My big project: Take one middle child who loves hockey to the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Regionals. I've never gone on a trip w/ just one kid. I went on one trip by myself and many trips w/all the kids...but never just me and one kid. It's gonna be strange.

Oh, dear...how can I put this kindly? You're smart and driven enough to attend Baylor, graduate, marry and stay married, have a couple kids and homeschool them, save thousands of dollars for the kids' future educations... but you let a thread on a message board bother you to the extent that you question the idea that you want your kids to go to college? Come on. Really. Don't be silly.

How about mini-sandwiches (make any kind of sammy and cut into quarters) and little bottles of water?

on intimate appearal? Is it because of the intense smell? :eek: Yuck, I know, but does anyone know the answer?

you have my prayers!

So sorry about your ankle and your GO-JUS (a funny way of saying gorgeous) shoes but I have to give you 10 points for using the term "dry whining." So dang funny! Hope you heal fast!

I value police officers and I would venture to say everyone I choose to spend time w/values them, too. I don't like it when people are lumped together and painted w/the same brush. (how's that for mixing metaphors!) And you know, I've been let down by police officers in the past (as a child, when they left my dad in the house to work it out when he was beating my mom...on more than one occasion) I don't envy you being a officer's wife but please know many people are not all nasty about the police...it's just that the police are around the nasty people more than the nice people.

I think the song that was played during that 4 minute piece is a modern piece called Ashokan Farewell. Burns did use it for the CW series but Ashokan Farewll is not a period piece. The story of Ashokan Farewell. Ashokan Farewell was named for Ashokan, a camp in the Catskill Mountains not far from Woodstock, New York. It's the place where Molly Mason and I have run the Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camps for adults and families since 1980. Ashokan is the name of a town, most of which is now under a very beautiful and magical body of water called the Ashokan Reservoir. I've heard it pronounced a-shó-kun, a-shó-kan, or sometimes ásh-o-kán. The reservoir provides drinking water for New York City one hundred miles to the south. The late Alf Evers, our local historian, once told me that the name Ashokan first appeared as a place name in 17th century Dutch records. He thought it was probably a corruption of a local Lenape Indian word meaning, "a good place to fish." That it is! I composed Ashokan Farewell in 1982 shortly after our Fiddle & Dance Camps had come to an end for the season. I was feeling a great sense of loss and longing for the music, the dancing and the community of people that had developed at Ashokan that summer. The transition from living at a secluded woodland camp with a small group of people who needed little excuse to celebrate the joy of living, back to life as usual, with traffic, newscasts, telephones and impersonal relationships, had been difficult. By the time the tune took form, I was in tears. I kept it to myself for months, unable to fully understand the emotions that welled up whenever I played it. I had no idea that this simple tune could effect others in the same way. Ashokan Farewell was written in the style of a Scottish lament. I sometimes introduce it as, "a Scottish lament written by a Jewish guy from the Bronx." I lived in the Bronx until the age of sixteen. In 1983, our band, Fiddle Fever, was recording it's second album, Waltz of the Wind, and we needed another slow tune. We tried my yet unnamed lament. The arrangement came together in the studio very quickly with a beautiful guitar solo by Russ Barenberg, string parts by Evan Stover and upright bass by Molly Mason. Now it needed a name. Molly suggested the title, Ashokan Farewell. It seemed right to me. Filmmaker Ken Burns heard the album in 1984 and was immediately taken by Ashokan Farewell. He soon asked to use it in his upcoming PBS series The Civil War. The original Fiddle Fever recording is heard at the opening of the film, and this and other versions are heard twenty five times for a surprising total of 59 minutes and 33 seconds of the eleven hour series. Molly and I, along with members of Fiddle Fever and pianist Jacqueline Schwab played much of the 19th century music heard throughout the soundtrack. Ashokan Farewell is the only contemporary tune that was used. Jay Ungar http://www.jayandmolly.com/ashokanfaq.shtml

Oh, dear, Karin! My kids panic when I go to the basement to do laundry...you'd think I'd disappreared off the face of the earth!

If they are well trained, those dogs (Maggie and Chewy) can be a part of your family. And any new dog that you get will also have to be well-trained before it can be a true part of your family. Good luck.

Policeman? Lawyer/Law clerk?

If so, what do you think? An extraordinary family trying to live life OR an extraordinary family being exploited by the parents? :confused:

Way to go, Anne Marie! (one of my favorite names, BTW!) Take pictures of all your fun activities!

But, Colleen, if you don't have a gun, how are you going to KILL the kids at the library? :)

I'm reading it now. It makes me uncomfortable in a way I can't put my finger on. I think I'll stop! :D

This is so strange! That first elections unit study has changed from when I first looked at it a few weeks ago. She has removed this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1878279475 I really like this book and I'm glad I ordered it and copied the older version of the unit study.

Try this: http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/SLsup2bkangie.txt I'm not sure how current this list is. MPO seems to write a new MTH book every month!

I'm so sorry. I remember the feeling of being blindsided when my dd was diagnosed w/epilepsy at age 6. Cry your tears. It hurts too much to hold them back for long. You have my prayers.

We'll be watching from the house. Brrrr....

Here is my theory on crying b/c of books/movies: I cry when it mimics my life. Parents dying young reduces me to sobs, even if the movie is lame. Best example: Beaches. Mom dies; I sob. If I want a good cry, I read "Do not go gentle into that good night." Instant waterworks. How about songs: most songs by Sarah Mclaughlin but especially "I will remember you" and "Angel." Which leads us back to another movie: "City of Angels."

Take this with some salt, cuz it was the 70s/80s and things might have changed: I always hung around with boys, especially older boys. In my neighborhood, there was one family of boys that took me everywhere with them. I was like their mascot. I was about 7-9 and the youngest of these boys was 5 years older than me. There was never anything inappropriate (s**ual) in these friendships. As I got older, the age gap grew smaller but I always felt more comfortable in groups of boys. To this day, I love listening in on groups of men talking together. I find it fascinating. If you are worried, stay close by while she is with these boys. Watch out for anything inappropriate and jump on it.

Suzanne, I know 2 moms who nearly came to blows about this topic. Mom#1 is a bath-everyday-no-matter-what. (her dh hoses down the house once a week during spring, summer and fall.) Mom#2 has kids with very dry skin. Her pediatrician told her NOT to bathe the kids everyday. Mom#1 told Mom#2 that no doctor would every tell you that. It got really ugly after that!

Wow, CalicoKat! What a lot to consider. I've heard of this happening w/adoptive families, too. God bless you and guide you! You have my prayers, unsinkable

I did it on Monday and today they are all gone. So someone liked them. Yay, them! I still have dozens I know I should drop off. I get a bit panicky about doing it, though. I try to tell myself that it'll be ok...:o