My boys have some from Land's End, Gap, and Sears. I never put sunblock on underneath and they have always stayed protected. I have one for myself from Athleta, I don't use any sunblock under it either. All of these have held up very well.

Here are some things we used to like doing: Spend a couple hours on the downtown mall, start at the visitors center and pick up a map. -you could take the free trolley and ride around just to get a look around -there is a big "wall of free speech" basically a huge chalkboard where the kids can draw to heart's delight. -there is a shaded pavilion area that hosts concerts on Fridays, on other days its nice for the kids to ride scooters around in. -There is a small children's museum there too and outside of it is a small carousel that is free and fun for little ones. Discovery Children's Museum. -Spendora's gelato is a nice treat. -Twisted Bazaar Tea House is also a nice place to take a break. They have delicious desserts (some are gluten, dairy and soy free if you need that) and delicious teas. -There are a bunch of restaurants to choose from there too that I've heard good things about, like Hamilton's, Blue Light Grill, etc.(can't really recommend as we didn't eat out much) We did frequent Revolutionary Soup though and they have great soups and sandwiches. -There are a few bookstores on the mall as well. Some used books, some not. -Walk over to McGuffey Park and play. This will take up a good portion of the day, but it's fun and well worth it. You could also walk over or trolley over to the University and walk the grounds. They give free tours of the Rotunda, but I'm not sure what the schedule is like. Going on a Sunday would be fine, just know that things tend to open up later.

I would tackle the "junk drawer" first. Once your able to let go of some of the things piled in there, it's easier (at least for me) to start letting go of other things in the house. Next, I would do clothes-kids, husband, yours. Donate or toss. Then bathroom stuff, all the stuff that collects in the drawers and cabinet. Then kid's toys. Have them help you decide what's important and what can be donated to other children. After that, the kitchen pantry. Toss anything that's been sitting there forever and has probably gone bad/stale. Once these are all done, you'll find yourself going around the house naturally and getting rid of things you really don't need. Good luck with your move!!

My phone does that but I have that function turned off under Settings. If I didn't it would certainly wake me up as I'm a light sleeper. But it wouldn't wake up dh.

See if you can locate 2 puncture wounds on the bite area. If yes, it's likely a spider bite. I, personally, would probably still try to get a round of antibiotics. Ds6 had a 3 week course of amoxicillan last summer and is currently on another round for a recent tick bite (which we may stop since we found the tick did not test positive for lyme). Clean the area well with hydrogen peroxide or alcohol and put some neosporin on there in the mean time. :grouphug:

Ds6 is currently on a round of antibiotics. I found a deer tick on him last week and I don't like messing around with the possibility of Lyme. He was on a round of abx last summer when I found 3 deer ticks on him. I hate being this paranoid and I hate giving him abx. I almost always go the natural route with any illnesses. But ticks scare the buggers out me. I hope the redness/rash on your dc turns out to be just irritation from the bite.:grouphug:

nm, I thought this was for the phonics lessons. :(

This is my ds too. When I first started researching homeschooling I had all these great plans to school outside in the fresh air or at a coffee shop or at the library, etc. making our schooling flexible and not being confined to a room because that's I would have loved to have been schooled. Alas, just can't make it work with ds6. Even at home, he gets distracted and say's the birds are chirping to loudly!

Here are some things we usually take with us (we are gluten, dairy, and soy free): bread (gluten-free over here) nut butter jelly Lara bars sliced cucumbers grape tomatoes hummus tortilla chips mandarin (or any easy peel) oranges rice cakes yogurt (coconut milk kind)

:grouphug::grouphug: I hate this feeling of being taken advantaged of. Add to this that I'm a pretty introverted, non-confrontational person and it just makes the whole situation so nauseating. Our landlord seems to have gotten all his ducks in a row against us to. I truly hope that the judge rules in your favor and that this guy gets slapped right back.

What rock have I been living under? I have never heard of this game. I feel horrible for that girl's family, so sad.

Thanks for this info. I will call them today.

Thank you everyone for your advice!! I'm read over the landlord-tenant laws and our lease over and over. I don't see anything in there that says these charges of his are legal, however I don't see anything in there that says he cannot charge for them either. I think it might just be better to get a lawyer. I reran the numbers and he's actually trying to charge us for just under $6000! I've spent the day looking up and calling lawyers (mostly just leaving messages). Do you all think it's better to get a lawyer from the town I used to live in (2 hours away) or from where I am now? I also forgot to post that our ex-landlord also sent a cd with what I would assume to be pictures that he took. We've tried to view it on my computer and dh's computer and nothing comes on the screen. Should I call him and ask him to resend it or just not bother with him and have the lawyer contact him?

I just looked over it and it doesn't say anything about hanging pics at all. Under "occupancy, use, and maintenance" it basically states I should not disturb my neighbors, damage the premises, not sublease, keep premises including plumbing and other fixtures, appliances, and facilities as clean and safe, and take care of the smoke detector.

No, the lease doesn't have any wording in it regarding house cleaning post move out. He had another renter lined up to move in after our move out. He brought prospective renters over practically every week for 3 months and finally got it rented one week before our move. The quotes for the painting look like they are from a handyman, as they also include the fixtures in the bathroom. The carpet cleaning from Stanley Steamer and the house cleaning and floor refinishing from a local cleaning company. The pressure washing and degreasing of the garage floor (I mean really? My car is a 2006 model minivan and dh's is a 2010 model car which he just purchased a few months prior, there wasn't grease all over the place) was also from a local company.

That's cute! My boys love saying all the names they can think of for "bottom" because they think it's hilarious.:tongue_smilie:

:iagree: I would also have them keep the door open from now on.

