I'm interested too, lots of cats, little money. Wish I could feed my family on $30 too :D

My 5 year old had sleep issues from birth. He had tubes put in his ears at 4 months old, I thought after that I'd finally get to sleep....I didn't. I'd hear people complain about having to get up 2 or 3 times a night and want to slap them (sleep deprivation made me an angry person!), I woke up probably 15-30 times a night, and he slept with me. He wouldn't sleep alone. He'd shake and scream if we put him in the crib, for hours. I finally just took it down. When we were in for his 2 year old well check I told the doctor I was about to die with no sleep for 2 years! He told me to put him on melatonin. It does come in liquid form. He used to take about .5mg now he takes 1 mg. He was on it several times a week at first, then maybe 3x, and now it's only rarely. I swear it saved my life and sanity! He sleeps between 9-11 hours a night now, no naps, usually it's about 10 hours a night. He is a night owl, and won't go to bed before 10. It's usually about 10:30 when we can get him down. In the past if we tried to put him down early like most kids, say 8 o'clock, if he even did go to sleep, he'd wake up at like 11 pm, then stay up til 1 or 2. It's not worth it, we just let him stay up. It's really hard to have a kid with poor sleep habits, my daughter was a great sleeper, my son a horrible sleeper, I did nothing different. Kids come with different needs. Good luck, I hope if you try melatonin, that it changes your life!! :D

My mom told me as a teenager that my bedroom was to look like a room in a hotel....like nobody lived in it. It bewildered me then, and it still does. Our house was meticulously clean at all times. My parents had 4 kids, and I have no idea why. My mom hasn't spoken to me in 8 years (a blessing). Our home is definitely lived in, it's more kind of shabby because we can't afford to replace things, but it's also kind of cluttery because we have so many things (mostly books). My son is definitely rougher on our house than our daughter. The kitties clawing a hole in my sofa don't help either. :D I'd take living in our home any day, over the museum I grew up in.

We quit MUS when my DD was in 2nd grade, it just wasn't working for us. My DD is the same way, she needs a lot of repetition to really understand and retain what she's learning. We went with Rod and Staff, and it's been really good for her. She's wrapping up 5th grade now, and math is no longer a battle or tears. I have been extremely happy with it. We are giving Teaching Textbooks a try for next year, but if it doesn't work, I'm going back to R&S! I hate grading math, so I'm excited for her to do her work on the computer :o)

My 4 year old will be 5 in a few months, he has Apraxia, we did EI from 2-3 and at 3 years old he was put into preschool. The first year I only allowed him to go twice per week because he was still so little. This year he has bumped up to 4 days per week. We didn't have any options with insurance, and don't have the money to pay for private therapy. Just doing these things, my son went from maybe 10 words at 2 1/2 years old, to ...I don't know, he can say most anything he wants to now. He still has some sounds he can't make, and he substitutes others for them, like he can't say L or R very well still, but those are harder sounds anyway. He now talks all.day.long.! We usually understand what he is saying, but sometimes it soudns like gibberish, and now he can describe what he is saying, so we can figure it out. He is now singing songs, and when he plays, he talks out loud, and it's adorable to hear him playing like that. I know when he was two I was so afraid of the diagnosis, and worried about what would happen, but I've been so pleased with his progress. When I hear other kids his age talk, he isn't nearly as behind them as he used to be. Especially other boys. I just wanted to give you some encouragement, that therapy and time will make a dramatic difference, and try not to worry so much. :001_smile: In a couple years you'll wish he'd be quiet sometimes!

I totally agree with this. I grew up with divorced parents, the custody battle was especially fun. I spent most of my day in preschool/day care, then kindergarten/day care. My mom remarried when I was 6 and became a SAHM. If in my power, I refuse to put my children through divorce. I made my choice when I married, there's no abuse or any real fighting/arguing, and we are financially not well off. If I were to leave my husband, my children's life would substantially be for the worse. So I pretty much just suck it up. It's more important to me that my kids are happy than that I am happy. I assume my husband feels the same, since he won't discuss our marital issues, and we haven't divorced thus far. Yeah, it's hard to be lonely, but there are worse fates in life.

