My kids are boring :tongue_smilie: I made their costumes when they were 3 or 4. Ever since then, they want boring, off-the-shelf costumes. Five minutes in Costco sealed the deal. In August. Last year, I was able to encourage them to be Luke and Leia. They were adorable. This year, my girl picked Anna from Frozen (will that ever go away? She was Elsa two years ago). Disney - Let it go already. :rofl: My boy picked Kylo Ren. He's my favorite Star Wars geek til the end!

my new 2nd grader DS read it just fine. It took him a minute but he got the right answer. I didn't ask my 2nd grade DD. She probably wouldn't have gotten the problem without some help.

Depends on the book in our house. How about the Little House on the Prairie series? My DD is 7 and particularly loves that series. I swear she'd hear it over and over again for the rest of her life and never tire. My son will listen to any and all story in any form. My daughter will listen to audiobooks in the car or books I read aloud. She doesn't care for audiobooks on a kindle or similar at home. She's too active and has no patience for all the sitting still required! My son would walk around listening to books all day if I let him. (Of course if I ask him to read the same book (he is able to do so), he'll act as if I just suggested he stab a hot poker in his eyes.) If I'm reading to them and the book isn't holding their attention enough to prevent tuning out (which in my house looks a lot like your fights and wandering off), I ditch the book and try another book. We've abandoned several books mid-stream.

My problem was in my neck not lower back. But, it was making my arm numb in addition to the radiating pain from shoulder to hand. I opted to have surgery. It was a very quick recovery (and surgery, too!) and made all the difference in the world to my day to day well-being. On a side note, nerve pain medicine (not pain pills but something that works on the nerve -- gabapenten (sp?)) helped while I waited to have the surgery. PT did absolutely nothing for my problem. I know this because while I waited for the nerve study (scheduling!), I had to do several weeks of useless PT.

Nuts. Nuts and overnight oats (cold, yum). Smoothie with no sugar yogurt, some fruit, protein powder, flax, spinach - natural sugars and a bit of protein and fiber. Ham with cream cheese in the middle, rolled up. I've seen people make eggs with assorted additions baked in muffin tins and reheated in the morning. How about some sort of coconut flour muffin? They require a lot of eggs and don't have to be too sweet.

Mine are starting second, also. For us, AAR 3 was very beneficial. They seemed to shine during/after that level. Maybe yours just picks up reading more naturally. AAR 4 is where we are fizzling. We put it on hold over the summer and may not pick it back up (I don't remember which lessen we were on but it wasn't very far into level 4). They seem to be doing ok for now reading what they find at the library. AAR 3 (or maturity) got them over the hurdle of not wanting to read very long stories/books. Of course, we also fizzled around the middle of AAS 2 before summer. But we'll pick that up again very soon. Mine are NOT natural spellers.

My son was 6 before we finally used the alarm. It only took a few days, and he was dry after that. I think 4 is early to be concerned and early to use the alarm. It takes some maturity to handle the beep and know what it means. Someone (possible on here) once mentioned to stop giving the kid milk after 4 and it helps bedwetting. Doesn't sound very scientific but I swear it helped. I cut out milk at 3pm. Nothing but water after that.

We're actually doing this right now. We listed our current house. The realtor gave an estimate of 4 months to close. We then signed a contract to build a new house with a 7 month estimate to completion (fairly small payment to secure, no loan involvement other than showing "Prequalification"). Our old house closes in a week. In the interim, all of our possessions are going in storage. We're going to live in our camper at a campground. Not ideal, but we wanted to save money and couldn't find a decent rental situation for month-to-month. I don't like moving twice but it's only a short term inconvenience. Ending up with two houses at the same time would have been much worse on us. In our case, our current house was out in the country and not so easy to sell. Fortunately, we found buyers and got a good price. We did include a contingency on the building that would let us out with some money back if our old house had not sold. Talk to me after a few months in the camper with the kids. I'll probably advise never to do it my way!

