Definitely get some of the Leslie Sansone/Walk Away The Pound DVD's! They're great! In-home walking using basic marching in place at different speeds, kicks, kick backs, knee lifts, sidesteps, a little bit of 'a few steps foward/a few steps back' and so on. Then depending on which DVD's you get, some of them incorporate upper body stuff (using either the weighted balls with water in them, or resistance bands, or small handweights), some of them incorporate a little jogging in place or a few steps forward and back, some of them incorporate a few kickboxing moves and so on... They're easy, don't require a lot of space, or expensive equipment, or a whole lot of coordination (like some of those 'dance step' kind of ones, I get totally flustered and lost, I just don't have that kind of coordination or grace haha), but the WATP ones are easy! And the kids enjoy doing them with me sometimes, too! :)

Oh, I love the Macaroni Menorah on that second link! I'm going to bring in the stuff to do that one! Thanks!! Now, I need to find a book (or something online I can print out if I can't find a suitable book) that will sum up Hanukkah in a brief, interesting way. And still perhaps think of a snack? I thought of sending in latkes but ugh it's just so much work, especially since we'll already be doing it for ourselves the week before. So I want something simpler. :D Thanks for these suggestions so far!

10 year old dd wants to "do something" in regard to Hanukkah at Girl Scouts this year. Maybe a simple craft, a short, but interesting book that would sum Hanukkah up without being too lengthy or losing the kid's interests, maybe some sort of snack/treat that is easy to make that we can bring in... NONE of the other kids are Jewish (we're pretty rare around here lol). ...any suggestions for any of those things? She'd be doing it a bit after the fact, on Thursday the 9th, as she's missing it this week due to us celebrating with family (MIL is out from Florida, SIL from California, and we're all getting together this Thursday the 2nd for our big meal/celebration). But I still only have about a week to prepare, and it needs to be pretty simple as the leader (who is all for dd doing this if she wants to) said they don't have big attention spans- but not too babyish either, as these are Junior Girl Scouts, ages 9 and 10 or so.

Your ideas are great! Just go with them! Start small and just go with ONE of them and take it from there! Just have fun. :) My daughter enjoyed reading Heidi, then watching the movie, then trying goat's milk for instance, because that's what Heidi drank. When we read the Addy series (American Girl) and Addy chose her own birthday and celebrated with a ice cream party, we marked the date in our calendar and had ice cream that day. Just little things. If something you read leads to an idea that you can make happen, go for it. It's good practice for warming up for the bigger ideas lol.

My daughter (age 10, 5th grade) LOVES TT, which we started using this year. She finds it fun to do and looks forward to it. She finds the format and instruction easy to understand, so she does well with it- and is no longer developing a 'math is hard, I'm not good at math' attitude.

One of my 10 y/o daughter's Hanukkah presents is going to be "The Daring Book for Girls"

Also if you're using artificial sweeteners- Splenda, Aspartame etc- stop using them! They can have a lot of bad effects on the body, including hair thinning and hair loss!

My daughter just turned 10 and some of the things we got for her: Paper Jamz Nintendo DS games Fin Fin Friends Pillow Pet The Daring Book For Girls A couple of science kits including a "make your own gum" kit. Also a nice journal with a pen that writes in invisible ink. ETA: Oh, we didn't end up getting it for her, but a poster below reminded me that she had also expressed interest in the fushigi ball.

That's fantastic!! I love it!!

