No doubt one of my favorite books ever. I first read this for school in eighth grade. I still reread it every couple of years. This book was one of the first things that really brought history "alive" to me.

My son has been in speech therapy for a year and a half now. His speech therapist says that they don't expect kids to have the "R" sound until 3rd grade. I would wait another year and see if it comes.

My dh is almost 29 and loves his video games. He used to play a lot more computer games when the kids were younger and in bed, but now he plays a lot of games with them. I've almost always worked nights, so this is his way of bonding with the kids (in addition to coaching teams, reading books, participating in scouts, etc.). Also, he plays in the evenings before I get home, so he can stay awake until I get there :) I enjoy some of our Wii games as well, so sometimes we'll play Mario and Sonic and the Olympics or Trauma Center together as a way to "hang out". I equate it to playing board games or card games. We team up and play Mario Party as a family. Its a lot easier to play a board game on tv when you have a pesky 2yo who loves to mess with game pieces! Lots of "grown men" are obsessed with sports- basketball, baseball, football- that is considered culturally acceptable. My dh doesn't follow any sport or sport team, so this is a hobby of his. Most of the families I know have a Wii or Xbox and play games together as a family often.

This is our house to a tee. I always get told how great my kids are when I bring them up to my work (I work in a restaurant) and nobody believes me when I say how awful they can be at home. And I have five, from 11-2.

Tammy- Sorry for the late reply on this, but yes there have been times. Fortunately, they are not often. But, I don't go into a night thinking, "Boy, I hope I make minimum wage." Like I said, I think its all about perspective- what your feelings are about tipping influence what you will tip- moreso than your actual service.

I only have a second to share my thoughts... I currently work at a moderately priced chain restaurant as a waitress. We make $2.13/hr. We tip out 3% of our sales not our tips. So, if you come in and sit at my table and don't leave a tip, it actually cost me money for you to sit at my table. I believe that I give excellent service most nights- my tips run anywhere from 10%-30%. I find a lot of times it depends on the people, more than the service. I've had people tell my manager that I was the best server they've ever had, then proceed to leave less than 10%. I've also had tables where I've felt I've been less than attentive, and recieved 25% tips. As far as upping the wages for servers, I know that our restaurant would not be able to support that type of labor cost. There is no way we would still be open if they were paying their servers 6.55/hr (min. wage in KS). I work in this industry because it allows me to be home with my kids during the day. I could work retail (and have), but I've found that working a mostly-cash job has helped our budgeting skills. We dont' go out to eat unless we can afford to leave a good tip. I love eating a lesser priced restaurants, and surprising our server with an extraordinary tip (assuming the service was good). :D Some people are ignorant, some people are mean, some people are cheap. Thankfully, there are a lot of good people out there as well. I enjoying connecting with my customers, sometimes it pays off financially, sometimes it doesn't, but I almost never regret making that connection.

Since I've worked before and am working again as a server. We've always been big tippers, we figure if we can't afford a 20% (min) tip on what we're eating, then we really can't afford to eat out. I will say that there have only been maybe two times where I've ever left a small amount and that was the server was obviously rude to us. And there have been a couple of time where we've left way more than what's expected. I've been on the other side of that (I once received a $50 tip on a bill of $75) and you have no idea how great it feels :) It makes up for all the people who are less than stellar tippers. There will always be people who don't believe in tipping as a rule and don't really care that you're not making minimum wage. I always take into account how many other tables my server has. If we seem to be his/her only table on a slow night, we always add in more. I've had to change my mom's perspective on this issue- she had no idea servers relied on tips and was quick to blame the speed of the food on her server. Now, when we go out, she always double checks with me on if she's giving a good enough tip :D I've also seen the financial side of restaurant operating and most restaurants are barely staying afloat as it is, if you were to expect a restaurant owner to pay his wait staff minimum wage, the cost of your meal would go up dramatically, and also in my opinion the quality of service would go down.

My top 25 most played on Itunes: "What is This Feeling?" Wicked (the karaoke version- leftover from my 2 older dds doing this for our spring talent show) "If You're Gonna Leave" Emerson Hart "Superhero" Ani Difranco "Catching Twilight" Jim Brickman "Flying Horses" Dispatch I'm on my third ipod for the year after getting my nano stolen :angry: and my dad's old original ipod dying out on me :glare:, I finally bought a little, purple shuffle. :D

He is an American History teacher- http://www.electoralcollegetie.com Enjoy!

Yesterday, here in suburban Kansas City, we were right under $3.00. It did feel weird getting so excited to see a 2 in the first spot!! Of course, we still can't afford to fill up our 30+ gallon big ole van, but that's another story.

