30 Thousand Dollars ? In this economy ? I'd handle it really carefully and conservatively. I'd pad our 6 to 8 month emergency fund really well and push it up to a 1 year to 18 month fund. Then I'd finish topping off all of our sinking funds. I wouldn't spend any of it, just put it all into our sensible living plan. Now if we are talking about that 3 million from another thread.......then I would spend some of it and have a lot of fun !:lol:

I'd keep our lives pretty much the same. We already are debt free, so I don't need to pay off any debt except a small mortgage. We'd continue to live in the same house (our 11 acre farm) but do a lot of remodeling to it and get it fixed up really nice. We'd still homeschool and my husband would continue at his job as groundskeeper at a state university. He has great medical/dental benefits and 75% off college tution for both ourselves and all children, so we would need to keep that job. After all, 3 million only goes so far, one huge medical exspense and your wiped out and college for four kids really adds up ! Then I'd buy a nice little beach house, one of those little bungalow type deals so that we could visit the beach every month. Not right on the ocean, but back a few streets within close walking distance. I don't want to spend a fortune on it, I just want something cute and low maintence that we could keep up with easily. I'd purchase a nice little used motor home to travel around the country and we would go on great homeschooling adventure field trips to all the places we always dreamed about seeing like The Grand Canyon, Colonial Williamsburg, Yellowstone Park, The Florida Keys, Mount Rushmore, etc........ I'd also buy a nice bayliner boat to take out in the bay and ocean for some deep sea fishing. I'd buy it all used though, because I am still going to be really frugal with all the money :001_smile: Everything else, I'd sock away a HUGE portion of it for safe investments and our retirement someday.

Praying for you!!

I would buy the complete set of Pathway Readers ( I think they are $90). I would also buy the complete set of Geo Puzzles (they run $50 for the set) I know, it is a little over $125, but that is what "I" would buy. :001_smile: Actually, that is what "I" did buy this past summer and I love them !!

I love Thaddeus ! If we had another boy, he would have been Thaddeus Jack

My 5 year old inherited his DS from his older sister (age 22) when she got married and moved out. She no longer was interested in her DS, so she gave it to her little brother this past May for a birthday gift. He was thrilled ! He wanted one because he loved watching his older brothers and sisters play their DS. It has the heavy duty nerf case on it and he has been very careful to put it away after every use and only to play with it while sitting. We also dont allow him to carry it around, it is kept in a sturdy DS Mario Lunchbox and carried to a chair or sofa in the Lunchbox before opening to play. These precautions/rules help to keep our children from damaging and breaking their DS. We teach the children from very early on to always respect and value their own toys as well as their siblings toys and to take good care of them. This helps cut down on broken toys and hurt feelings and teaches them early to have respect for all things in our home.

I am taking off today, we have several dentist appointments scheduled and my oldest married daughter is stopping by for a visit. When I need some time off, whether I am sick, behind on housework, have doctor/dental visits scheduled,unexpected guest showing up or just burned out and need a break, we go into our default mode schedule. I keep a constant default schedule of school work for the kids so that they always have something to do that is independent of me. These are things they can do without needing my constant help or explanation. We use this schedule a lot over the summer months so that I can get my things done (gardening/greenhouse work, heavy house cleaning, weeding, farm work, ectera) without the concern that my kids are missing out or falling behind on studies. At the beginning of every month I make up laminated sheets (all used with dry erase markers that easily wipe off to use over and over again) of schoolwork for them to do over the course of a year to keep them moving ahead in math, art appreciation studies, music/composer studies, famous & important documents (memorizing the bill of rights and preamble to the constitution), grammar and parts of speech memorization, geography, ectera..... I also keep up a general book reading list, flashcard list, spiral math work pages (work already learned & taught with me but needing constant review to stay sharp), ectera that they can use on default days. This gives them a good 3 to 4 hours a day of work that is independent of me and allows them to stay ahead of the game when I need a break or I have overextended myself with things to do around the farm. This has worked out great for my older children over the years when life was chaotic because I was pregnant and not feeling well, had a new nursing baby or sick child. This also works great when I need to run errands, help my parents, ectera.. and my dh has the day off to watch the kids. This way he can easily keep the children up with their schoolwork while I am away and also get his own things done, because our default work is all self teaching. Otherwise he would be lost and not knowing where we were in our regular schooling and the day would be a loss for us. I even made the work self checking by keeping the answer sheets in a tote box where an older child can check the work for the younger ones and the older children can also check their own work, quizes and tests. I love doing this routine because it allows me the freedom to get things done or take a break when I need it, but keeps the children working ahead and not falling behind. It takes away all that "momma guilt" I used to have years ago when we fell behind because I couldn't get it all done and was feeling overwhelmed or burnt out. For our family it works well.:001_smile:

Excellent Gift ! I use mine every night and I purchased one for each of my children last year as stocking stuffers. It also makes a wonderful accompiament in a gift basket complete with some favorite books and snacks for someone ill/re-cooperating or a new "up all night" nursing mother. P.S. I own both sizes, my kids interchange them depending on what size book they are reading.

