For what it is worth, as a family of 7, I refuse to pay for two rooms. I think it is ridiculous. If it is against fire codes, what have you they should automatically give two adjoining rooms to a bigger family. We all know there are dozens of rooms left vacant on any given night. All my kids are 9 and under and it just ticks me off. If they ask how many kids I either out right lie or say a couple are staying with grandparents at a neighboring hotel. They can't determine what hours you have visitors. Ok rant over. Equal rights for large families, lol.

Compassion international was the other one that I was looking at. Thank you. Oh, and it doesn't have to be an orphan, I guess that is the word that came to mind first. I would just like to help the child most in need.

I understand that. I try (pathetically) to give to a couple charities in that area, but I would like the kids to sponsor a child their age to make it more about them and hit closer to home. It is true that it is tricky in that area and maybe that is why I am having a hard time finding it.

This is the one I was looking at and still considering because it is in the area of the world that I want. http://www.zakat.org/

I saw several in my google searches. I am not sure as to which are legit etc. Hopefully you can get good recommendations. I'm always a bit skeptical and like to know that my money is going to the child..

Cleaning has been the only thing to ever make me go into labor. Well, that and a crazy trip to the zoo in a tornado warning. Clean, clean, clean.

I am looking for an organization that is Christian, as I believe Christ being shared is most important. I would also love for there to be some kind of back and forth....letters, pictures etc. I would also love to sponsor a child from the Middle East. I found one charity, but no options to sponsor in the Middle East. Anyone familiar with anything like this?

Ok, so now that I am coming out of my pregnant/5 children brain fog, I would like to put more time/effort into the holidays. It really isn't so much on the days as I want to make traditions that are passed down. Dh and I have no extended family or really anything to pass on so I would like to start some things that the kids can remember and do with their own children and families when they are grown. So, I can google, but would like to hear from actual "friends". How do you usually celebrate Purim? We are of course making Hamantaschen and reading the book of Esther. I am making a big meal... Looking for other suggestions.

I haven't heard that one before, too funny. We'd be pretty well off if we didn't homeschool. We wouldn't be rich, but we could definitely afford many extras and vacations etc. All of my money now goes to curriculum and groceries. If the were in ps curriculum would be free and because of our income they'd qualify for free breakfast and lunch everyday. That would more than cut my grocery bill in half.

I guess my question is more of how to keep them separated once I say ok these are your clothes and these are yours. I'm sure they would remember though so I will just hand it over to them. They each have two drawers in their dresser and we can do different sides of the closet. I can imagine WW3 if I told them to pick from their existing clothes so I will prob just separate them first and then keep in mind for future purchases that I have to buy for them individually and not together. They can wear things in a 6, 7, or 8 so today I have just been separating into things that look younger vs things that look older. There is a big range of more babyish vs more mature in those sizes. I feel like we've been hermits for a year but now that we are moving back to the other side of FL and will be attending our church and homeschool groups again I want to get their things all sorted and get them dressed well. Plus ive run out of hand me downs lol. My 2 year old on the other hand has about 20 boxes full of clothes that Im trying to sort through.

That is a good idea. She does the laundry anyway for the most part....as long as I tell her too and it doesn't get too far behind which has me doing it. I will just let her pick I suppose.

I have a question for those of you who have twins or same size siblings. My dd9 and dd6 have been in the same size clothes for a while. Dd6 is 95 percentile and dd9 is 5th percentile, lol. They have shared clothes for years. I've always just had a ton of clothes in the size they were in and that was it. I have occasionally tried separating clothing out into the younger looking things for dd6 and older looking clothing for dd9 but eventually everyone just wears what is clean and what they put on. Lately, they want to have their own clothes which is fine, but im not sure how to go about separating them. I just bought them some 7 summer dresses and they immediately wanted to know whose is whose. Dd9 has an olive skin tone and dd6 is pretty fair. Dd9 also has a tad more weight and height than dd6....if you look really, really closely.. so I quickly grabbed the ones I thought would look best on each kid and passed them out. I guess I'm making this more difficult than it actually is. LOL. I guess im going to have to get more organized in putting away laundry.