Maybe I'm just dense here, but how on earth could a 4-6 year old ride rear facing? I couldn't even imagine my 21mo old riding backwards without her legs getting all smooshed. I'm just curious how that works. I'm not against child safety seats by any means- we were in a horrible crash when dd1 was only six weeks old, and the police officer couldn't believe we all walked away from it with only scratches because of our seatbelts/carseat. I always felt good about that accident because we got a 30 second sound bite on the news where the officer showed our car and praised the use of restraints- thought maybe that changed someone's mind about seatlbelts and saved someone's life :D My youngest two are still in five point harnesses, my 6 yo is in a booster, my 8 yo passes the height and weight requirements and sits without anything, and my 10yo is over 5 feet tall and will sit in the front seat a lot of the time. We also drive a conversion van, so I feel like we have a little extra protection just by sheer size of vehicle.

And this is where grandma comes in handy :D I hate sorting through clothes at the season change. With five kids, it is just overwhelming. My older two dds are in too close of sizes to really pass anything down- different body styles. My boys and our youngest dd get lots of hand me downs, which is great on our budget, but can be a pain to sort through. Especially when sizes don't seem to be consistent across company lines. :glare: That means trying on lots of clothes. My kids actually enjoy it, but I don't. Last spring, my mom came over and helped me sort through and do it in an organized fashion. She is coming over tomorrow to help again :hurray:

If her friends like them, and she is showing an interest, I would. Its not so much an age issue, as it is an interest issue. My dd1, who is almost eleven, and her friends who are all older still play with their dolls all the time. They like making clothes for them, or just acting things out with them. She has a close-knit group of three other girls and they all have a couple dolls and enjoy still playing with them. My dd2, who is eight and a half, has two dolls, and she will play with her sister every once in awhile, but does not have the same interest level. She doesn't have any good friends that have dolls, so she only plays with her sister.

I chose option two because while we do all of our core subjects at home, we do have Spanish and Latin classes through our home school group that we participate in. Also, this is the first year we've done Art and that is being taught by my friend. We also do sports and dance outside of our home school, but I don't consider that part of "school".

Amy, I know you don't know me, but I'm a lurker of your blog and I've read your posts on here for years (yikes- hopes that doesn't make me sound scary!:001_unsure:) Every time I read one of your posts, I wish you were my neighbor. Your kids sound great- despite your frustrations, you can always sense your love. And they all seem like such neat boys!!! I would love to come to move to your neighborhood (and not just because I love Disney World). We've had issues with neighbors too. When we moved into this lovely little cul-de-sac three years ago, it seemed like such a perfect neighborhood. The kids all played together, the neighbors helped each other out and spoke friendly to each other. Fast forward to now, and my second daughter (our over-sensitive but not mean girl) has been outcast by the girl down the street. Our neighbors barely wave "hi" let alone stop to have a conversation with us. We were never confronted directly, I sometimes wonder if that would've been better. Instead, we exist on the corner, but invisible to the rest of the street. :( Suburbia isn't all its cracked up to be. :glare: And yes, I've had an awful week. Struggles with respect, schoolwork, lack of desire to do housework (on my part), dh leaving town for a few days, and to top it of being visited by that oh-so-lovely time of the month has just done me in!!! Add to the fact that I want to understand the economic crisis but don't, and I still haven't decided which presidential candidate to support!!! My brain and emotions are on overload. I want to go drown myself in a half-gallon of fried ice cream. :drool5: Anyways, cyber-hugs from someone who respects who you are at least what I know of you through this crazy cyberworld. :grouphug:

I think every family is different. I think having active, good grandparents is kind of like having a best friend. Is it important to enjoyment of your life? No, but it sure is great when that relationship is there. We are super-blessed to live within 10 min of both sets of grandparents who are awesome and get along not only with us, but with each other (no stupid jealousy between them). I think one of the reasons why we were so lucky was that we became parents as teens (17 and 18) and our parents knew they needed both our support and their support together to raise the best family we could. My kids each have different relationships with each granparent. Some of them connect with each set differently, but with five kids and four active grandparents, any "favoritism" gets balanced out. I think good granparents are important not only for the relationships they have with their grandkids, but also how they help my relationship with my dh. We learn from watching our parents grow old together, but most importantly, we've never had to pay a babysitter (nor could we ever had afforded to) because of our parents. Both sets frequently watch the kids to let us get a break- even have sleepovers. Our parents spoil them just enough while we're gone :D They are also helpful when we're overbooked- three kids needing to be in three different places, or when I'm sick (both my mom and my MIL have flexible schedules) or want to run one kid to the dr. without dragging all of them. For the record, I grew up distant from one set of grandparents (emotionally- only later finding out they were both alcholics), super-close with a grandma who had a stroke and was never the same when I was 13, and not very close but still visited and for the most part enjoy hanging out with my still going strong 97 year old grandpa. Whew. That was a book. I feel very strongly about the importance of granparents in our family.

