If Only It Were True

As Josiah was watching me stir in the ingredients to our family favorite Ghiradelli Double Chocolate Brownies, he eagerly informed me that, "See, Momma, brownies ARE good for you because they have water as an ingredient and water is very good for you."

What Would You Do?

On Tuesday morning, while my mom and dad were at work, their home was broken into. After completely ransacking the computer room and my mom and dad's bedroom, the theives took off with the computer, digital camera (a week before my parents are coming here to visit and will most definitely want to take about 100 pictures), and most of my mom's jewelry. My mom may have actually interrupted their quest because the stereo was lying on the floor in the living room...who knows. The police came out and got some really great fingerprints and a perfect palm print from the window they broke to enter the house. I sure hope they find who did this!!!!

As my mom entered the house, she didn't initially notice anything....that is until she went to turn on the tv (to fox news, her favorite channel :)), and it wouldn't turn on. Thats when she looked closer and notice the stereo. Thinking it was a little strange, she began to search the rest of the house. She entered the first bedroom, my brother's old room, and thats when she knew something was wrong. The comforter on the bed was lifted up, drawers were open, and I believe that was the room with the broken window. She continued through the house until she got to the two rooms that were an awful mess. Now, let me pose this question to you. Would you, like my crazy but very strong and brave mother, begin searching the house, or would you do like I would do and get the friggin heck out of there immediately upon the observation that something was not right. My husband and my sister would wimp out like me. What would you do?

Express Your Creativity

I posted the other day about Jacob's "Day of the Arts" event that his school hosted last week. Here are two paintings that Alex "won" in the silent auction. (I'm sure its no surprise that every parent goes home with his/her child's artwork :))





Jacob's school does an awesome thing by getting the students' artwork framed for this occasion and it makes it look so nice. They really are a special group of people, for so many reasons!

So, what would you name each piece of art?

Decisions, Decisions

Yesterday, Friday June 20, was a very eventful day for the Aaron clan. It was Josiah's last day of kindergarten and his school had planned a fun-filled "Field Day" to celebrate the completion of another school year and parents were invited to attend. Well, Alex and I already had plans to attend "A Day of the Arts" at Jacob's school, where they have a silent auction at the students' "art gallery" and they were to perform "The Wizard of Oz." Assuming that Josiah would be distracted by relay races and obstacle courses, I really didn't think he would mind if Alex and I were absent from his festivities. I was wrong. On Thursday evening, when I informed Josiah that his dad and I would be going to Jacob's school the next day, he look disappointed...but not for long because he had a "great idea." It went something like this:

(said with much enthusiasm) "Momma, I have a great idea! You and Daddy can
split up tomorrow. One of you can go to my school and one of you can go to
Jacob's school. And since Daddy has already been to my school this week, I
think he should go to Jacob's school and you should go to my school. And then
Daddy can tell you what happened at Jacob's school and you can tell him what
happened at my school."

How in the world can you argue with that logic. And the clincher was when he informed me that he would feel left out if eveyone else's parents were there and his weren't. Well, needless to say I attended "Field Day" with Josiah and it was alot of fun. Although I was a little disappointed that I missed Jacob's play (I was really looking foward to watching 40 autistic kids perfom "The Wizard of Oz" :)), I know I made the right decision. I would never want to let one of my children down. The sacrifices we make as parents... :)

Those Stinkin Ticks!

Well, today Alex took Josiah in to see his doctor because I thought he had ringworm and his school nurse thought he had conjunctivitis. We were both wrong. The rash he has is due to the fact that he actually has Lyme Disease and his eye issues were due to allergies. Little did I know that Lyme Disease is very prevalent in Southern New England. I now officially hate ticks!

Being raised in Arkansas, and having large outdoor dogs, and having acres of woods as my backyard, ticks were an everyday experience for me. Didn't think anything of pulling a tick off myself. I didn't have anything against them. Well, actually I do remember getting mad at a tick once, but didn't want to kill it. I wanted to torture it, so I attempted to burst its eardrums by holding it right up to my mouth and yelling really loud. :) (Mom, are you laughing out loud right now?) So, I guess maybe I have never liked ticks, after all. And now that one has infected my baby, I am not a happy camper.

