:lol::lol::lol:OH MY WORD! I belly laughed. I think you win.

:iagree:

I would really like to see ds11.5 get deeper into the Word. He needs something to guide him through it. Any suggestions?

We receive a little help with food stamps and I'm homeschooling my kiddos. That just doesn't sound right. I know they have emergency aide too. Please talk to someone else at family services.

We're Christians and he doesn't call himself anything but "dad or husband". I would feel awkward if he refered to himself as the man of the house (except in joking). Obviously, he IS, but we don't call him that.

I love to see how happy our Cocker gets when the kids are outside playing and he's romping around with them. He's just SO HAPPY. He's an old dog too, so it's all the sweetier!

Oh, it has to have enough closet space and kitchen cabinet space. Also NO carpet in the bathroom (or dining room for that matter). I have a friend that just got done tearing out the carpet in their bathrooms that the previous owners had in there for about 20 years (YUCK!!). Our current house has carpet in the dining room that the previous owner put in. Why, oh WHY would you have carpet in EITHER of said rooms?? We can't afford to replace it right now either and we're possible looking at putting our home on the market in the next year and a half. So pooh!

I would be hard pressed to buy a home with only one toilet. Also, if it was in town, while it's not a deal breaker, we'd be looking for something in the country. If we absolutely couldn't find something in the country that suits us, THEN and only then would be live in town. Things that would be a no-go are: Cig smoke Bad foundation Flooding basement Near RR tracks If in a neighborhood, it would have to be a good one with out: barking dogs, busy street, shady ppl. That's all that I can think of off hand.

Interesting everyone! Yeah, I figure there's nothing lost if we just try. If it gets frustrating, I will just stop and try again in a couple of months. I certainly won't let it stess me out :). I just figure, shoot, if I don't have to wash poopy diapers, huge plus! The funny thing is...she LOVES sitting on little "stools". For ex: the booster seat on the floor, the lego bucket (with lid on), steps, anything that's at that short level where she can just squat down a bit and sit ;).

Thanks everyone! I told the two main AWANA leaders at church today that our family probably wouldn't be doing it this year. I also explained why. The cool thing is, they're both hsers, so they totally understand the reasons why. The hardest part is my dd6, she LOVED AWANA last year. She'll be a bit sad to miss it this year, but I figure we can do some fun stuff like it, if she misses it too much.

I'm curious b/c dd, who is 13 months, is VERY aware of when she poops. After the deed is done, she'll usually let me know that she needs changing:001_smile:. It's also pretty obvious to me when she's pooping b/c she stops what she's doing and gets really quiet. Sooo, I was going to buy her a little potty chair and see what happens. The worst that'll happen is we'll put it away for a bit. I've read somewhere that you can usually train a toddler, if you catch them before they're two. After that, the window usually closes for awhile. I don't know, I've never had a child potty trained before 2.5 yrs old. Anyway...when's the earliest any of your dc have trained? :bigear:

Oh for cute! What kind of dog is Snickers? Some kind of poodle/cocker cross? That's my guess anyway lolol...too cute!

I started a thread before about co-op and AWANA for this coming school year and I am thinking that we'll do the music/co-op (it's basically an all day thing every Wednesday) and just not do AWANA at our church. Nothing bad will happen, right;)? I mean, it's just a season in our lives right now, right? I have a toddler and I feel like trying to do all that every Wednesday will just be TOO much for her (and possibly ME lol). I guess I'm looking for re-assurance (especially from other Christians) that it's ok just to skip a year of AWANA. We can do bible memorization at home along with our school work. Thoughts? Assurances? PS-Besides the toddler, I have a 6, 9, and 11.5 yr old kids. The 11.5 yr old will be going into 6th grade this coming year, so the following (7th grade) year he'd be in youth group, not AWANA. This is me right now --->:confused1:...I'm having a time of slight guilt.

I get horrible if my blood sugar gets too low. I start shaking and get crabby and irrational. It has also gotten to the point of not thinking any food present is attractive, even if I really like said food.

