Saturday, July 25, 2009

Aaron's HOPPY Birthday

For Aaron's birthday, We had Grandma and Grandpa Mellor (and Aunt Kathy) down for dinner. Grandma and Grandpa brought Aaron a present that was the present of the year!

Introducing...........

Freckles.

(Aaron told me a few days ago that he wants to change the bunny's name to George.
Short for Curious George - I think I'll keep calling him Freckles.)

He really is the sweetest bunny. He is fun to watch and SO SO SOFT! We love him! (all except Jasmine. she is NOT loving poor sweet Freckles/George.)




Once I knew that Freckles was on his way, I needed rabbit stuff (food, bedding, etc...) but didn't know how to get it without tipping Aaron off as to what was coming. Aaron and Holly to the rescue! I called Holly, told her what was going on, and she went shopping for me. Now if that's not a great friend - I don't know what is! They came by, brought all of the needed rabbit supplies, and got to meet Freckles. (thanks Aaron & Holly!)

a great 24th of July

Golly gee - it really is hard to blog in the summer. I am really getting behind... oh well. I'm here now, and I'll tell you quickly about our day yesterday:

We had a great 24th of July. Tim had to work, but I told the kids I'd take them swimming if they worked hard in the morning and got their jobs done and the house picked up. We met Angel and 3 of her kids at a the pool. We played hard for 3 hours. The kids had a ball - Poor Caleb was so tired by the end that he was just about falling asleep in the pool. (he was sound asleep before we got back to the freeway.) We went home, changed, packed up dinner fixin's and headed back out. We went with our friends Holly and Aaron and the Howlett's up AF canyon for a BBQ. (Tim met us up there.) It was great. I haven't been up AF canyon for a LONG time - I had forgotten how much I like it.

When it got dark, we packed up and headed for home, making one more brief stop back at the Howlett's to watch Steven light off his fireworks. (Aaron set off about 1/2 of his as well. We'll do the rest here at home tonight.) It was a long day, finally getting home about 10:40, then having to carry in all the kids who were SOUND ASLEEP - but it was lots of fun!

I took a few pics up the canyon, but of course I still don't know how to get them off my camera, and if I wait to do this - who knows when I'll get back to it. so here it is without the pictures.

A little side note. I finally battled my facebook phobia and I reactivated my account (again, for the 3rd time) and I have left it activated for a whole week now. (the previous record for my account being activated was about 10 minutes) Am I amazing or what? I don't really 'get' it - the whole facebook thing, but I am there.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Super great science Party!!!!

I won't go into the whole story of how it came about - but suffice it to say that I have the GREATEST neighbors in the world! Fred and Christie are both Chemistry teachers at local High Schools and they volunteered to help put on a chemistry party for Aaron's birthday. (truth be told, Christie volunteered, and Fred good-naturedly went along with the crazy idea.)

The plan was for them to do about 30 minutes worth of "cool" demos - with "real" chemical stuff, and then the kids would do a bunch of hands on chemistry experiments with more kid-friendly type chemicals. (think baking soda and vinegar, mentos with diet coke, dry ice/balloon bombs, etc...) What happened, was that Fred and Christie ended up being the party! It was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. The demos went long, because they let the kids participate in most of the things. The kids thought it was "awesome! (Tim, Jenny, and I - the "grownups" also thought it was totally awesome!) I mean, seriously, how many parties do you go to where they light off an explosion right in your hand, you get to blow SQUARE bubbles, or hold a match and soon find your entire hand engulfed in flame - yet you don't get burned??? It really was incredible!!! You know it was fun - when we never got around to opening presents and nobody even noticed - not even the birthday boy! (He opened them after everyone had gone home.)

After the demos, the kids got to make their own "gak," and made their own "ice cream in a Ziploc baggie."

Here are a few of pictures from the party and a couple of the shorter videos. ENJOY - we sure did!

THANK YOU FRED AND CHRISTIE!
THANK YOU - THANK YOU - SO MUCH!
My amazing mad scientist neighbors

scientists in training


making ice cream (by tossing it back and forth)


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Tuesday's thoughtful tip

Yup, you guessed it, I'm combining them today. (I'm finding that if I actually take the time on Tuesday to post a "tip" (ya, all of two times now...) that it is really hard for me to take the time again on Thursday to be thoughtful - even if I do have some thoughtful kind of thoughts...)

So - here is the tip -


BE YOUR OWN BEST DOG!

or

Be the best YOU that YOU can be.

or

You aren't expected to be a hunting dog AND a hospital dog -
Just be what YOU were meant to be!

(you get the idea, use whatever words you want...)


and now, if you have more time to read, here is the story (the thought) behind it.

In church on Sunday, my friend Jenny shared some thoughts that I needed to hear. She was talking about her neighbor's dog, Cocoa, who is a "working dog." Cocoa has been trained and certified to go into hospitals and nursing homes to give love and comfort to people. (this is not Cocoa, but the same kind of dog and pretty much just as pampered, Cocoa is just more brown...)


The neighbor (Christine) had come with Jenny to a family dinner and in the course of the evening, Jenny's brother remarked that while Cocoa was very good at giving love and comfort to people, he would make a LOUSY hunting dog.


Jenny then paralleled how each of us in life is good at different things. While some of us are good at one thing, we aren't so good at something else. and vice verse. AND THAT IS OKAY!

Then Jenny and I were talking yesterday and I asked for her advice. I told her how frustrated I was that no matter how hard I try, I just can't keep on top of the housework. When the house actually does get picked up and looking nice (either by myself or the house cleaning help,) I just can't maintain it! It drives me crazy! She has 3 kids, and yet she is organized and her house always looks picked up and ready for people to walk right in. We talked about it for a while and I thought it was hilarious the direction the conversation went.
She tried to make me feel better by pointing out things that she struggles with but she thought I was good at. The first one she said was "good at managing money." I laughed right out loud! I hated to burst her bubble, but while I can MENTALLY understanding how to save money, I can't do it. I get totally stressed out when Tim and I have to discuss finances. Luckily Tim is EXCELLENT with money and he covers for me and is patiently trying to train me to be better.

Another thing that made me laugh was when she suggested that I might be extra critical of myself because I spend so much time with my friend Holly, who is an excellent housekeeper. Jenny said something along the lines of it might be discouraging to me to hang around with Holly because she was so "perfect." I just had to laugh, because I am good enough friends with Holly that I know that even though she IS a great housekeeper and super organized and she is an all around super great person - I also know the struggles and insecurities she has.

I guess it all comes down to the fact that what we see on the outside isn't necessarily what's really going on.

Just as Cocoa would never make it as a hunting dog, I don't know that I will ever make it as a super housekeeper. I am getting a little better, I think. And Tim and I are trying really hard to get the kids trained into some better habits, but it is slow going. and that is OKAY! We are moving in the right direction.

I just need to figure out what kind of "dog" I am, and then be the best I can at that!