Does anyone have any knowledge or have any experience with Lyme Disease? I am so hoping we caught it early enough that Josiah won't have any lasting effects.

My Gold Medalist

When I was around 10 years old I had convinced myself that I was going to be competing in the 1988 Summer Olympic Games as a gymnast. Shortly after, I decided that spending 5 days/week at the gym for hours at a time was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to do other things (and hence becoming the jack of all trades, master of none, that I am). So those 7 years of gymnastics training went right down the tubes. But little did I know that I would someday have a son who would compete in the greatest "games" of all....the Special Olympics. Jacob competed today in his 3rd Olympics and came home with a gold and silver medal. He may not realize exactly what he has accomplished, but he makes Alex and I so proud. Watching these kids compete is an absolutely amazing experience. We enjoy it so much. If I wasn't so paranoid about putting pictures of my kids online, I would post a video of Jacob doing the 50 meter "stroll." (there was not much dashing involved :))Take my word for it...he was the cutest competitor there!

Plans, Anyone?

With gas prices now at a record high $4.00/gallon, anyone have any fun special trips planned for the summer? (too bad ya'll can't hear the sarcastic tone in my voice) The horribly sticky hot weather over the last couple of days reminds me of summers in Arkansas, which reminds me of the lake, which reminds me of camping, which reminds me of family, which reminds me of fun times, which reminds me that fun times cost money, which reminds me that all of mine is going into my gas tank. Good thing my parents are coming here in a couple of weeks, cause I don't think we will be going anywhere this summer thats not necessary. (do you sense the pitty party? :)) Hope it cools off some though. My mom and dad are not used to the New England "no central air" way of life. We're gonna have so much fun, though, no matter how hot it is, and no matter how much we'll be paying for gas by then. I can't wait!

Go Figure!

Josiah's kindergarten class has been studying nature over the last few weeks. They actually have a greenhouse right outside their classroom where they planted marigolds for us moms for Mother's Day. And in studying nature, there has been an emphasis on protecting our environment. I have been told on a number of occasions recently that my Dr. Pepper can or my plastic cup does not belong in the trash. Let's just say Josiah has become the recycle police.

So, becoming a better steward of God's creation is something that has been on my mind lately, and many things that are bad for our environment are also bad for our bodies. So, ironically, the other day I was spraying some Clorox Cleanup on my kitchen counter. It was almost all gone, so I opened it up and poured some directly onto the counter. Inhaling the fumes caused my chest to hurt and I wheezed all night long. So, the next day I went to my favorite place, Target, and bought some all natural "green" multi-purpose cleaner. I felt so good using this product, knowing that my kids were not inhaling harmful fumes, until Alex brought something to my attention. He informed my that he, on occasion, will use a handy cleaning product to spray insects that he sees around the house. The Clorox Cleanup didn't phase those puppies, but my wonderful "green" product killed them instantly. Go figure! Anyone know of a natural cleaning product that won't strike an ant dead in a split second? :)

Just Listening

The other day I overheard Josiah teaching Micah about compound words and the 3 parts to an ant (they are the head, thorax, and abdomen in case you didn't know). Josiah is convinced that he will be an astronaunt when he grows up, but he's definitely got the desire to teach his brother everything he knows. I just love to listen to that interaction.

I also love to hear Micah's reaction when Jacob goes to the bathroom. He, so sincerely, yells out, "YEAH! Jacob pee pee on potty. Good job, Bub!" Its so sweet!

And on that note, one other sound that I love to hear is the toilet flushing...meaning that Jacob is independently, on a REGULAR BASIS, going to the bathroom (#1) on his own. There have been times that I thought this would never happen and he proved me wrong.

And one of the greatest sounds of all is the laughter of my three children when they are chasing one another, wrestling with each other, and just enjoying one other.

Sometimes its so refreshing to just sit back and listen.