@ITBgirl so true! how quickly they change from “handfuls” to “darlings” 
S’15 came home Friday night. He is having a great 2nd semester! Seems to be really getting the hang of things. Major is still intact and grades are better than where they need to be we chatted a bit about summer plans, and he threw out a couple options he’s kicking around. He’s going to be living essentially on campus next year at his Frats house. Big 'ole nice mansion on Frat row. I miss my youth 
I took him out and we GOLFED yesterday. B-) March 12th - 70 degrees. My all time record for earliest outing! <:-P
The housing lottery is done, and next year DS will be in a dorm much closer to the engineering quad. BUT, he and the guy he wanted to room with didn’t have great housing lottery numbers, so they both ended up in doubles with random people but near each other. Maybe they’ll be able to switch, who knows. DS said the new guy seems nice so hopefully it’ll work out. Kinda like freshman year all over again, LOL.
Spring break starts in two weeks, but DS’s birthday is next week. It’s the first time I’ve had a child celebrate a birthday away from home 
. (DD’s birthday is during vacation time.) Any suggestions on how to pack cupcakes such that they aren’t destroyed in the mail?
Not sure how to pack cupcakes so the mail doesn’t destroy them. Our daughter had a birthday a few weeks ago and my husband sent her money so she and her boyfriend could go out to dinner and desert. They had dinner in one restaurant then went to a coffee shop/bakery and had cupcakes and cocoa with some of the money. We actually had started by looking online for bakeries in the city to have some cupcakes delivered to her dorm, but it turned out one of the best rated shops in the city is right down the hill a block from her dorm. It happened to be nearly next door to the restaurant they planned to go to so it worked out nicely.
Is there a bakery near his school? Maybe they will deliver.
Harry and David’s ships cakes, cake pops and I think also cup cakes, etc. different price ranges–ordered online. I sent cake pops for DD’s b-day and they arrived safe and sound with ice pack to keep chocolate from melting, very fresh and moist. Chose cake pops so she could share them without having to worry about a cake knife–or having to wash a cake knife
Can you all believe that we are talking about sophomore housing already? Weren’t we just worrying about SATs and college essays? It’s nice to see so many of our kids having such great experiences this year.
Mine just got her dorm assignment but doesn’t know yet what rooms she and her group will get. She’s very happy with the location and doesn’t seem to care much beyond that.
@mdcmom, one of D’s friends had a birthday recently and the parents had Insomnia Cookies sent to the room. It might be worth looking into.
@3girls3cats I keep thinking and feeling that. Last year at this time we were so stressed out waiting for the last few acceptances and the right merit offer to go with it. While we had strategized that EA would bring our daugher and us to know what the end place would be by Christmas time, that isn’t how it worked out. The fact that our daughter is so happy and doing so well made all of last year’s expected and unexpected stress worth it.
Thanks all for the advice on quoting and other forum issues.
@mdcmom - cute video on shipping cupcakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ2yuIYLAKQ
My D’s birthday is this week as well. She was just home for spring break, so we celebrated a little early, but I’m sad I’ll be missing the actual day, which is the first day of spring, so it is always doubly joyful. I am considering sending her these cupcakes in a jar:
https://www.wickedgoodcupcakes.com/shop-online/cupcakes-in-jars. Featured on Shark Tank!
After some ups and downs (primarily boyfriend issues), she has decided to stay at her small LAC next year even though she dislikes how isolated she feels the school is. Her roommate, whom she gets along with extremely well, is transferring to a school closer to home. So she is going to room with three or four other friends in some sort of “pod” in a dorm.
Spring Break was last week, and my D’s birthday is coming up soon. This will be the first time I won’t be there with her, so I really appreciate all the great ideas of things to ship! Keep them coming!
I found lots of good advice on how to choose birthday sweets/items and ship them to kids on “military moms” websites. Just Google around and you’ll be amazed at the creative ingenuity. 
D is home on Spring Break…housing is in the sorority house next year…register for classes and now finally looks like she has found her sea-legs…first semester was a social Yuck but great grades…second semester a social Yeah and hopefully for the same on the grades . S’16 just finished with the process; now I get to go dorm shopping again but his list is 1/2 the size D for dorm room :D. Spring has finally come to he Mid-West with the change of clocks and the birds are out singing.
My daughter was home last week, and had a very relaxing week. She got to visit some friends and hit some of her favorite food places. This might have involved ice cream for multiple meals. She brought home a lot of her winter things- 3 athletes in a small dorm with all of their sports stuff and winter stuff, well…there wasn’t a lot of carpet showing in the room.