Later in the summer they may have a lot more work as extensions deadlines are coming due for their corporate clients. I guess it depends on their client load. I did corporate taxes in industry so I don't have a feel for how a small firm operates. Public Accounting has a busy season later in the year, too (I was only in Big 4 for two awful years). Not sure how small firms work. Even aside from actual tax filings, I'm sure small firms have audit work toward the end of the year. Or even just quarterly bookkeeping. Hope to find someone who has just a tad too much work consistently but not enough to justify another FTE.

I'm a CPA in the exact same boat. The inability to leave my kids in order to have client meetings plus the costs of insurance and software, etc. has deterred me from attempting to hang out my own shingle in any capacity. My husband works crazy hours so I can't commit to any schedule, even on the weekend, if I look for a low level job just to make a little bit of money to help. My only valid consideration has been to reach out to former coworkers still in accounting for any side work they may have that can be done at home. I guess I'm fortunate that I've only been out of work for four years, so I still have a few connections. We're moving and things are chaotic now, but I do plan to go that route if possible later in the year. What if you ask local CPA firms for any busy season work they may have that you could do at home? Good luck finding what works for you!

My twins (former preemies with ROP) had a very comprehensive eye exam at the major teaching university where they were born and in the NICU. It was just a one day study and they were about 4 years old but the drive is an hour and a half. It was nice they got to receive such a thorough exam and use of some neat technology for free. They also received some amount for it. Perhaps $50 each. I can't remember but DH put it in their piggy banks (it may have been a Target card now that I think about it, but he still put that dollar amount in their piggy banks). The study was great. However, I'd never do it again. There was some mess-up with billing and we were charged for it. It took months of phone calls and back and forth to get it resolved. They reported me to collections and collection people were calling me. It was a giant mess. It was such a headache that I'd never do anything with that hospital again, barring severe medical trauma. Each month, the head researcher and customer service would assure me it was resolved. Then I'd get nasty overdue notices and collection calls the next month. And no one believed I didn't owe the bill, so each time I had to go through the research lady and she was not particularly helpful. And each kid got a separate bill and separate collection calls and separate disbelief that I didn't owe money! Not worth the benefit of the eye exam. However, if that billing issue hadn't left such a bad taste in my mouth, I would be all for a study that might help my kids/future preemies. (I must still be mad about the ordeal since I typed so much about all the grief!) I just remembered that when they were still in the NICU, I put them in a study on ROP, also. However, I pulled them from it in the middle because it was negatively impacting them. I felt bad for stopping it (It wouldn't have helped them, but was for research to help future preemies) but couldn't keep seeing them suffer every week when the "extra" eye exam happened. They weren't the same every Tuesday. We had to weigh the benefit in research versus negative impact.

That's such an odd solicitation to receive. However, when I went off to college, I would have liked to receive care packages. It's not that I couldn't get things I needed, it was more the thought. My grandmother (and I suppose my mother to some extent) sent many to my sister that were more than just homemade cookies. She'd include nice notes and trinkets that my sister might need. It was a lovely gesture that I enjoyed participating in, as well, because I missed her more than I'd ever have admitted. My grandmother had a stroke before I went to college so I never received any. It must have impacted me since I remember it so vividly 20+ years later. It sounds selfish of me now that I'm typing it, but the feeling was more of a miss-you-love-you-knock-em-dead sentiment that I missed out on. Still! It's a nice gesture but something I'd put together to send to my kid not hire out. So many people out to make a buck through guilt. Times are so different now than when I went to college. Kids now have instant ability to text mom to say "SOS Send more Ramen Noodles".

In the places I've lived, it's obvious (NC - pork, TX - beef). But, in most other places, I think it's a perfectly valid question to ask. So what type did they mean?

