BKMETV, is your hearing back to normal after the noisy school trip? You are braver than I am. 40 kids at once sounds pretty scary!
M&N, good job keeping up the moral around here! I like those bouncy smileys. Not sure they spurred me to move any more but they were cheery!
I think you are right on the money when you pointed out how many parents do not treat their children the same. That was a HUGE source of contention in my family and many other families I know of. I cannot imagine loving one of my children more than the other. Of course, they might tell you different. My son probably thinks I love my DD more cause she is the baby and somewhat rotten while DD would probably say I love her brother more cause "he always gets to do things that I don't!" Sometimes you may treat them a little differently at different stages in life but you can still love them the same.
Pikester, if there had been one less kid in your smiley I would have thought that my family had been captured as smileys. You sure do have a sparkly potty! You are braver than I am too!
LITC, that's what we are here for! I will be glad to offer my support anytime you need it. Have a fun anniversary celebration! Walter is absolutely precious! Makes me wish mine were still babies.
M&N is being very thoughtful about not offering too many hugs so she doesn't spread any germs. You be careful out there with that boy because it is just crazy how many people don't even give it a second thought to hug a baby even when they are sick!
JOCAmom, sorry you are another of the ones stuck with a disfunctional family. Were you always aware of it? Me, I must have saw my life through rose colored glasses. Guess up until I got past the teenage years I was so focused on myself I never paid much a ttention to things going on around me. Anyway, when my sister hit about 30 (I would have been 25) all kinds of stuff hit the fan. It was all downhill after that. Anyway, I agree that many times it is better to not even expose your kids to some things even if it means them not knowing much about the extended family tree.
Oh boy! I have a new sister!!! Thanks,
D&DDisney! Now be advised that we don't tend to throw big parties so don't be surprised if you don't start getting a lot of invitations. Of course, if I did send you one I would certainly understand if you were unable to make it...being so far away... but I would still send one! Here's a

for my new sis! I was just explaining to my DD a few days ago about another of my friends being more like a sister to me than my real one. Guess I can now tell her about her new aunt.
DL55, aaah, another one of us with the crazy family gene. So, does that make
M&N and
whgrn the only one with normal families? Anyway, please tell your mom to be very careful of what sort of mess she leaves behind for you and your sister to sort through. Having been there I can tell you that snubbing one member of the family can cause more problems later down the line... some of which can result in it being impossible for the ones left behind to get over. (ie, my GM left out my mom, my mom left out my sister so now we are the ones left with the wreckage of what used to be my family.)
Okay, enough of that! OOOh! I love train rides! Gonna have to show my DH your bush pilot photo. He has always thought that that would be the coolest job! I love the Eskimo outfit! Did you get you one for those cold NM days?
Today is our
20th anniversary! So hard to believe that it has been that long! When we were first married we had both been married before. We both had a pretty poor track record and neither of us had been very successful at making it past a couple years with someone, much less 20 years! Now we get to laugh and say how we just keep breaking those records. Gonna keep our celebration low key. DS has Jiu-Jitsu tonight so we will just go out to eat tomorrow night. Life is good! Now to start working on 21....