We love both of those movies, as well as The Secret of Rowan Inish.

My kids are young. I definitely worry about this. I started dating the man who I would eventually marry and start a family at 14. I snuck around to do it. I don't want that kind of relationship with my kids. I also still want to protect them. Fourteen looks so, so young all these years later. I have a hard time envisioning parenting teens.

I received a mass e-mail from a friend from high school about her struggles with infertility and how she can't handle having people share pictures of their kids with her anymore. We were close in high school, but now we pretty much don't interact beyond an occasional comment on Facebook. It strikes me as such a weird thing to do and I worry about her, but I don't know how to reach out to her, especially since I am always with my kids. Any suggestions?

My nine year old is a huge Rick Riordan fan. (I'm less of a fan and wouldn't mind something a little more toned down on the teen issues.) I wondered if there were any fantasy novels similar to that but based in Irish mythology?

We've had a rough start today. DC1 lost some of her spelling stuff. I love AAS, but keeping track of everything has been rough for her. And I really want to reuse this for my younger kids! DC2 snuck off with the laptop to watch Clone Wars during chore time. DC3 keeps whining to go outside but is too little to go by himself. The weather is nice for February here, but it's too cold to do school out there. Finished: DC1: Writing, FLL DC2: nothing Still up: DC1: piano, Spanish, history, math, geography DC2: violin, math, reading, writing, grammar, handwriting

Maybe it's because I recently lost a loved one to lung cancer, but yeah, I see anything you smoke much more negatively than I do alcohol. Plus, I hate, hate, hate how entitled smokers feel to smoke in public spaces and only hope that the legalization of pot doesn't turn into that. I could care less about your pot brownies.

Aurelia - Sorry school hasn't gone as well as you'd like.It sounds like you have a lot going on right now. My two year old and I both caught the stomach bug.At least judging by my oldest, hopefully this will pass quickly. She did a little independent work, but mostly we wasted the day. I might play catchup on Saturday.

Younger siblings, statistically, tend to be slightly shorter than their same-sex siblings.

My oldest did continent blobs in second grade (drawing and labeling continents, oceans, great circles). In third, she's doing Brookdale House's Drawing Around the World US. For a nine-year-old, she does a pretty reasonable freehand of a world map. Her US map is coming along, about 2/3 of the way through. We will probably move onto Brookdale House's Drawing around the World Europe for fourth. It only takes 20 minutes and my kid can do it independently. I hope to start my second child on continent blobs in first grade, but we'll see how his handwriting is coming along.

I'm talking solgar. Living where I do, I don't know how I would get more sun. Before I got sick, We shoot for about two hours outside a day, but it's cold. That's two hours a day outside with pretty much just my face exposed. Because it's winter. I don't know how to get more sun exposure without freezing. The absorption issue isn't something I've really thought about. I've been making sure to try to eat it with some fat, but other than that, anything else I should know about absorption?

My oldest spent the night vomiting, requiring multiple changes of bedding, so I have low, low energy. She's been in bed all day running a fever, so no school for her. Finished for DC2: math FLL Writing Handwriting Reading still up: violin Normally, we do music appreciation today, but I think I'm going to save it for when my eldest can participate as well.

17. I was told that they like to see it at least at 20. I don't know the units. I am using soft gel tablets of D3.

My labs have me slightly deficient in Vitamin D despite taking a multivitamin and an additional vitamin D supplement. Ideas to raise my vitamin d levels during the winter?

Sdel - Glad you are okay! How scary! Finished: DC1: Geography, history, math, FLL, Spanish, music theory DC2: Math (or as much as we're going to get done today - he just wasn't getting it and after 45 minutes I decided we were done for today), reading, read-aloud (Little House in the Big Woods), handwriting Still up: DC1: Spelling, Writing, Piano practice and lesson DC2: Writing, First Language Lessons, Violin We still have spring-like weather in the mid-forties right now, so the kids are playing outside. It's supposed to drop ten degrees by tomorrow, but that's still unseasonably nice weather for this time of year. I need to call them inside to maximize my two year old terror's nap time, but I don't want to!

The doctor recommended neosporin. Thoughts?

I have never successfully healed a piercing. I am taking my nine-year-old to the doctor to get pierced (with a needle, not a gun) today. I'm sure the doctor with have aftercare instructions, but I just wanted to know if anyone had some great tips, especially helping a somewhat immature, very newly nine-year-old, for piercing aftercare?

Finished for today: DC1: Spanish, Math, Geography, History, Spelling, FLL, Writing, Piano DC2: Reading, FLL, Handwriting Still up: DC1: Ear Piercing ::gulp:: DC2: Math, Violin

1. Make good salmon. I like it when other people make it, but mine never has the right consistency, no matter how I try to cook it 2. Landscaping: I have an awful black thumb. Everything dies. 3. Drywall. Why oh why did I get a house full of old, beat up paneling that I thought I could replace?

I would not change your math curriculum this year if it's working for your kid. Wait to change to Beast in third.

If I were you, I'd serve a side green salad and celery and carrot sticks with (dairy, peanut butter, something with protein) dip as a side to every meal. These things are super easy to prepare and the celery and carrots sticks stay good for days. I would then pick an additional side as a "try" food and a main dish of your choosing. I talk a lot about how as we mature, so do our taste buds, and that maybe now you've become big enough to like it. I highly praise trying new foods, even if they don't like it. I talk about how we can train our taste buds to like good foods. Truly, though, I think this is a marital issue. I don't think I could insist on a healthy diet for my kids with a partner who openly snubbed it.

Not a large family, but I only take my kids to the movies at the drive-in on Sundays when it's $15/car and we can bring our own snacks.

I was wondering where this came from, but V-Day totally makes sense.

I married my high school sweetheart, so I think I messed that up.

My parents had an age requirement of 17 when I was a kid, and it really didn't work well. I started dating a guy at 14 and just lied about it, for years. (Yes, I'm a weirdo who married their high school sweetheart.) I ended up marrying and having kids with that guy. I don't want that kind of relationship with my kids. But, I also kind of thought I had a few years!

I asked her but got a non-answer shrug.