We like card games a lot, they tend to go quick, and with a 4 year old that's into everything, I like to have a quick game with my 10 year old. We like Monopoly Deal, Phase 10, SkipBo, Blink, Five Crowns. Hiss is a fun one for younger ones, and it's non irritating for me too :o) We like Sequence, Yahtzee, Apples to Apples Jr., Gobblet, Tsuro, and Killer Bunnies. We enjoy doing puzzles as well.

My 4 year old, who is a holy terror, has one goal in mind when I send them outside. Get the hose, squirt the sister. Nothing deters him from this. EVERY single time he goes outside, he gets in trouble and has to come in. He throws everything out of our shed, he tries to get the lawnmower out, anything he can think of that he is not supposed to do, he does. We have a swingset, climbing thing, teeter totter, sand pit, mudpie station, porch swing, balls, bats, etc, and yet all he wants to do is cause trouble. :angry:

This recipe is for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies, they are like what you described, they are light and moist, kind of like a muffin. You could take out the chocolate if you want, but I have to tell you, the recipe as is makes a most delectable cookie! 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup butter 1 egg 15 oz can pumpkin Beat these together. 2 1/4 cups flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp cinnamon Combine these and add to the above mixture. Then stir in: 2 cups chocolate chips 1/2 cup chopped walnuts Bake at 375 for 13 minutes or so.

I think those of us in Utah are lucky in the wheat department. In July I bought two 45 lb buckets of white wheat at Costco for about $13 each. :D

I'm in Utah as well, so I've seen the coverage. It's so very sad, I didn't know either woman, but it was sad to read about them dying while living out their dream. It's hard to think of the families they left behind. I'm sorry for your loss, we've lost friends to plane crashes, it seems so unbelievable. I've known so many people that have died (or have been severely burned) in those tiny planes, I could never get in one. Scary. I guess you have to think of it that they died doing something they really loved. Better that than cancer. I'll be praying for their families.

I have one of those kids. He's 4 1/2. In fact, I'm sitting at a computer chair covered in Sharpie, and my desk used to be, but it's faded. My son can scale most things, and get into most anything if he wants to. I have a limited number of spaces left to keep things out of his reach. He ripped the lock off of our fridge (he's a pour-er and an egg cracker). He rips most child locks off. He can climb drawer handles and climb onto the counters in both the bathroom and kitchen. He uses stools or chairs to climb onto other things to climb even higher. We have a two story house. I cannot watch him every second. He's big for his age, a baby gate would be a joke. I have no advice because I go through this every day. I have read many parenting books, and tried many things. Nothing thus far has helped. As he gets older, some things get easier, some don't. I just know he won't be little forever, and these things he does are patience builders for me. :D He has speech delays, and school starts in 2 weeks, he goes to preschool for speech and fine motor therapy. That's 3 hours a day I can concentrate on doing school with my daughter without worrying about what he's doing behind my back. I don't know how else we'd get anything done. I have learned firsthand that children can be so different from each other. What works for one doesn't always work for another. This too shall pass, right?!

We use Source Naturals Liquid Melatonin. That way I don't deal with the pills. We get it at our local health food store. I give my 4 year old about 3/4 of a....I forget how they dose it...mg? I try to limit giving it to him more than about 3 times a week. We noticed that giving it every night it seemed to work against him at times. By using it about half the time, it seems most effective. This is just what we've experienced though!

I live in UT, and my daughter received speech therapy without being enrolled. We've only lived in this one school district, so I'm not sure if each district has different policies, but that seems strange to me. I have noticed when dealing with our school district that they don't always seem to know what they are talking about regarding homeschooling. I would see if there was someone else to talk to.

Costco sells taco seasoning without MSG, as well as the gravy mixes. It used to only be the turkey gravy that was MSG free, but finally the brown gravy mix says it too is MSG free. Sometimes I make my own gravy, but sometimes in a hurry I need a mix!