Thursday, July 30, 2009

12 Rules to Live By

Came across this quote which hit home, especially #2. I can, at times, forget that I'm truly blessed and have need of nothing. We, espcially my kids, are very fortunate to not know what it is to really be hungry (despite their protests). There's plenty of food in our house, a roof over our heads, warm beds to sleep in, my kids are healthy and we have lots of love to share.

12 Rules to Live By

Robert Louis Stevenson

  1. Make up your mind to be happy. Learn to find pleasure in simple things.
  2. Make the best of circumstances. No one has everything and everyone has something of sorrow.
  3. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
  4. Don’t let criticism worry you. You can’t please everybody.
  5. Don’t let your neighbors set your standards; be yourself.
  6. Do things you enjoy doing but stay out of debt.
  7. Don’t borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear than actual ones.
  8. Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish enmities and grudges. Avoid people who make you unhappy.
  9. Have many interests. If you can’t travel, read about places.
  10. Don’t hold post-mortems or spend time brooding over sorrows and mistakes.
  11. Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.
  12. Keep busy at something. A very busy person never has time to be unhappy.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Today we headed to the Science Center - highly recommended if you've never been. We were there maybe an hour when Uncle bent down to pick up a ball and stayed down. He had pulled his back out. He continued to lay on the floor of the Science Center hoping the pain would subside but no luck.



So, the folks at the SC were super nice and brought over a wheel chair while I went to get the van.

Off we went to the VA Medical Center. Then back to the SC so the kids could enjoy their time.


Discovering fossils

Laying on a bed of nailsPlaying a stringless harp
Dressed for the South Pole

Performing science experiments

Pulling himself up the stairs

Wearing an astronaut's helmet & gloves




Afterwards, back to the VA to get Uncle and take him home. Tonight he remains on the floor, the pain slightly better but still there. And here's something that we continue to ponder...upon our return home we found that Rosie, Lily and Betty had climbed on top of the window...


Isabel's still wondering how they managed that!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Daddy's Gift

Homemade gifts are always the best and so for Daddy's birthday the kids decided to make him a favorite treat: trail mix. He's always starving when he gets home from work so they came up with the idea of making a snack he could keep at work. We hit Michaels for some glass jars they could decorate. Here are the finished jars:




We then filled them with a mix of assorted nuts, dried fruits, seeds and, of course, chocolate chips! Daddy started snacking right away.



They also duplicated T-shirts I had made for them for our trip to Disneyworld on the birthdays:












Sunday, July 26, 2009

Daddy's Birthday & the Rainbow Cake

Today we celebrated Daddy's birthday! We made a Rainbow Cake which turned out fabulous. I saw the idea on another blogg (http://www.omnomicon.com/rainbowcake) and modified slightly by making the cake batter per the box. Knowing that the two monkeys would have their own opinions on how the cake should look I gave them each their own 8" pan and away we went.

First we divided the batter into 6 bowls and colored them like the rainbow.

Here's Nick at work from the first color until it's ready for the oven. His technique was a drop, drop, drop...



Then there's Isabel's method - precise with a specific design in mind...


Now they are baked according to the box and frosted with white frosting colored (similar to the batter)...voila:



And here they are once we cut them - very cool!