably again) before he graduates. He doesn't have to know it all now.

We learned the Virginia Reel in middle school and it was a blast!

I love throwing kids' birthday parties too. I like to go all out. It's as much for me as it is for them (although dd especially has started to really enjoy being involved). I think your solution sounds very creative and actually a lot of fun. Everybody gets to celebrate their birthday twice! You could do an UNbirthday party, a la Alice in Wonderland. For that, it could really be a celebration of all the kids' birthdays (even guests) so that solves your present problem. Relatives or close friends who would want to buy a gift anyway can just do that at each real birthday. I was born on New Year's Eve so I rarely had any kind of birthday celebration. People always have plans over New Year's. And there's the whole combined Christmas/birthday gift thing. I would have loved it if my mother had made an effort to celebrate my birthday some other time of year. I was so jealous of my sister who was born in July.