Paypal really isn't that big of a deal. You just sign up with your email address. You do not have to put your bank account info on it. I always try to pay with paypal because of the protection they offer. I had an issue ordering something on etsy that was laughable when it arrived. It would have been more than what I paid to ship it back (the seller was in Canada). Paypal refunded me no problem and I didn't have to send it back.

Yes, very funny the way things turn out. My boys look just like me. My girls really look nothing like my husband or I. DD9 and dd2 looked very similar as newborns, but other than that the 3 of them don't look much alike either...except the hair, lol.

I love redheads! So cute! I would have picked one if I could, lol.

None of mine have my eye color either :(. Ds8 and Dd6 had my eye color for a while but then changed to brown. My dh's eye color is very, very dark brown and mine is hazel I guess? They are green but sometimes look blue. I was hoping that at least one would have my eye color. Dd9 has dh's eye color. Hers turned from bright blue to dark brown a few days after she was born. The rest of them have gradually changed from my eye color to brown. Dh has black hair and dark brown eyes. I have med brown hair and hazelish eyes. The older threes hair is identical, the 2 yr old and 1 yr old may have more highlights, but you'd have to inspect it under a microscope to tell the difference. Edited to change "eyelights" to "highlights". Stupid auto correct.

Lasagna or baked ziti are always great...or even pizza, lol.

All 5 of my kids have the exact. same. hair color. This is just a silly post and a way to spend part of my Sat. alone (alone with 5 kids, ha). I think it is so strange...although maybe not as uncommon as I think. I have a 9,8,6,2 and 1 year old and they all have the same hair color. The 9, and 2 year old started out with jet black hair and then their hair got lighter. 8 year old started out bald and then had blonde hair for a couple years and then it got darker. 6 year old started out with I guess light brown, went blonde for a couple years and then it got darker. Ds1 (is it bad that I feel like I need to go back and look at his baby pictures??) I *think* started out with darker brown hair and it got a little lighter. Anyway...they all now have med brown hair. You would think there would be a little variety.

I love watching hoarders. It always makes me feel so much better about my house.

Oh, may I ask what age he was when he had the surgery?

That's good to know. Thank you for sharing.

Sleep, lol.

She has cleft palate. Her speech isn't terrible. She has a rather large hole towards the front of her mouth still that they failed to close twice now. I would rather have that closed first than do the pharyngeal flap, esp since her speech isn't that bad and it is something that she can do later if she decides to. They have referred to her speech as hypernasal, but I think it is related to the front of her mouth. Her main issue with speech has nothing to do with the cleft but the fact that she talks wayyy too fast sometimes. When the dr brought it up the second time I told him that I had looked into it before and it seemed like there were a lot of risks and that one of the things it could cause was speech issues including hypernasality. He poo poo'd the things I had found and said that he didn't feel like it was the front of her palate causing issues and that as soon as she woke up from surgery she would be talking perfectly. I just don't see it that way, but now I am interested in talking to families who have actually had it done.

Has anyone or anyones dc undergone this type of surgery? I am interested in hearing others experiences. When the surgeon first mentioned it for dd I decided against it based on research, the complications...which include speech problems. I am still against it, but surgeon brought it up again like it was some miracle cure. Anyone?

Ugh, I don't want to seem unsympathetic if there is mental illness involved or an honest mistake etc. I mean I'm not heartless, but I would have ran for a gun and then asked who it was and why they were in my house lol. Our rental is back on the market and I've had people pull up right behind my van and honk at us...I don't know what the point of this is. Then I had someone stand at the door knocking for 15 minutes (I don't open the door for anyone, period). Then went back to the car and his friend got out walking around all suspicious with his hood pulled over his face (we are in FL so not cold). That was almost enough to make me have the police come out and see why these people wouldn't leave. I have high anxiety lol.