My favorites: Francesca Grace Olivia Rose Yes, those are my girls' names. :001_smile: I also like: Annalise Charlotte Millicent Margaret

I have one of those all-knowing 14yo girls in my house. What I am having trouble tolerating is that I also have an all-knowing 18yo son. When their knowers conflict it can be loud! They cannot disagree on anything quietly (or intelligently :001_smile:).

Having done Apologia through high school with three kids so far, I think a module per week is way too fast. I do not have a chemistry background, but did fine with Apologia Chemistry at home with three so far. I think I would pull him out and do it at home, but that's JMO.

We don't have to repeat family history every year. Taking kids to the doctor has always been my job and my boys would think it was strange for dad to take off work to take them. It has never been a big deal to them - I just step out of the room for a minute when they have to drop their drawers.

I was quite a wild child back in the day, so they are shocked fairly often. The most shocked I've seen them is when they learned I had streaked around the streets of my hometown when I was a teenager. Streaking had somehow come up in conversation between my dh and me, and after explaining to them what it was, I told them I had done it. :tongue_smilie:

We go to a family practice and they do check my boys, but not my girls. I can't think of a good reason why a girl's genitals would have to be checked unless there was a problem. My boys don't like it, but it isn't a great big deal to them. They have to have yearly physicals to play sports. If they didn't, I'm sure it would happen less frequently.

Yes, we share.

We have been married for 30 years this month, and we have no secrets. We're open with the good, the bad, and the ugly. We don't really talk about every little detail of our days, but anything important we share. I have access to his email and he has access to mine. We have never checked up on each other, but don't find it necessary to keep our passwords from one another.

I usually only print out something I want to frame, or to send to family in Florida. I noticed the same thing about having pictures of the olders kids, though. I have my new grandson here this week and we have been pulling out baby pictures of his dad. I don't really have that many print pictures of my youngest three. It makes me sad, but doesn't seem to bother them.

I'll add a couple: The Children's Homer and Jason and the Golden Fleece, both by Padric Colum. A good place to look is The Baldwin Project. A lot of their books can be read online and some are in print and sold by Yesterday's Classics.

How heartbreaking. :grouphug: I'll be praying for this family and yours, Mariann. I'm so sorry.

Rejoicing with you! I'm praying and believing good things will come from this first small step.

I think whether you notify or not depends on your relationship. It sounds like it would cause trouble if you told, so I wouldn't. Like previous posters have said, it will probably never happen anyway. We changed our guardianship wishes to our oldest son and his wife. It had previously been my sister and bil. We have a great relationship, so I told her. She completely understood and I know that if something happens to my dh and me, she would still help with my younger children when she was needed.

The last time one of my kids yelled, "Snake!" we were hiking down a mountain. I cut my ankle so bad tearing back up the mountain that I could hardly stop the bleeding - and I pushed my dil and son down, out of my way. I have a totally irrational fear of snakes. After it was all over, my 12yo who had yelled told me he was kidding. :confused: My kids should know better than to tease about snakes. I'm impressed that you got the shovel. I would have made my dh come home from work or sent my son out to kill it.

Yes, I did see that. I don't want to marry him - I just think he's gorgeous! :001_smile: He's lucky he hasn't slapped the wrong woman (one who would tie him up in his sheet after he went to sleep and use a baseball bat on him). Not that I would do that . . .

I'm with Mrs. Mungo - Cary Grant was not gay. He is one of my favorite actors of all time. I love the movie Arsenic and Old Lace. Sean Connery is my second favorite, but he's certainly not gay.

:grouphug::grouphug: I hope he finds something quickly.

Nakia :grouphug: When you feel that way, you need to drive the hour it takes to get to my house and hang out with us! You know we all love you and you fit right in around here.

My oldest son lived at home until he got married at 23. He still followed house rules, and was a contributing member of the household. He didn't pay rent, but helped out around here and ran siblings to and from activities for me. He was working and going to school. It was a joy to have him here and I'm so glad I had that time with him. He had moved out once to live with friends when he was 21, but came home because he "missed everyone." He is very close to his younger siblings. All my kids know that this is their home and will be until they are ready to establish one of their own. They also know that while they are here there will be expectations as far as behavior and helping with household tasks.

I know what your relief feels like and I am so happy for you. :001_smile: When my 2nd son, who is also MC, was in Afghanistan, I felt like I could breathe again after he called home.

:party::party:THIS is the post I was hoping to see when I got on here tonight! God is good.

I used to be a night owl, but have slowly trained myself to go to bed and get up earlier. Our school days go so much better when we get a good early start. I go to bed at 10:00 and have been getting up at 6:00. I'm about to back that up to 5:30 because my kids get up early and I need time to get my coffee and have some quiet time before I have to deal with other people.

My 18yo son is that way and always has been. I spent years pretending interest in the ridiculous things he was constantly talking to me about, while inside my head I was screaming, "please, please shut up!" Now that he is 18, I am glad I let him talk even when I didn't want to listen. He is not home all that much between two part-time jobs and a girfriend. He still talks a lot, but I am thankful that he wants to talk to ME.

I spend more on my son's shoes than my daughters, simply because they buy one pair of athletic shoes and wear them everywhere in the winter. I usually spend anywhere from $50 to $75 for the first pair, but always buy at Shoe Carnival when the 2nd pair is half off. My girls like differents shoes/boots for their outfits, so I either look at consignment shops or buy at Target and usually spend $25 a pair at most.

dd12 and ds 12 - 2 Root Beer dd14 and ds 18 - 2 Coke