Last year when my 8 and 6 year old were both doing second grade I purchased the Pathway Readers entire set (1st through 8th grade). They really enjoyed the sweet stories in the Pathway Readers ! The Pathway Readers were a nice way to gently ease into chapter books. Now each day they read a chapter from the 3rd grade Pathway Reader book and also a chapter from The Happy Hollisters series of books ( a sweet series about a family with 5 children set during the 50's) as assigned reading. After assigned reading, they can read their own choice of books throughout the day.

praying !

For me personally, 40. I had my last child at 40 and it was a very hard pregnancy. It was my first c section after 5 natural births (baby was 10 and a half pounds and breech with failed turning) and a very hard recovery (took a good 6 months until I was feeling back to my old self again). But I have known of many other women who had wonderful pregnancies, births and recoveries well into their late 40's. So I think it is a personal choice, to each her own !

My son is 12 and very distractable. Any loud noise from my other 3 children pulls him out of his concentration and makes him loose his place in his studies. So, I found these for him and they have been a God send !Click here: Amazon.com: Peltor H10A Optime 105 Over-the-Head Earmuff: Gateway They mute out the noise around him and help to keep him focused on the work he is doing, especially his math. They come highly reviewed and are one of my "favorite new items" in our homeschool this year to make "my life easier". :001_smile: I steal them at nightime and they work great for reading while hubby is watching tv in the same room. I can now concentrate on my reading instead of getting pulled out of the book by loud noises from hubby's tv programs. My best 2010-2011 homeschooling investment item !!

I keep this posted on my refrigerator, it always, always, makes me feel better when I am attacked for my personal beliefs or the way in which we live as a family such as homeschooling etc...... perhaps it can be a blessing to you also. "If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference." The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln: Six Months at the White House by Francis B. Carpenter (Lincoln, Nebraska, University of Nebraska Press, 1995), pp. 258-259.

My husband helps me by: *cleaning up supper dishes every night *making supper once or twice a week (or picking up takeout) * doing all the grocery shopping for me * always keeping my van filled with gas * clearing off my van of snow every winter or scraping the van windows * taking out the trash * helping to get our kids ready for bed * mopping the floors and cleaning the bathrooms * putting in laundry and moving to dryer ( kids and I fold and put away) * pitching in wherever I need it without being asked The man is amazing !

I do, I fix everyone's plate, it is just something I have always done for all the members of my family.

Continuing to cover you in prayer Molly !!

It is reusable for you to use in your own family. You are not supposed to sell it to anyone else. I learned all this when I wanted to re-sell it on ebay and was told I was not allowed to sell it. I had no idea that I could not sell it when I originally purchased it and I checked into it on the SOS website. Supposedly, before the year 2007 there was no such rule, but now they have invoked this rule. I hear that If you sell it regardless, the registration number to register the program online for use, may not work and the program then becomes worthless. You are also asked to "accept" a statement in which you promise to not re-sell it in accordance with copyright laws when you purchase the product and register the original registration number for the program. The website does say that you can make a one time gift to another person outside your family, but stress the word "gift" and not sell. So you can use the program for your other children as long as it is used within your family. We have SOS, I have used it for my 6th grader for the last 3 years for Bible, Science and History. We also supplement with WTM recommendations. He likes the computer program, so it works well for him. I do not use it for my younger children at this time, they do not enjoy sitting at a computer to do their schoolwork, they instead like hands on curriculum with textbooks/workbooks.

Do you exercise ? Daily exercise really revs up your endorphins and that helps gear up your sexual appetite. Try exercising daily for 30 minutes a day, something that really gets the heart pumping. Running, biking, swimming, cardio dvd's or power walking will all help to rev up your sex life and also make you feel really good about yourself and stay healthy at the same time !

This year we are cutting back and doing a few combined gifts for all 4 of my youngest children ages 12, 9, 7 and 5. I'm purchasing the Playmobil Egyptian pyramid, the robber barrens, the tomb and another set. All together I will spend about $200 on the Egyptian Playmobil sets. I am also getting them one set of MagnaTiles which are about $100 set. All together the gifts should cost about $300 dollars in total which amounts to $75 per child and stays in the range I want to spend. My oldest two (27 & 22)who live on their own will get a $25 gift card to their favorite restaurant and maybe a book or dvd.