She continues to be happy where she landed with great roommates and friends. She has done well academically, though has been challenged at times. I think our freshman kids can look back at where they were in September and where they are now as they approach the end of their freshman year, and feel good about all they have learned and accomplished, even if the road has been bumpy.
She will be in an apartment next year with 3 other girls, one of her current roommates, and two from her dorm floor. They are all athletes. I think that works well since they are on the same schedule. Luckily, they all like each other, otherwise they would be sick of each other. She is excited to be in an apartment. I would have been good with one more year in the dorms. She might feel less enthused once the reality hits and she has to start doing her own cooking!
Hey everybody, I’m doing fine. I took a lifeguard course over part of Spring Break, and I passed! I have a few days left, and I’m back to studying, but it has great break.
How often do you talk on the phone or video chat with your D/S? I video chat with mine once a week or two weeks. Just curious how this compares with other parents. I’ll sometimes send her text chats or ask her a question in-between but she never responds to those (unless it’s something she wants - then there’s an immediately reply
I found out why my D decided to stay on campus for spring break (which is this week) instead of stay with friends at their parents’ house. She didn’t want to miss any kendo practice sessions, as she’s going to be testing to be ranked next month and she really wants to pass so she can participate in tournaments. I’m glad she’s doing something that will help her stay fit and healthy.
She also got her worst grade of the year so far, which was hard for her to take since she said she studied hard for the test, but she took comfort that most everyone else in the class did poorly too. She was frustrated that the professor gave very little preparation as to what the test would be about. So she now “hates biology” :D. She’s used to getting straight As in high school without much difficulty, so she needs to adjust her expectations for college.
We Skype text daily. When the school year started we Skype video chatted quite often, but it was challenging for her to have privacy because she is in a room with three other girls and good timing because of the vast time difference between where we live in Asia and where she is in Massachusetts. After a few weeks, she would only want to Skype video when she was upset about something, but even that started to wane as she got adjusted to things. Now we Skype video only every few weeks. She texts with us when she firsts wakes up which is our evening for a while, usually about 30 minutes. Her roommates are usually still sleeping but she can text to her hearts content without disturbing others. Some might think this is too often, but we are a very close family, and this works for us.
Engineering school is hard. And kids who are used to getting As their whole life take that first lower than A grade very hard. We have had more than one conversation during the first semester that “your head won’t blow off if you don’t get an A.”
My daughter and I text every day and video chat maybe once every two weeks. The texting might be a quick question or it might be a longer conversation.
As far as getting a B @insanedreamer, at a school like RPI that happens. My straight A daughter is at a similar school and she had a difficult computer science class and felt like she was hanging on for dear life. She got a B and we celebrated surviving the class. She got a B in a math course, too. And the sun came up the next day. My D worked harder than she ever worked before, and we were proud of her for that.
@NorthernMom61 that’s so nice that your D texts you every day! I wish mine would, but she’s too busy enjoying her independent life. We do have good communication at least, and I’m glad for that. But suffice it to say that I’ve come to realize I’m not on her mind every day. (We have the same issue with the video Skype in the bedroom; she uses one of the study rooms, but it’s not as convenient as just picking up the phone, especially with the time zone difference as you know.)
@VMT yes, I agree it’ll happen. I’ve never pushed her on her grades - I’ve always emphasized that what matters to me is that she’s putting in the effort and doing her best. Some courses will be tougher than others or she’ll have bad days or just plain make mistakes. Still, she’s pretty hard on herself if she gets a B and I have to keep encouraging her. That’s a good idea to “celebrate surviving the class” together.
Interestingly almost all my D’s mistakes come not from misunderstanding or using the wrong approach to solve the problems, but little errors (like adding incorrectly or forgetting a sign on a number) that come from going too quickly because she feels rushed. One disadvantage of being home schooled is that she wasn’t used to doing tests with a strict time limit–so she’s used to taking the time to get things right and doesn’t do so well when she’s under the clock (math-related SATs were tough for her despite being good at math, for that reason).
We don’t video chat more than once a week at most but we do text either daily or close to that. Those exchanges tend to deal more with stuff like food or temperature outside, not with anything particularly meaningful. (Not to diminish the importance of good food!) I learn much, much about her life when I’m actually with her. OTOH, I’ll take what I can get.