I'm sorry for your loss but am thankful it was peaceful.

For our wedding we took pictures of all our guests and left space in the guest book to attach them later. It has been a wonderful memory especially since my husband and I didn't necessarily know each other's extended families or family friends at the time. The new trend at parties is a photo booth which is really just a fun background and maybe some props. You could ask someone to be in charge of making sure all the guests have their picture taken even if you choose not to use props. I probably wouldn't for an 80th birthday party. Later you could load those pictures on a digital frame or make a book through Shutterfly or a similar service.

You could check with local climbing gyms or outdoor stores to see if there are classes he could take too.

My 7 year old attends church and does a children's choir. As far as sports I don't do anything organized. He isn't especially interested and it's hard with a kid who still naps to get to many organized things. We do hike a couple times a month, he plays outside almost daily, and when it's nice out we hit the park and ride bikes frequently. Do you climb? Maybe you could climb together or form a climbing club for kids. If you have a climbing gym maybe they would be willing to let you use the facility during a non peak time for the club.

What Sparkly said.

I know two girls named Elaina although one goes by Lainey. I've never seen the spelling Elena. I think it's a pretty name.

That reminds me of e-days many engineering colleges sponsor them, they are a lot of fun for children of all ages. My kids really enjoyed the one they attended last year.

My ovulation symptoms are similar minus the vommitting. The headaches and crankiness are awful, way worse than pms. It has gotten worse in the last couple years. I'm not sure if it is my age or number of pregnancies but it is noticeable.

Wow you have done a lot so far. I really enjoyed the Sarah Duke Gardens and the Duke Cathedral at Duke University. We were able to tag along when my husband had meetings in the area so not an every day field trip. My kids would probably say one of the science museums or a play. We also go hiking a couple times a month which I really enjoy.

My 7 year old has been dying to do some science experiments but most that I have found are either over his head, require a lot of time, or have a lot of materials. He really wants to observe something happening and have immediate results. I came across Candy Experiments by Loralee Leavitt and he loves it. Most of the experiments are simple and done in 10-15 minutes, there are about 70 experiments total. The ingredients are easy to find candies like Life Savers or M&Ms. It doesn't really fit in with our study of animals, but it is fulfilling his desire to do real science experiments. He is really enjoying it so thought I would share. In fact we did 3 experiments this morning and he has declared today "the best day of school ever!" Overall I think younger elementary students would get the most enjoyment from this book but older kids would enjoy some of the experiments as well. I found it at a Scholastic Wearhouse sale but Amazon has it as well for around $10.

Joining the chorus here. My 7 year old was and is quite clingy sometimes even in very familiar situations. He is starting to outgrow it now but he doesn't like to try new things at all. I don't think preschool would help, I think it would just add more frustration to your life when you drop him off each time. One thing that has helped us some is role playing before new situations. My son LOVES to sing and we knew would enjoy being in choir that required an audition. We practiced what the audition might be like many, many times. I also had my husband take him to the audition. While our son is clingy with both of us, I am more sensitive to it because I have a similar personality. Much to our surprise, he did that audition like he did them every day. I fully expected him to cry and hold onto my husband's leg and refuse to sing. The role playing really helped. It might not help with Sunday school but it might help in other situations. Hang in there, I suspect your son will start to outgrow this soon.

My husband had hundreds of cards from the 80s. He always thought they were worth something but most aren't worth anything. I think he had a couple worth more than a dollar. There are some high dollar cards out there though and a friend of ours makes a decent side income selling cards on ebay.

I've really enjoyed My Antonia as well. What about one of the Port Williams books by Wendell Berry? There are several but I enjoyed Jayber Crow, Hannah Coulter, and A Place on Earth.

I'm sorry to hear Pink Elephant had left the board, I hope she visits this thread. Because of her I learned what a dark eyed Junco looks like, turns out they have been visiting my yard all along and I didn't notice. So far in 2015 I have seen: Red shouldered hawks Crows Turkey vultures (about a dozen in a tree, so creepy) Robins Canada geese Mallards Song sparrows Dark eyed juncos Northern cardinals Blue jays Those were all within a mile of my home and without really even trying. There was a great blue heron frequenting the pond in our neighborhood but I haven't seen him since the 31st. I don't know if he moved on or if he moved to the side of the pond closer to the road where I can't see when driving past. I have also seen what I think is a northern mockingbird but the pictures don't look exactly like what I saw. This particular bird loves to dive bomb the neighbors cat. This weekend I am going hiking so hopefully I'll see some more birds. The area where I am going has a bird blind which usually means there is more variety than I see at home.

I have a zip, I like it. It's really basic but it's small and works well.

When I miscarried I would have appreciated a gesture like that.

Our kids don't get much gift money, occasionally $10 but always a $2 bill from my grandma. My two younger ones rarely realize they have money so we stick it in their piggy banks. My oldest (7) usually divides his money into give, spend, and save. With his chore/allowance money we do 1/3 into each but his spend gets slightly more when the amount doesn't divide evenly. With his gift money we let him decide but encourage him to save it for the big purchase lego set he wants. Sometimes he spends it right away and sometimes he spends part and saves part. Again we are talking about $10 here not the amounts you referenced.

I don't know of any, but giving you a bump because I would like to know as well.

We did afternoon school for a brief period last year when my youngest quit taking a morning nap. It didn't work well for us, my energy level tends to crash in the afternoon so I didn't have much patience. You could always try it for awhile and see how it works for you.

I checked it out from my library. Pawz- did you delete it from your kindle or from your amazon account?

I just saw my first bird of the year today. We normally have dozens of little birds in our backyard while I eat breakfast but this morning there wasn't a single one. I stood by the back door trying to figure out why there wasn't even a squirrel hopping on the branches when I saw a large bird about 100 yards away on a lone tree. I couldn't tell if it was a hawk or owl (it's a little late in the morning for an owl) so I grabbed my binoculars. I still wasn't sure and was about to head upstairs to see if I could get a better look when one of my kids shouted out the window and caused it to stir. It flew to another tree and was definitely a hawk, a red tailed hawk. When it flew to the other tree I realized there was a second one out there too. That explains why all the little birds and squirrels were hiding. My husband said that the 2nd one had actually been in the tree right by our playset 20 minutes earlier. I've seen many hawks in the area but never in our yard. Is it bad that I hope they get the mice and rabbits (that keep eating my blueberry bushes) but leave the birds alone? Are we keeping a 2015 list somewhere? I'd be happy to start a social group is that's what others want to do.

I've been wearing a fitbit zip for a few months now. It's extremely easy to wear and simple to use. You can look at basic data on your zip or use the computer or app for more data. It doesn't track sleep but I do love it.

I don't have advice on a particular church, but do you have friends from where you had the falling out? Could you start a home church or life group with a couple of those friends? It may not meet all of your spiritual needs but perhaps it would help.

Ha. Glad it turned up. Last year I mailed an empty envelope that was supposed to have our Chrsitmas card in it to a friend. We were at her house and I noticed everyone else's cards hanging up so I asked if she had gotten ours. She chuckled and told me what happened. I was embarrassed but at least it wasn't someone who was offended.

I read the book a couple years ago. I've been looking forward to seeing the movie for awhile. Friday my husband and I are going to catch the matinee.