He has sent copies of some invoices and some receipts. The lease states he has 45 days to give us back our deposit or to bill for damages, he has done so within the time frame. I found a copy of the law regarding landlords and tenants-http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/HomelessnesstoHomeownership/PDFs/Landlord_Tenant_Handbook.pdf The wording is vague though and doesn't clearly state what is to be expected by the landlord after move out. I've been trying to call around for more information.The town Housing authority told me they don't deal with these matters. I called the State Fair Housing authority, they told me to call the Consumer Protection Agency. CPA told me that even hanging pictures on the wall is considered damage, not normal wear and tear and thus he is in the right to bill me.:confused: We didn't use a single nail, but even the small holes caused my Hercules Hooks is damage. I asked about the $800 cleaning service which is listed as "House Detail Clean" on the receipt and she said if I don't have pics to prove it was clean when I left it would be my word against his.

No, and this is what I most regret. I just didn't think that I needed to because he seemed like a nice, honest person. Boy was I wrong. My former neighbor's son came over one day with his new camera and took a lot of pictures of our house because he really liked it. I could ask his mom if they still have any of them. But their wouldn't be pics of an empty house though. Since we didn't take pics or sign a move out inspection sheet, is there no other way to "win" this? Should we fork over the money as a lesson learned? We are in Virginia and from what I found as far as the tenant and landlord laws go, it just said that walls beyond normal wear and tear were to be collected as damages, but what exactly consists of normal wear and tear. I mean, honestly, those walls were in great condition. We were very careful not to mess them up. So if that's not normal, then I'm not sure what is. We weren't there for that long. I also couldn't find anything about house cleaning and carpet cleaning charges. He also charged for refinishing the hard wood. Again, I'm confused because they were also in excellent condition. We don't wear shoes in the house, we don't have pets and I regularly used Method Wood Floor cleaner to keep the floors looking nice. It just makes my stomach turn at how much he is expecting to collect from us.

Our old landlord is slapping us with a bill of over $5000! We lived in our last rental home for 14 months and I keep a pretty clean home and we are very good renters. Before our move I told our landlord that I would be hiring a cleaning service to do a move-out cleaning for us and he insisted that I did not. That he always uses some company and really trusts their work. I went ahead and cleaned up some-the floors, cabinets, etc. But didn't scrub the walls or anything. Well, now he is charging us $2000 for painting (the walls were left in very good condition, we were careful not to hang many pictures (only 2 with those Hercules Hooks). There was more dirt on the wall by the steps because the hand railing only went half way down so my kids would hold the wall to come down. This dirt is easily removed with a cleaning, I used to do it in the past before my arm pain and bursitis. The house cleaners he use charged nearly $800! I was going to pay $300 for a professional move out cleaning. He is charging us another $800 for carpet cleaning. We are a 'no shoes' in the house family and there is only carpet upstairs in the bedrooms. How on earth could that be $800! I got our current carpets cleaned after we moved in to this house and it is almost 3,000 sq ft of carpet and only paid $353 and this was also from a 'green' cleaning company. I just don't know what to do. We did a walk through with him before we left and he didn't say one word about being unhappy with anything. He smiled and said he was going to miss having us as tenants. There was never any hostility. There were a couple things that did need fixing, something in the garage and the fixtures in the bathroom (because they kept falling out from the get go) and we told him that we would pay for those. There was also a chip in the enamel of the stovetop, this could easily be fixed with enamel paint but we knew he would want it replaced completely so we told him that we would pay for that too. But the rest of it is just plain shocking. Should we get an attorney? How does one deal with this when we no longer live in the area? We would consider the walls to be normal wear and tear, there was no damage, nothing really dirty or anything. But are we missing something here? We are still keep in touch with our old neighbors and they could contest to the condition of our home. I am just so upset about this.:sad:

What age did your kids get the DT? I looked into it but everything I read said the child had to be at least 7 yrs old for the DT. I've been counting down the years, ds4 has 2 1/2 more years to go.

Thank you SaDonna! Giving up gluten, dairy, soy and egg was the main thing that helped ds6 come out of his angry tantrum state of mind. He has very slowly gained weight but is still tiny. He weighs only 38 lbs and he will be 7yrs old next month. I'm in Va, naturopaths aren't covered by insurance here. We've done multiple supplements and various things to heal his gut. I agree that some kids bodies' are just not strong enough to handle the vaccines, thus causing reactions. Your dd's reactions are so similar to ds's. He was 90/90 on the weight and height chart and fell off the chart completely. His normal calm demeanor changed into a very sad, angry boy who would also bang his head on the floor. We went to a DAN! doc (he's not autistic) that suggested the MMR homeopathic remedy but I couldn't find a homeopath that would give it to my son. I will try to search out a naturopath in my area. Thanks so much for sharing what helped your dd!

We selectively vax ds4 due to the reaction ds6 had. I, too, want him to have the tetanus vax, but the pertussis part is what's holding me back. Same with the MMR, I'd be all for getting him the measles vax. But don't like the combo. I also had originally planned for him to get the separate mumps vax if he didn't get mumps by the time he hit puberty, but now that's not an option anymore either.

This sounds very similar to ds6's reaction to MMR at 18 months. His sensory issues erupted at this point and he quit eating and also became Failure To Thrive. Can I ask what the naturopath did for your dd? Feel free to PM me.

Oh yes, this my dh too. Honestly, it's been so hard being alone with my two extremely active boys. One with sensory seeking SPD and multiple dietary issues. But you know what, it is what it is. My neighbor several moves ago was a good friend and we would go out once a week for breakfast. That really helped. I wish I had someone like that here, but I've kind of gotten used to it. I carry on and do my things, but I agree with the some of the other posters that now when dh is home it throws a curve ball into our routine and can sometimes actually be harder when he is home! I like this idea of making a list and having a handyman come over every now and then. I'm going to start doing that.