Guest blog by Rachel Akers 
In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout of a super villain.
Steve Carell stars in Despicable Me as Gru, a villain whose main goal is to go down as history’s number one bad guy. Past evil plans have not worked out so well for him so Gru decides he needs to reach for the moon.
With his army of faithful yellow minions, underground lair and even his trusty car-plane, Gru sets out to steal the moon, literally. To get the moon the size of a grapefruit he needs a special shrink ray. Enter the villainous rival, Vector (Jason Segel). Gru plans to steal Vector’s shrink ray and use it to steal the moon.
Along the way Gru adopts a trio
of lovable orphan moppets from a girl’s home to use in his evil scheme. But slowly the girls start to see something in Gru that he never knew was there. The ability to be a dad. By the end of the film, Gru has warmed up to the girls and learns that as long as you have love, you really don’t need anything else.
There is no arguing that Despicable Me is a kids adventure movie complete with rocket ships, shrink rays, tea parties and dolls. But while catering to children it is entertaining to adults alike. Showing that even the bad guys have redeeming qualities. Despicable Me does contain a little bit of toilet humor.
Despicable Me stars Steve Carell, Jason Segal, Russell Brand and Julie Andrews. It is rated PG with a running time of 95 minutes.
Author Byline
Rachel Akers
Rachel Akers is a full time stay at home mom and the owner of the blog Yellow Tennessee. She blogs about life, deals and saving money.
This week, July 18 – 24, is National Parenting Gifted Children Week. In an effort to raise awareness, The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) has outlined a number of 
Some gifted students share two qualities. They’re curious and gifted with their hands. As a result, you might find them taking your cell phone apart, studying it, and attempting to put it back together. Meanwhile, their friends are playing with stuffed animals. Don’t get mad. Try to find ways to satisfy their curiosity and mechanical prowess. Try out this 
There are always days during the summer where it feels like it’s hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk, but can we, in fact, actually do it?
When I was young, I often tried my mother’s patience with the common phrase, “I’m bored.” If mom had answered, “Why don’t you train for a 
If you’re not triathlon-savvy, here’s a quick overview of how they work. The race is split into three parts: swimming, biking, and running (in that order). Before you start imagining your child staggering though a desert, forced to drink cactus juice just to finish, triathlons for kids are actually quite doable. The length of each race is custom fitted to the age group your child is in. It will still take quite a bit of discipline and training, but if you’re looking for bonding experiences, how cool would it be to swim, bike, and run regularly with your son or daughter?
If you’re interested, find the closest kids tri to you. You can go to 
Jesse and Jon are two normal guys that have decided to train for a triathlon. They, along with seasoned marathon runner and triathlete Graham and their coach, a physical trainer named Danah, are blogging about their progress at 
Go on nature walks. 
hoofed animals, you have a source of manure. If not, kitchen scraps that are not from meat or fat can be used. Layers of weeds and manure or scraps can be made, or laid on an existing compost pile. The child can have a small one that he or she can turn and monitor until it becomes rich compost. This compost can then be returned to the garden so the cycle can start again.
Move on to how those elements get into soil, and how soil is formed. A hands on lesson can involve the gathering of the soil needed for the test. Shovel a little dirt from five or six sites and allow the child to mix it with his or her hands. Then let them pack the soil into the sample bag.
pounds of element per 1,000 square feet. Fertilizer usually comes in 40 pound sacks that only have a percentage of the element in them, with the rest being carrier. You can cover fractions and multiplication while figuring out how much of the bag to spread to meet the recommendations. You can go to the Tulsa Master Gardeners 
Stephanie Suesan Smith, Ph.D. is a master gardener, photographer, and writer in Texas. You can see her photographs and read her work at 
With the warm weather here, you’re probably cleaning out your swimming pool and pulling out the patio chairs. As kids get out on summer break and the days get longer and hotter, it’s the perfect time to plan a 
friends or coworkers have brought someone you’ve never met to your summer bash. If you haven’t been introduced to someone you see inside your home during the party, now is the time to do so. If someone has slipped in unbeknownst to the host or guests, everyone might assume that they are there with someone else, and they will be free to rob small valuables left lying around, as well as scope out your home for a future robbery.
Finally, if you do have a backyard pool, it is your duty as the homeowner to keep your guests safe around it. Even if the pool is off-limits for swimmers during the summer bash, the possibility still exists for someone to fall in. A 
certainly an enjoyable occasion, but the night could take a sudden turn if you return indoors to find that you’ve been robbed while you were on the patio entertaining your guests. Whenever you have a large number of people in your home, be mindful of the security threat that this presents, and take the necessary precautions.
Guest Blog by Tara Shaw, a mother of three happily living in Austin, Texas.Tara was born in England and moved to USA in 1998. Together with her husband James she started the 