Most of the above are my favorites - particularly paper goods, batteries, trash bags, canned tomatoes, maple syrup, cheese, frozen burger patties, butter, peanuts, rotisserie chicken, baby romaine lettuce, frozen berries, frozen broccoli, spices, and chicken stock. DH and DS say the turkey burgers and frozen fish are good. I have a special love for their chocolate covered almonds. They are so good. Most trips I can resist the temptation because I could eat the entire jar in a week or two. But if you have willpower, they are delicious.

My 70 year old father quit smoking a few years ago and now uses what must be an unscented e-cig. I smell nothing when I'm around him. It's water vapor not smoke. I consider it a positive move on his part. He's far from modeling "cool". He does complain that it's needlessly expensive and has just a tiny bit of nicotine. He said the stupid fake fire on the end adds to the expense. So, yes, it can help quit smoking but not nicotine use. I consider the elimination of his smoke/tar/whatever inhalation the best thing for him.

We're in the middle of selling ours. We're under contract but it's so uncertain and has been beyond troublesome! At least your lookers showed up. We don't live in a hot market so didn't have many showings. And sometimes, people scheduled a showing, and I cleaned my heart out (and my poor kids, I snapped at them so much!). Then the lookers didn't show up! When you do have a contract, I hope that your buyers don't have IRS problems. Mine do. Their lender tells the realtors it won't be a problem if X, Y, and Z happen. Ugh! I hate home selling, also.

My sister lives outside Denver (Golden). Her COL is high compared to my area. As mentioned above, housing is high. But, schools are good. It's such a nice place to me (once I learn to breathe at that altitude :tongue_smilie: ).

Not sure which I hate worse - the inane chatter or the terrible haircuts. Seriously, all I want is cut a few inches off evenly. I don't want layers or style or anything. My curls make any "style" they try look stupid anyway. All it needs is the ability to be put in a pony tail! Doesn't sound difficult. So, yes, I'm with you. I dread haircuts.

bat before ball makes a b. doorknob before door makes a d. I found a printable somewhere with an image of a bat and ball making b and the door for d. My son referred to the picture hanging on the wall a lot!

Florida Keys if money is no object. Otherwise, I'd love to live in Colorado near my sister.

I'd strongly advise against naming a child knowing you'll call it by the middle name - ESPECIALLY if you plan a nickname of the middle name! I have always gone by a nickname of my middle name. I'm still traumatized by it at 40. But I was a shy, introverted public school kid. Still, I hate when I'm called my first name. It's meaningless to me, and I would have ditched it years ago but for the fear of upsetting my mom. And it's on all the important things! No matter what the doctor's office/school/whatever implies when it gives a space for preferred name, you will always be the first name. And because I love my maiden name, I have four names (middle plus maiden = "middle names"). I hate it.

Without question: Food. Close second housing (no mortgage but taxes and insurance and upkeep). Very close third - kids' gymnastics.

My twins just finished first grade. I realized at the very beginning of first that they would need to be apart for math - not just learning separately but completely different programs/levels. Everything else, I keep them together.

No, I don't like being a homeschool mom. I just keep reminding myself that I'm not doing it for myself. It's what is best for the kids right now. And, it does have some benefits that I enjoy. I don't regret our decision, but we will continue to reevaluate every year to make sure this is still best for them.

My girl that age loved many already listed but especially: Ramona, Little House on the Prairie series (her greatest love of all time), Charlotte's Web. For picture books, there is a small series about a girl who takes dance. Tallulah and her Tap Shoes is one of the books. There is also a series of readers about girls in sports (Gymnastic Girl Maya's Story is one of the books). My daughter loves to read those. I think last time she had Amazon money from her grandmother, she picked out the entire series There is also a series my daughter didn't like but it's Rainbow Magic Fairies. Magic Treehouse books are another option. The books that go along with American Girl dolls are pretty good. I have found them at our library. You don't have to just read chapter books. At K-1 age, I still read picture books if they happen to pick them out at the library. I also read readers to my kids if they wanted to hear them. My kids just grab books of all sorts at the library. Sometimes they read the books and sometimes they want to hear me read them aloud.