I'm looking forward to reading it.

I've never done note booking, but that sale has me tempted too. I think my 7 year old would like the preprinted pages.

My 7 year old never has. My 5 year old has for the last several months. She saw a friend do it when having a picture taken and thought it was funny. When she first learned it, she did it to be funny but now she does it when annoyed.

Prayers for you and for baby Caden. Thanks for the update.

I love that you stuck to your guns and your son's reading took off. I also love hearing success stories.

Do children need passports too if walking across the footbridge or will birth certificates be sufficient? We may be in Buffalo next week and will drive up to the falls if we are. It's completely last minute so I don't have time to get passports for my kids.

My grandma gives $2 bills when she had lots of people to gift.

It's been awhile since I've had a paid memembership but I seem to remember the forums being helpful with figuring out how to download coordinates. I haven't been caching in awhile, but my youngest is old enough we may need to plan an outing soon.

My sister had a rootbeer keg (ordered by local grocery store) and ice cream for a rootbeer float party. It was a ton of fun. My youngest brother had a carnival in my parent's backyard complete wth cotton candy machine and slushies. Again it was fun and fit his personality well. Most graduation open houses I have attended have finger foods with cake and punch. ETA I grew up in a smallish town where everyone tends to have graduation parties on the same day and most people attend several in a row. Where I Iive now graduation parties are spread out throughout May and June so they tend to have more of a meal offered.

Prayers for you and your sweet baby.

When I go for a run I like to walk about 10 minutes before I start running, then it usually takes at least a mile of running before I feel like I'm running smoothly. In the past I was shy about warming up before races but I'm not anymore. For a 5k or 10k I will walk briskly about 10 minutes and then jog a real slow mile finishing 15 minutes or so before the race. Then I just keep moving around and try to stay loose before the race starts. For the 10 miler and half marathons I have run, I have just done brisk walking for 20ish minutes and let the first mile or so of the race be my actual warm up. I'm not sure what others do but this works for me. I usually finish in the upper 1/2 of my age group but I'm not fast by any means.

So sorry! Hoping she is ok.

My son had gone through stages like this. When he does, we start the day with a math game and then I shorten the lesson by a bit.

Thanks. I'm going to see if their elementary products are on sale too

Ha! My inlaws don't live there but my MIL does love the weather channel. My husband sat next to one of their reporters in a plane last week, I asked if he had gotten an autograph for his mom but he didn't think she would find it funny.

I figured out some neighbors were homeschoolers but it wasn't that they looked or acted a certain way. I happened to notice that their sons were frequently home when other kids in the neighborhood were in school.

Thanks for the ideas! I won't have a car during the day, but we will in the evenings. Is there any good hiking in either area, trails 4 miles or shorter? 4 miles is about the limit of my 5 year old.

I'm sorry! I spent 6 months of my life trying to convince an insurance company that I had given birth to one boy instead of twin girls I named after myself.

I need ideas for activities with kids in Erie and Buffalo. We are tagging along on a business trip in a couple weeks and will likely be in each location for 2 days during the middle of the week. I have a 7,5, and 2 year old. We like outdoor activities, museums (if somewhat kid friendly), and music. Any good local restaurants we have to visit? What is the weather like up there right now?

Great job just diving in and doing it. I've been sewing for nearly 20 years and there are still projects that make me nervous. I also end up ripping out stitches at some point in each project. I sewed many blankets before I moved on to clothing.

It's on my to read list but I don't even own a copy yet.

You may be close enough for day trips to Trammell Fossil Park outside Cincinnati. It's free and you can dig fossils. Mammoth Cave in western Ky could be a good day trip too.

My 7 yo son has Timberlands, they are waterproof and he prefers them over tennis shoes. Definitely go to Rei since you are so close.

Reading a chapter or two at lunchtime could work really well. I'm not sure the ages of your children but the Little House series and the Narnia books work well for multiple ages. I read them last year when my oldest was 6. The two year old didn't get a lot out of them but he does like Aslan. In a few years we will likely read through both series again. Fairy tales could work well across age groups as well.

Agreed. I was reading to my children before we decided to homeschool, it was just something we did.