Time to put him in a toddler bed, and make sure his room is totally babyproof (I like to make sure windows can't open all the way/enough to fall out of, furniture like dressers are screwed to the wall and can't topple over on a climber, no cords/blinds hanging from the window etc), and put a good babygate up in the doorway. This one is great: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dream-Baby-Extra-Tall-Swing-Close-Gate-Black/5691050

What an idiot. I'd talk to someone over his head about what he said. Using words like "worthless" can be pretty devastating to a kid's self-esteem and he has NO business saying something like that to any kid. That goes beyond just being a 'tough' coach and into being a real a** if you ask me. I'd tell whoever was a step over him that he should be told not to say things like that to the kids, that it is just not acceptable. Then I'd tell my kids that I thought he acted like a real jerk saying that, and that he was totally wrong for doing so, and that they should not take what he said to heart, and I'd let them know that I planned to talk to whatever person or commission or whatever is over his head to let them know that. And with all that said, in the meanwhile, I would let THEM decide, at that age, if they still want to play with/for this man, who obviously doesn't have much respect for them as human beings if he's callous enough to talk to them that way. But if they feel like they can tolerate it and still want to be on that team, I'd allow them to decide that.

I don't think it was tacky or anything! Let us know what he says!

:grouphug: I'm sorry :(

I think you've done much more than you 'needed' to do. It's between him and his parents now! Hopefully his family reacts better than I would if that were my house lol.

Sounds fun! Would we just post them to our own blogs, or would there be a place where we'd all go to post our pictures?

:iagree: "I'm sorry, SIL already announced her party for a while back, and we do not think it would be polite to change our plans at this time."

My daughter's not the most careful kid ever, and we've never had any problems with hers!

Expecting someone who has four cats to welcome your dog is unreasonable. Saying "Sorry, no"- not so unreasonable. I would NEVER take it upon myself to bring a pet to someone else's house, especially when that person has other pets themselves. That's just presumptuous and rude!

Many of the games for them are educational. :) Some are just for fun- but fun's good, too, right? My daughter (age 10) loves hers. And I don't really limit her time on it much. But it doesn't stop her from getting things done she needs to or taking opportunities to go play outside with her friends or anything like that. She started with the more basic one, which she saved over half the money for herself by earning money, saving gift money, etc, and then we kicked in the rest for a gift for some occasion or other. Then like a year later maybe she got the fancier one she wanted for a b-day gift (it has a camera and stuff) and her 5 y/o brother got the older/basic one handed down to him as he was no longer interested in his v-smile and seemed to have outgrown it- he loves having a DS, too. And they are lifesavers on longer car rides. Just sayin'. lol.

social group here at TWTM, some of the challenges already started within the past day or two (but you can still join)!, some are starting this coming week, and some are ongoing...come check it out :) http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/group.php?groupid=129

I'm sorry to hear this, and I continue to hope that everything will be okay in the end (some of the stories here are very encouraging)!

I'd just tell her.

Thank you, guys :) Yesterday, needless to say, I did not bother attempting to stick to any diet plan. I just (thoroughly) enjoyed my Thanksgiving dinner (and desserts heh) and had a nice day. In the evening, I went with a few friends to the Bret Michaels concert and had a few drinks. Back home around midnight, ate some Thanksgiving leftovers, then went to bed. The scale was not pretty when I took a peek this morning haha. Good thing I have all week to be on track before my next official weigh in. So far so good today, I've been eating right today, and I just finished doing "The Biggest Loser: The Workout" DVD for the first time (rented it from Netflix).

I'm not familiar with Halo but my kids are the only kids on the block who are not allowed to play OR watch Grand Theft Auto. My nephews have been playing it since they were 6 years old (they are 7 now, still playing), and the other boy who lives on our street (he's 9 now) he's been playing it for a long time, too. Grand Theft Auto, Vice City. Extreme violence, killing police, having sex with prostitutes and beating them to death, drugs, stealing cars, all sorts of crazy things, and that's what their playing. I don't know what Halo is about but i don't think it can GET any worse than letting your 6 and 7 and 8 year olds play GTA! I told my daughter (who is now 10) she is NOT allowed to play it, she is NOT allowed to watch it, her friends are NOT allowed to bring it over here on their little handheld games, and if they start playing it at their house while she's over, she's to come home.

Someone from my homeschool group just forwarded me this one: BAD Parrot A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary. Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude. John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior." John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke-up, very softly, "May I ask what the turkey did?"