No, we have to be there and we have to teach too. I wish it were a drop off situation. Not that I want to shurk anything, just having time to myself would be awesome! I have thought about just giving it a try also.

I've been part of a co-op that meets at a friends house for the past two years. She only lives a mile or so from our church, where we participate in AWANA on the same day that we have co-op. Usually, we have co-op (which involves a total of 4 other families) in the afternoons and it's worked out well for us b/c we could get school done in the morning. This coming fall it's going to be different. We've been doing music at said friends house for the past two months (all different kinds of instruments involved). Well, when we start the "regular" portion of co-op in Sept., we'll still be doing music in the morning and co-op in the afternoon. We'll start at around 10:30 am and go until about 3-3:30 pm. THEN we'd go to the church, do any missing school work, eat dinner there (the church serves it) and do AWANA. I'm really having a hard time deciding what to do. I love the co-op, BUT I am thinking all of that might be too much with a toddler. She still naps 2 times per day. I usually nurse her in my bed for naps. I seriously doubt that she'd sleep anywhere else at this point. We could just do the music in the am, eat lunch at friends house and leave before they start the regular co-op. But, then we'd have to come all the way home and do school and drive all the way back for AWANA. A big part of the kids even wanting to do music/co-op is their friends. My older ds (11) would get to spend roughly an hour with friends and the younger two probably would have any time at all. It's about a 15 min drive to my friends house and the church, so I need to take that into consideration too. If we only did music in the am, I would have to set up play dates sometime during the week so my kids could get the interaction they'd be missing by only doing music. I just don't know what to do? Should I just do the music in the morning and come back for AWANA? Do I do both music and the co-op and drop AWANA for this year (I'm assuming the world won't come to an end if we do that...I mean, we could always do bible memorization at home)? Or somthing else I'm not considering? Thoughts would be great!

I have 11.5 and 9 year old ds's. Plus my almost 18 yr old step son lives with us. I've always treated it as normal (it is awkward around step son) with the boys. That being said, I don't let my b%east just hang out either while I'm nursing. I use my shirt to cover as much of my b%east as possible. I just lift the bottom of my shirt and pull in down as far as I need to over b%east/ni%ple...viola!

Well, baseball lasts until the end of July AND my ds11 has camp the last week of July (he'll have to miss the last week, but dd6 won't miss it). I was hoping to start that last week, but it's not going to happen. Then, I thought we'd start the first week of August...again, not happening:glare:. I had told my mom a couple of months ago we'd come visit then as baseball will be over. She lives 3.5 hrs away, so I really want to get out there to see here. Skipping it isn't an option, neither is going any earlier...so be it! August 6th it is! PS-Dd6 has been doing her MFW 1st grade curriculum for the past two weeks (off/on) b/c she BEGGED me to start. I don't think she'll be so gung-ho by November:lol:.

That made me smile...see-->:001_smile:. LOL...

Yep, this what it was to us back then too...

I used it with my ds11 last year in 5th grade. If you have a child who is interested in writing, go for it. If not, look at something else. It's an awesome program. We love it, but it's not for everyone, like many curricula out there.

Right now in my reality? It's a joke, and NOT a very funny one either. I keep telling dh that I need time to myself. The problem? He's only home on weekends and he's been exhausted, so he sleeps a lot of the day time hours. I'm not a night owl, so going out at night is...out lol.

Oh...would I be completely un-motherly if I just gave my kids the money? Well, except for the baby, that is. Seriously, it's what they'd prefer, esp. the boys. It would be SO MUCH EASIER!

You are RIGHT ON!

I think they do a lot. Both of the families that are big and currently pregnant have farms. On top of that one of their dh's has his own plumbing biz and they host foriegn exchange students nearly every year and frequently have others living with them. I couldn't do it. I know myself well enough to know that I couln't be a good mom to more than a few. Even with the five in the house, I feel stretched out.