Oops, sorry just reread post and you don't even have to change schools - so no problem with leaving friends and making new ones! The school friends will love to come visit. My Ds has a friend in town (not even in same school, but Scouts) and they're always asking *him* over, we can't wait to have a campout at our house but there's one at their house this w/e if it stops raining (Mem Day/bday party for this boy was rescheduled for this w/e b/c of rain - it's been raining for a solid month now)!. If this thread is still going in August I'll be sure to post pics of the "family reunion" (really just my dad's brothers and their kids who live in the area - I don't think those who have moved out of the area are coming back, my siblings are coming end of July). My cousin, her dad (middle brother) and I all have adjoining land, my uncle mows all his with a riding lawnmower (we have hayfields, my cousin just has the old farmhouse, barn and 5 acres). Just my uncles, cousins and spouses, and their kids in the area add up to about about 100 people (25 from one uncle, his kids/spouses and grandkids alone!) so we set up a few tents, 3 grills and sometimes a spit with a pig, a few kiddie pools, a slip-n-slide, and the kids get filthy in the pond/creek/swamp and the slip-N-slide, we hose them off, some go home but some stay around the bonfire til the wee hours - we try to do this every year so the 2nd cousins who live within 10 miles of each other but all go to different schools in different towns can see each other (besides Little League when they play against each other LOL). Oh, and I did manage to get a pic of the buck and doe together (can just see her hind end - no pun intended! - under the tree at the edge of the woods b/t him and the birch).

As has been said before....go to the school board....they made that policy. I volunteered for several years in a program where I ate lunch with elementary grade kids and then spent time reading with them. In this school nearly 90% of the kids were getting free lunch. And the reason why I and the rest of the volunteers were there was not only to boost reading skills but to provide some one on one time and to provide a positive adult role model. The lunches are not horrible...mostly! Things like turkey or ham and cheese sandwich, frozen fruit, or spaghetti green beans a meatball and a cookie, or tacoes or chicken nuggets, corn and mashed potatoes. Apples were always available as was milk both chocolate and plain. There was always white roll or bread of some sort....often a package of teddy grahams. The amount of the food that was tossed was amazing... One little girl ate nothing but bread and chocolate milk....and she was plump. I asked her what her mother fixed for dinner, she said she didn't make dinner so she, the child just got what she wanted to eat. I asked like what....she said pop tarts, lucky charms etc. her mother had no job so all was from wellfare. Another's mother worked at the backery in Wal_Mart so she got all sorts of good stuff. another one time brought his lunch one day because Mom's boy friend had brought Twinkies and Ho ho's or something similar, so her brought that for lunch. I sure am not for banning lunches from home....but as has been said you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. If they are only used to getting garbage at home all the plates of roast turkey mashed potatoes and green beans won't get eaten. Kids who will get a fully subsidized lunch may not eat it and those not eligible may find that $2.25 a day is very expensive. Linda C

Annie, I actually don't have a problem with Sebastian choosing to socialize rather then eat, well not with Sebastian anyway. I feel that part of why he is going to school is for the social part. I hate the way the schools devalue eating and socialization. The other problem is the cafeteria, actually it is a cafe-gym-atorium and it is loud and awful. All the kids prefer it when they have lunch in their classroom, at least according to my informal poll. lol, I have often had much with them in the cafeteria and once in the classroom. They were much better at eating while socializing in the classroom. The problem is lunch is when the teachers get a break. I would like teachers to eat with them and have their break during recess. My felling about food is make sure to feel good about everything you serve so it does not matter what they make a meal of. I told a friend of mine when we had 1 year olds, serve them good food and don't pay attention to what is on the floor or still on the tray. So long as you served it it counts. I don't even make my kids take a bite. I tried that once and the gaging etc was not worth it. Plus he had built up that he would not like it. I have told them if it is on their plate and they don't want it, don't talk about it. If they say something is disgusting I will require a bite, ignore it and I am fine. I just hate to have my food insulted ;-) Also they will need these manners for other peoples homes. My kids can have problems in the house of some peers as they are used to a certain level of food. They will not eat frozen pizza, super market rotisserie chicken ... We have friends who eat frozen pizza, when we go over to their house for pizza we bring dough, sauce etc. -Robin

Rhome's reply to Studio got zapped by the backup restore. We don't have mudrooms, but I know what one is! It's the family entry, often at the back or service/utility side of the house, where wet and muddy outdoor clothes and shoes can be put off and hung to dry. Actual mud is one reason why it's generally near the laundry. Old days, small houses, it was pegs on a back porch. Current trends, it's a small room with a bench to sit for boot removal, and often cubbies and/or lockers for family members to not only hang up their coats in, but to organize backpacks and other take as you leave items. DH = Dear (or danged) Husband DW = Dear Wife The following are used with a numeral indicating birth order, or occasionally age: DS = Dear Son DD = Dear Daughter DS2 is dear second son. DD18 is Dear Daughter at 18 years old. MIL = mother in law B, F, S IL, Brother, Father, Sister in law