Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a high school about 11 rules kids should learn NOW because they won't learn them in school. I loved his ideas- I thought they were fearlessly true and entirely needed. I plan on keeping this list handy so I can teach my boys what they need to be successful adults (or at least not confused, angry, frustrated ones)!

Rule 1: Life isn't fair- get used to it!
Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule3: You will not make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice- president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is NOT beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it is not your parents fault. So don't whine about your mistakes learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to your talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winner and losers but life HAS NOT!
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you "find yourself"- do that on your own time!
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds- chances are you will end up working for one

My Mom and I have been doing quite a bit of blog swapping lately which I know can be annoying for readers of both blogs but I just couldn't resist sharing this video from her blog today. It made me smile and laugh and cry and feel good all over! It is a video of my niece Hazel- dancing! Not only is this little girl the cutest thing ever, she has such a sweet spirit! She is not even a year old yet and has already touched so many of our lives. We love her so much and appreciate her good nature and patience!

Wall-E was a surprising movie to me in many ways. I thought the animation was surprisingly good. And though it was surprisingly entertaining I have overall objections to childrens movies being used as a political platform. The movies message- care for the earth it is the only one we've got was a surprisingly good one and it is a message we all need to hear. I was surprised at how far Disney went to display what happened to the self-absorbed, self-gratifying humans in space. It was definitely worth the $1 we paid to see it but I am not sure yet if it is a keeper. What did you think?


I am a total Chronicles of Narnia fan- I think C.S. Lewis was an amazing man! The movie was true to the book with a few minor deviations. Over all I thought the acting, costumes and sets were suburb. The movie did expect some prior knowledge Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy and their experiences in Narnia. So if you have seen or read The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe lately it might be helpful to watch/ read it again before you see Prince Caspian. The battle scenes were more intense than I like but there was nothing to graphic or gross. And the bad guys were REALLY bad. I liked it though and will definitely add it to our family collection when it become available.


I really enjoyed both High School Musical and High School Musical 2. I thought both were pleasantly entertaining while delivering a timely, very needed message (it is cool to be good). The language was clean and all of the relationships appropriate- a movie I had no objections showing Spencer. Though I wasn't sure how much a 9 year old boy would enjoy the movies right now, I figured the teenage boys in it were acceptable role models if he ever decides he loves then and decides to watch them over and over and over again (in traditional Wadsworth fashion)! I would not be apposed to have these movies in our family DVD collection.

We had a total "double take weekend" because everything we did, we did twice! It has been crazy but fun! Here is look at what we've been up to the last 48 hours.

We went swimming twice

Once at Carney Park and once at the base near our house!

We went bowling twice Once for a birthday party and once with friends.

We rented and watched two movies
High School Musical One and Two

And we went to the movies twice
First we saw Wall-E and then Prince Caspian.

We did consider going to church twice tomorrow just to round things out but thought better of it! Hope you had a quite & relaxing weekend- that is what we are hoping for next time around!

For the last 10 months or so I have tried really hard not to mention much about the trash problem we have here in Naples- I figured that 1. talking about it won't make make the problem go away 2. It makes me mad (sad, frustrated, disguised etc.) every time I think about it and 3. you simply can not comprehend how bad it is until you have experienced. However... yesterday on our way to Carney Park we passed a section of road lined with garbage- it was rather stinky so I said to the boys, "Hey guys can you smell that stinky Naples air?" Spencer said, "Yeah Mom- its gross!" then he starts singing a "song" that he made up about the garbage. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry that he had noticed the problem enough to make up a song about it but I promised him I would blog about it anyway, so here it is!

Trash, Trash all over Naples,
Trash Trash all over Naples.
On the sidewalks, on the street,
Always under my two feet!
On the mountains, on the cars,
All the way from earth to mars!
You can find it everywhere
except in garbage cans!

(This is a picture of Spencer by the trash pile in front of our house. Believe it or not we live in one of the areas that is better about trash pick up than most! Scary, hu?)

Clearly Spencer has given the trash issues here a lot of thought!

This year Ross chose to have a pool party to celebrate turning 6- very appropriate for a July birthday don't you think? It was so fun! Here are a few pictures of Ross' special day.

Crazy, CRAZY kids! Notice the craziest are mine-
what is up with that?

This is a picture of Ross just about to enjoy one of his birthday cupcakes. Now I hate to toot my own horn but they there really cute cupcakes! They had blue icing (to look like water), crumbled crackers (to look like sand) and an orange starburst cut into the shape of a star (to look like a starfish). They were so cute!

Ross's Guests
April from School

Rayna and Evan
(who Ross thinks are more his friends than mine)!

And the big kids- Cole, Josh and Spencer.

In attendance but not pictured here Connor and Reese and all the Moms and Dads.

Because we celebrated Ross birthday on the 5 of July there were a handful for friends who were out of town and could not attend. We missed sharing the day with Jimmy, Stanton, Josh, and Jordan. And of course we missed sharing it with all of you!!

I have the greatest Mom on earth! She is kind and funny and talented and beautiful and generous and good! I love her more than words can express! She is not only my mom and teacher but my dearest friend.

When I was little mom used to ask me to sing her the song "I Often Go Walking" on Mother's Day and on her birthday. It has been a long while since I have sung it to her and since I want to sing it for her today but can't be there, I thought I would share the words to the song in her birthday post.

I often go walking in meadows of clover,
And I gather arm fulls of blossoms of blue.


I gather the blossoms the whole meadow over;
Dear Mother, the flowers remind me of you!



O Mother, I give you my love with each flower,
To give forth sweet fragrance a whole life time through;


For if I love blossoms and meadows and walking,
I learned how to love them, Dear Mother, from you!

Happy Birthday Mom!

We have two pet turtles- Oscar and Emily. They are so little and so fun! They live in the bidet in my bathroom (the perfect use for a bidet as far as I am concerned)! Here is a look at their current living conditions.