Yes he knows. I am about 50 pounds overweight (my ideal weight of 120). I am working on loosing it now, so far I am down 5 pounds in the last 10 days. Slowly but surely I will get it back off again :) I hate to have him see me naked with the lights on, I just am not comfortable, but he says he loves my body. He doesn't care what I weigh, it is me who has the problem with my weight. He of course does not have a weight problem, he eats all the time and stays exactly the same. I hate that about men !:glare:

No, I don't bring it up with my parents. They are old (mid to late 70's) and they are in the last days of their lives, why fill them with more guilt and grief ? I did not have a great childhood, I have many, many, things I could hold as regrets and things I wish my parents would have done different or better. But you know what ? It is what it is. All the things I went through in my life made me the person I am today. I am very proud of who I am today. I have learned to conquer my fears and overcome so much. I know I am better for it and it has made me very strong and I have learned to endure hardships that would probably crumble most people. What doesn't destroy us makes us stronger ! I also realize now at the age of 44, after having raised two of my children into adulthood (ages 27 and 22) that almost all children are going to find something or another to complain or pick at about that they wish their parents would have or would have not done. There are no perfect parents this side of Bethleham. I also know that whatever "stick" we measure others by, so will we be measured by someday. I think for our own emotional & mental health and that of our own children, we need to learn to let more things go. Forgive and forget and go on with our lives. Don't hold grudges and they won't have any hold on you.

God willing, my kids will be homeschooling with me until they leave for college !

I nursed my first baby in 1984 when he was born and I was only 17 years old. I lived at home with my parents and I had no idea how to parent, breastfeed or anything. Up to that point in my life I never even babysat a baby, so I was totally clueless what to do with a helpless newborn that relied on me for everything. I breastfed because I didn't know I had a choice, I never knew I could give my baby formula or that breastfeeding could be difficult. My mentor (my next door neighbor) never told me such things, she just told me that I was going to breastfeed the baby to give it everything it needed, because breastfeeding was best for my baby's health. She promised me that she would be there every step of the way to guide and help me. My neighbor was a wonderful very hippy, very crunchy natural parenting Le Leche League Leader and she came over to my house daily to teach me how to breastfeed. She gave me tons of support and encouraged me to keep at it and keep with it. I adored her, she was my hero ! She taught me all about attachment parenting (back then they just called it "natural parenting" doing what came naturally. She taught me about co-sleeping, baby wearing (we used big denim carriers back then called snugglies), cloth diapering and gentle discipline. I am the parent I am today because of her presence in my life :001_smile: I later married and went on to have 5 more children. All my children have been breastfed until they naturally weaned themselves around the 2 1/2 year mark. I co-slept with all of them and wore all of them in assorted slings, they are all still gently disciplined. I think because I had such a great first time experience with a wonderful mentor who gave me so much support, that I never developed any kind of breastfeeding problems or hang ups (fears) about breastfeeding and it never entered my mind that breastfeeding could be difficult. Sure, I dealt with bad nipple soreness those first few weeks of each baby's life and I had one severe bout of mastitis, but it never, ever, occurred to me to give up breastfeeding. My mentor had taught me how to adapt and overcome in those situations. Maybe my luck was that at such a young age as 17, I was highly impressionable and easy to persuade into doing something that went against the norm in those days. :lol: Natural parenting was no longer "in", it was 1984 the "me generation" and most everyone around was using formula for convience feeding. I think the most important thing a new nursing mom can do is to find someone who will be there and offer support in helping her to adapt and overcome all breastfeeding problems and difficulties, so she can make it through the hard times. I am very thankful to this day for my wonderful and very dedicated mentor, she meant the world to me back then when I was so young and trying to figure out how to "get it right". And today, when I look at my incredible children she means even more to me ! I truley believe she was a special angel that entered my life when I needed her most. I think we all need those special angels that will support and help guide us when we need them.

We are planning to go visit South Carolina to camp in the new year 2011 and I was wondering what time of year is best to visit for good ocean swimming weather. We are from PA and I am not sure what the ocean temps are like during February, March, April or May at Mytle Beach South Carolina. I wanted to try to go when it is less crowded but still has nice beach weather for swimming. Also, what are the best campgrounds to stay at near Myrtle Beach ? We will be using a pop up camper. Any advice you can give me on good swimming/beach weather and nice camp ground advice would be so appreciated !