But, she is the product of having an older sister who LOVES every book and can breeze through them effortlessly. Anyways, one of my dd's favorite books that she couldn't put down was Matildla. She also really enjoyed The Witches and a lot of other Roald Dahl books. One other book she enjoyed was The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles. Good luck, I know how hard it is to spark that desire to "just go grab a book a read!"

Dh gets on the bus at 7am and gets to work right before 8am. He leaves at about 4:20pm to catch his bus home. He gets an hour lunch which he almost never takes (he usually eats his lunch at his desk). He can go in late or leave early if he needs to for any reason. Our only issues are him catching a bus at the right time. He is salaried, and works for a rather large company in our area, and we feel very blessed that he has his job and that it is so flexible.

My dh had one about 20mos ago (when littlest was only 6 weeks old). He said no pain or negative side effects. We have definitely "suffered" from the positive side effects though :D

:iagree: And that's all I have to say about that! :D

I got up this morning at 5:10, to make it to the YMCA for a 5:30 spinning class. I actually didn't have any trouble getting up to go (littlest slept until 4:30 this morning, so I got a pretty good night's sleep in our book). Now, since I've been home, I haven't been feeling real great. I think I'm coming down with something. I went back to bed for a little while when I got home, and have been taking it easy in the big chair- dispensing grammar, Latin, etc with my feet propped up and chugging water. I can't really tell what is wrong with me- it almost feels like a flu. :confused: The plan was to go back to the Y tonight with dh, but we'll have to see how I feel after the nap I'm planning on taking in about an hour. About the spin class- has anyone else gone to one of these? I really like the exercise, I love to bike, love that it burns lots of calories, but it just kills my <ahem> nether-regions. :blush: I don't understand why it would hurt so much. And I don't know what to do about it. Has anyone else experienced this?? What can I do? I don't want to give up on the class, but it really is uncomfortable. Great job to everyone else!! When I woke up at 4, it was storming pretty hard- thunder, lightning, all that, so I'm glad I had planned to go to the Y and not out running. Side note on my running: on Friday I ran a 5K on the treadmills at the Y, and I did my best time ever!!!! 30:10 I was supposed to run a 5K yesterday, but I never registered, and then I decided against it. I do have a four mile run that I'm planning for a week from Saturday. I need to go register now, so I can't back out. :tongue_smilie:

I went to my first Passion Party a couple months ago, and I left feeling like the only one in the world who *doesn't* own one. The consultant couldn't believe that I didn't own any, and that I didn't want to get one. Now, for more personal info..... My dh and I have a very active and very satisfying "business". I have no complaints :D I think I'm a very lucky woman in that its not hard for me to hmm...how do I put this delicately? Accomplish my tasks?? :blush: Now, if this weren't the case, I'd probably look into one. Like someone said earlier in the thread, a relaxed, satisfied momma is a happy momma. :tongue_smilie: We do use enhancement-type things for flavor, but no gadgets. Okay, I can't believe I just typed this out on a message board :eek: And of course, the one time I choose to respond a personal question, my dh comes up next to me and says, "Whatcha typing?" :ack2: Back to lurking I go..... :leaving:

From an almost 3 mile run in only 28 minutes!! Woo-hoo!!:hurray: Must be my new shoes ;) I've been slacking the past two weeks, and I really need to get back into a good groove- this thread gives me some accountability, so thanks for starting it up today!

Same here. We try to go out at least twice a month either just the two of us or with my BILs or friends. We recognize how blessed we are to have grandparents that are not only, but young, and willing to watch the kids so often. On the flip side, I've told dh that there is no way we'd have five kids if we never got a break to ourselves. We've been together since we were 15/16, and its been extremely important to us to keep our date time sacred. Both of our parents never made it a priority to keep dating, and you can see the strain it has on their relationships. We want to still be in love when all the kids are gone, and for us, that means making time alone a priority. We don't usually spend a lot- sometimes $30+ on dinner. We don't ever go to the movies- too expensive and no time to talk. Sometimes we'll grab a quick bite a peruse Borders or Half-Price books, or find someplace to sit and have a beer and chat all night. Now, I can't say what we'd do if we didn't have free, reliable babysitters. I don't even want to think about it. :001_huh: :D

I live in a suburb of Kansas City and there are numerous races here every weekend. I'm trying to pick and choose which ones sound fun and which causes I want to support. Nothing too exotic ;) But, my daughters and I are going to do a run at the zoo. My friend is trying to encourage me to do a relay marathon with her (and two others), but I'm a little nervous about being held accountable- even though I know they don't care about time. I don't want to be the slow one!!! :blush: