For my 9yos bday a few weeks ago, they decorated gingerbread houses, played capture the flag, a version of pin the tail, piñata, cake, presents, and more capture the flag. I think we could have let them play capture the flag the entire time and they'd be happy.

I gave that one (below) to my 9 year old son for Christmas. He loves the Hobbit too. It seems nice, and I liked that the print was a decent size.

Just something to think about with the responses you are getting- how old are those responding. Because I do think age plays into it as well. I never struggled with my weight much until the past few years. In my twenties and thirties I could eat tons, and did, including lots of fattening bar type food and drink, but as long as I exercised, it never really made a difference. Even the first half of my forties weren't too bad. Now I eat so much less, and so much healthier, and I gain weight in an instant. It's a struggle to maintain, let alone lose.

I've hated our family room since we moved in last year. It's always been a room we walk through, not inviting. Well, at a neighbors house last week with the same layout as mine, I loved her family room. It was the proper size rug that pulled it together, along with better furniture placement. So I reorganized the furniture. Took up the rug I had, and ordered a new one. Can't wait for it. Then going shopping for a couple chairs and donating the loveseat.

When we moved, we tried out five different catholic churches in our area to find one that appealed to us. I had never thought of doing it before, we always just went to our local parish. The closest one, walking distance, was not the right fit at all. We drive about 15 minutes to a very active church, many volunteers, and many things going on. It's also the first time I truly enjoy listening to the homilies; they are meaningful, made with effort, and pertinent. So don't be afraid to try out different churches. I'm glad they all have different feels to satisfy different needs and stages of life.

We got too, and we have been loving it! The kids new favorite game. And I don't even mind how long it takes. Maybe because I usually win :). We just have the 5-6 person expansion to accommodate us all. I might look into another expansion next Christmas, but I think we will have fun with it as is for quite awhile.

How frustrating. Not sure if you're still looking but we use Ronald Reagan's White House Mac and cheese. You can google it up. It's always turned out great, and I've been asked for the recipe when I've served it to others. It does have eggs. I believe it says for all ingredients to be at room temp.

I might have to try the bread on the bottom this year. I used to use pillsbury type crescent/biscuit dough, but can't find the simple brand we use for it. And I used to use 10 eggs for ours. I see these only four for a whole pan!? Is it okay to add more. I'll be using sausage and cheese along with the bread and eggs. Anyone?

I've been most successful when I have laryngitis. :)

Thanks all for the suggestions. We already own forbidden island and quirkle. I ended up ordering labyrinth just under the deadline. It looked different from anything we had. Added a few others to our wish list for the future. :)

Thought I had his game from his Grandmom set. I had ordered 10 days in Africa from eBay last week, due to arrive tomorrow. Found out today they didn't have it and refunded the money. Still need a present and can do amazon prime if I order quickly. Under $30 preferred. Kids are already getting ticket to ride Europe, perplexus, and settlers of catan for Christmas. And I ordered carcassonne for dh as a family game. So need something different, interesting, preferBly for family of five, but not necessary. Educational is good. Time consuming and long is not. He got Stratego for his bday. Please, ideas! Thanks. He's 9 years old.

I could see insisting on it if you are teaching the distributive property. Since it's an easy problem, they may be able to understand it better than a harder type later. When we did long division here, I had my kids use it even on the ones they could do in there head. That way they could focus on learning the process, and easily see how it worked.

Went back and thoroughly read everything. No eye issues. We go every year, and just had appts. No preemie issues. All were healthy and home in a week. We do checklists. All have a daily and weekly schedule.. All have some independent work, some work with mom, and some we all do together (the group lessons are only handwriting, spelling, vocabulary, FLL, and drawing, so a very small part of the day). Per a talk today, the kids do like what we do, and what we use, so it's not truly that they hate school. Just they'd often prefer to be doing their own thing instead of school. And doing more crafts as part of school. Not sure we go deep or how would look for us, so I'll have to think on that one. And glad to know I'm not alone. Or maybe not. Because if I was alone, perhaps it would be easier to fix! But yes, the comments about the age and independence make sense. When they were younger, school was automatically fun because everyone just all loved doing things with mom all the time. There was nothing better they could think of doing :). Though I have all there sitting around me now making rainbow loom stuff, with me helping when needed. It's push and pull at this age it seems. Thanks all!

Okay, reading the responses but hard to concentrate because my main complainer is at it again. The other two are finished for the week, so no complaints. But he started whining the second he sat down, after everything he writes, he wants to know if it is correct instead of double checking it himself (he is doing math). Honestly the more he whines (and it's turned into yelling at out how there is no answer and it can't be solved), the less I feel like helping him. Everything I say, he puts down. So if suggest doing something, he is just whining that it can't be done. How do you help someone like that? I walked his siblings through the same problems, and had none of these issues. It's like he just wants to complain or fight. Had to take a break and ds and I had a chat. There's more going on than just school. He's feeling sorry for himself because he says he's always the last one to be helped and that therefore I don't love him. And that he's not smart because he needs more help. Oh good grief. Frankly it's sister who I usually help last because she needs more time than the rest and it's easier have two out of the way and only one to focus on. But this past week it's been him because of attitude. I explained that I never even realized he is always last and apologized (because what they think is true matters more than reality)and that even if I did know, I certainly would have never tied it to feelings of love. And I went over the ways that I show love for him. All in all a good talk. And we are also going to back up in math some; he's fine with the daily math we are doing but not the Challenging Word Problems. I need to find the post here someone said there's a different CWP type book that explains the word problems and bar graphs better. And we will back up a level or two. I told him most folks do them a year or so behind anyway, and that's what we always used to do. CWP problems are hard! And that he's accelerated in most of our subjects because he is bright. Which I think he already knew, but feelings of insecurity pop up now and then. And ya dada. He's feeling much better. Things were so much easier when they were younger! More bottles and diapers, yes. But not the emotions and hormones and all. I just hope I get it figured out for them; I don't want them to grow up feeling insecure. Pretty much everything I do is for them, I love them so much, so it's hard to believe one can feel unloved; I might need to do that love languages thing for them; there at a good age for it. Parenting is feeling tough. Does anyone have this figured out?! On the other side, we all did talk about school, what they like and don't etc. we went through each subject and basically they say they like all our subjects and materials. They want more crafts (ugh), and more fun things like mind benders etc. (that's busy stuff IMO, and stuff they could do outside of school. Oh well.). but it kind of just boiled down to there are other things they like to do more than school. :). Time for week or so off!

Mine (just turned nine triplets) are beginning to say they don't like school, with one being pretty vehement about it. (Which is why I'm asking for help only from moms with this age or older; all young kids seem to love school). They can't point to anything in particular except they'd rather be playing instead. We typically work hard for 3 days a week, and do CC and a music/ PE coop on the other two. Plenty of activities. Play dates not so much because everyone's busy, but they see their friends at their activities. I'm just trying to figure out if it's normal for kids to start not liking school, or if I'm doing something wrong/different than I used to. Or if it means they are struggling too much, meaning it's too hard. The work has been stepping up each year, and they've always been accelerated. They do like to learn, but not to sit and do their schoolwork so much. The one who complains the most is probably the one that gets the most frustrated. If this is a very normal phase, it might just be suck it up. If it's not that normal and there are plenty of kids out there who truly love school, then I want to really look at what I'm doing. They're intelligent kids who have never really struggled much (hence the acceleration). Part of me wonders if they've hit a wall, and things are getting too tough. Or if they just don't like putting in more effort. How do I figure out the difference! We also keep the same routine week to week, same subjects etc. so maybe what was fine and new and exciting at the beginning of the year is just getting boring? Maybe they are too busy, even though they are activities they love and want to do! what is your experience?!

How old are your kids? My just turned nine and we are doing the something you want, something you need etc. they each wanted a stuffed animal (under $20), the boys are getting socks and underwear as their need, dd a journal, ... So nothing overly huge or glamorous but they are thrilled and excited just the same. At first they had a hard time coming up with something they needed and we talked about how that was okay. We didn't need to buy just to buy, and maybe we could buy something instead for someone else. They're at an age where they get it, so if yours are this age or older, I wouldn't worry so much. It's a good time to teach more about giving and restraint, and finding joy in the smaller things. Merry Christmas! Just adding that I threw away all the toy catalogs that came in this year, and the kids don't watch tv, so they didn't miss any useless junk. :)

We love The Drawing Textbook by Bruce McIntyre. It was recommended by another mom on here. I think it was $7; it's small and thin with hundreds of short lessons. The lessons take a few minutes to introduce, and then I have my kids repeat the drawing 6 times. We use an 8x11 type sketchbook and one page per day, dated, so we can see our progress. Each lesson focuses on a principle to learn, foreshortening, shadowing, directions, perspective, etc. it tends to repeat things you've drawn before so there is an element of familiarity to the new drawing, and you can focus on the lesson to be learned, instead of just drawing a picture of a brand new thing every time. The skills transfer to new pictures you want to draw. Very unlike our draw write now books, ed emberly and other cute drawing books we've had. They serve their purpose, but they never helped my kids learn how to draw; just to copy a picture.

We also include something to share. Probably because I was forgot the way it went and tried rhyming with wear.

Just wondering if I'm being unreasonably annoyed... One dd was biting her her pencils and ruining them, along with the erasers. If I gave her cap erasers, she was picking them apart. I started charging a dollar for each new pencil or eraser (yes, quite a markup I know!), and she is holding on to things much better. (The girl who lost every pencil has held on to the same one for over a week now). Though the end/tip of the cap erasers (the nice pink ones), seem to come off or get worn through. And going through at least one per child each week. Reasonable, yes or no? It's not the cost; I just don't want them to needlessly destroy the things I give them. Regular wear and tear, fine. So just trying to get a feel for normal pencil and eraser usage. I used to give them the nice big pink pearl erasers also, but they'd poke holes in them with their pencils and pens and when I ran out, I didn't buy more.

Thanks. Trying to suggest Settlers of Catan, with expansion pack, as better game for the family.

I've tried reading the instructions online and the amazon blurbs, but can't figure out how many people can play. We have a family of 5. We play ticket to ride and can do that individually. Is memoir only a team game? How many individuals can play! One of the expansion packs said up to 8 people can play, 4 to a side. What does that really mean? 2 teams of 4? 4 teams of 2? Or 8 individuals? Ds wants it for Xmas and just trying to figure out what to order. Thanks!

The Little Drummer Boy. Loved it as a kid and showed it to my kids last year.

No real help, but I remember wanting to buy one about four years ago for my kids from him. Somehow I heard about the problems right before I ordered. He had also taken a very long time to respond to my request to buy. It was through parents like you though that had posted things online that I read though. I'd get the money and then pretty much post what happened. Including him saying he'd refund you if you retracted the accusations. People will easily read between the lines even if you don't use the word scam.

We had it every day when they were younger, but now it's just when I really really need it. I'll say separate rooms and they'll all call out a room they'll take. They usually read or play a game with their stuffed animals or do paper dolls. We should do it more often. We are just so busy anymore that we are rarely home anyway in the afternoon. But it was a great break for all of us.

I haven't been able to checkout yet today either for the same reasons mentioned. Will try again when I get home.