Awwwwwwwww! I can't believe she is 3 years old already! Time does fly. Looks like it may have been a chilly day, but bet you all had a fun day! Such a sweetie pie! Susan

Wait, kk, you thought I was southern? Nope! I live about 45 min north (give or take) from Manhattan. My parents and now my sister's family, too live in NC, so I guess I could be southern by association! You are dead-on about the taxes i-chic. Ours have gone up about $3K-$4K since we're in our house (a little over 9 yrs). Ouch! All just one of the joys of living in a suburb of the big city! FYI, people in NJ call where we live upstate (and my village is right over the border from NJ!), but upstate would really be Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse....

That is a sweet thing you did for your daughter. It must be hard to give up (for you, I mean). I hope you have a picture of the two of you in it! Now I'm going to have the Thinking Chair song in my head all evening. :)

Sadly, it's all too common. Just a few weeks ago, the local district manager of Friendly's was arrested for Kiddie porn. Friendly's!!!--a restaurant that caters to families with children (often very young children)! Another local incident a few years back involved the husband of a local dance teacher. Can you imagine a pedophile having access to a dance studio, with kids in their skimpy little tutu's? It would be nice if everyone who ever came in contact with kids, in any way, ever was checked, but how would that be accomplished? It would be a massive and impossible undertaking. Especially since a lot of them keep their addictions under wraps. Bottom line? It's every parent's job to keep their children from ever being alone with an unknown. And to be suspicious of the 'knowns' as well!