I've been to a wedding on 9/11 post 2001. I didn't think it was disrespectful at all, although I did find it a bit odd the couple chose that date. I later found out they were hesitant but that was the weekend their families were able to travel so they went ahead with it.

My goal is for my kids' handwriting to be neater than their father's handwriting. My FIL does have beautiful handwriting and if any of my kids took after him, I'd love it, but I'm not going to require it.

Thanks for the laugh! At least it didn't get in your eye, I hope it wears off quickly.

Our dog's eating habits changed drastically like that once. It turned out someone who regularly walked the path behind our house was feeding him "treats" and we didn't realize it. His dry dog food was boring after being fed table scraps behind our backs. Once we discovered the problem, we gave her permission to give him a certain treat once a day and soon he was eating normally again.

Odd Squad and Peg+Cat are favorites here. If you think she might like podcasts, try Brains On! I listen through the Stitcher app and my kids really enjoy it, each episode is just under 30 minutes, tonight we listened to one about tunnels and bridges.

Last year I had a 2 and 4 year old to entertain while my eldest was in choir. I had them pack a small backpack with a few toys (cars, dolls, etc). I would bring library books, coloring books, and crayons. Some days they would run around in the lobby but most of the time they enjoyed the extra reading time or playing with their toys. If it's three days a week, you could also allow your little one to have extra play time at home and save the schoolwork for during classtime. My kids do a much better job of entertaining themselves at home than they do outside the home. That may also be a good time to do a read aloud that might be a little young for your older child.

I agree the shipping is inconsistent. I am also in a neighboring state, I live about 3 hours from the warehouse. When you use the free shipping it often comes through DHL, I once had an order sit in a warehouse an hour from me for three weeks! Evidently DHL ships media mail space available or something. That was the first time I ever ordered from RR and I made the rookie mistake of ordering everything in August when everyone else is ordering too. That isn't Rainbow's fault but it is still quite frustrating. Since then I've placed maybe a dozen orders and they have usually arrived in a reasonable amount of time. I've used the trick of adding a supply and also just paid the $5 to have my order delivered via UPS when I wanted to make sure my books arrived quickly. My last order was shipped in two days, it was one I paid $5 for the UPS upgrade.

I want to like this but can't! How cool is it to get permission to drop history from the author of wonderful history books?

I'm looking forward to more hiking! I love watching the leaves change and once they fall, there are so many more gorgeous views in my favorite hiking spots. College football, our town just loves football and even though we only make it to a game a season, the atmosphere around town is just fun. Horse races in October. Again, it's one of those things that everyone talks about and gets excited about even if they don't actually attend the races. Pumpkins and baking more once it's cooled off. Camping now that my kids are all finally old enough that it's enjoyable. I can never decide if my favorite season is fall or spring, but I just love the nicer weather.

How beautiful! I'm very sorry for your loss.

You sound like me! We have a Thanksgiving child and a Christmas child. Between friends, nieces, and nephews with birthdays during that same month, November and December are really crazy for our family.

Let us know how it goes, I'm sure it was a lovely party. I highly recommend the classes at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, or a cake decorating store if you are fortunate enough to live in an area that has one. Of course it's been 15 years (how has it been that long?) since I took them and that was before Cake Central or YouTube really took off. You can learn a ton just watching videos online. Since having my 3rd child and starting homeschooling I rarely have time to decorate cakes anymore except for my kids' birthdays.

You can go either way. The petite cake is cute and if you freeze it before cutting it should cut easily. I've done the smash cake three different ways with three different kids. The third got a slice and he was the only one who really ate it. None of mine really smashed the cake, probably because we had spent the last several months trying to teach them not to play with their food.

I've been getting the flu shot yearly for close to 20 years. I've had the flu once, a year or two ago when flu vaccine was not readily available in my area and I didn't get the shot. I have no intention of ever getting the flu again. In general though my family is pretty healthy. I never knew the vaccine was controversial until I was pregnant the year of the big H1N1 outbreak and hospitals weren't allowing visitors. Being pregnant I wasn't sure if I would get the vaccine. The day I went in for my appointment planning to talk to my OB about it, she was distraut because she had lost an otherwise healthy patient to H1N1 the night before. I got the shot. My OB ended up losing 3 patients due to flu that season.

I can never shop this early because I am always super excited about gifts and would end up giving them early OR I would forget where I hid them and end up buying more later. I have decided we are giving our kids camping stuff this year. None of them have sleeping bags and they are finally to an age where camping is enjoyable. This is the first time I've ever decided on presents so early.

Sloppy joes are always a hit when we cook for the Ronald McDonald house. Breakfast and a baked potato bar seem popular too. Since you cook regularly for these boys, maybe survey and find out what their favorite home cooked meals are and see if you could adapt them for the group.

Good luck! Were you previously renting out the property? I'm curious to hear how it works out.

First day today. K went great with my 5 year old. 2nd is not quite as smooth, there have been a few tears over math. I'm hoping as we get back into our routine thing straighten out because math was fine last year.

Sandwiches, wraps, and salads are easy. I often do homemade lunchable type meals for my kids. Hard boiled eggs are great too. If you have a thermos you could do soups or spaghetti as the weather cools down.

Wow! My kids aren't in public school so I have no idea if it's common. I would be incredibly frustrated though.

Oysters! That could be tough on the budget, I'm not sure I've ever eaten an oyster.

My three children eat vastly different as well. My oldest is an adventurous eater. He will try anything at least once and always wants to try something new in restaurants. My middle is a stubborn eater. She will frequently walk into the kitchen while I'm cooking and compliment me on how good the food smells. Then at meal time she will turn her nose up at the food. She would live off cheap mac & cheese and fries if I would allow it.

My kids love pizza but my youngest does not eat fries. I'm not sure he is actually related to me.

I have seen olives in the individual serving packs like you can buy fruit for lunches. It's kind of pricey but if you need to pack a picnic they could be handy.

I'm not sure where I can buy mahi around here, I may have to to some investigating.