4th of July

One might think that I love this holiday because it is so close to my birthday. But I think last year I realized why I subconsciously don't love it. It overshadows my birthday and often my friends are out of town for my birthday because of it. Selfish, aren't I? But, as with any holiday, I like to go all festive and at least wear the colors. I encouraged my family to do so as well. We planned to do our neighborhood parade in the morning, but I was secretly happy we got invited to breakfast at a friends home so we didn't have to melt in the heat. This picture was taken in their home--aren't we festive?

Alyssa's dress is short--from last year, but we put some shorts underneath and voila--just fine. Tyler is in his blue tie dye shirt (though it looks lavender), Cali in the only red-ish thing she has with a blue pattern and red stripe at the top, and I love what Matthew changed into when I suggested he put on something red or blue. Transformers--that works! Though the verticle picture didn't make the cut, I wanted to show Linda that I wore the shoes she gave me last year as a part of my 3oth birthday extravaganza.

We ate yummy pancakes, sausage, bacon, fruit, and juice. I LOVE a good breakfast! We came home and worked on our bathroom. I say we, but I really mean Michael. I will do a whole post on it when its' all done, but here is just a sneak peek. Most of the work Michael did on Friday the 3rd, but a few hours spent on Saturday, too. That blue bucket is where the toilet normally resides.

In the afternoon, we met up with some friends at their pool and swam for 2 hours. One must swim on the 4th of July, right? Cali slept in the shade of a tree in her carseat the entire time. It was amazing! Though I feel I was hydrated and all sunscreened up, I left with a bit of a headache. The water made me sea sick--it was weird. We came home and opted to do our own little family bbq instead of a big crowded party. I'm so glad we did because I was worn out. We had a "picnic" on our family room floor and ate watermelon and charred hot dogs--just how I like 'em. We briefly discussed what we celebrated on July 4th, the birthday of our nation. How we are blessed to live in a free land.

Although I could have gone to bed at 8pm, when some friends down the street called us last minute to come watch their fireworks with them, I told Michael we had to do it. The kids were a tad disappointed that we didn't purchase any, and we have to take advantage of the 2 times a year to watch them, right? Especially since we didn't have to pay for them:) Cali did very well at her first fireworks show. We went for about 45 minutes, and Matthew had a manoeuvre (Michael's French spelling) that was very impressive plugging both ears and both nostrils at the same time with his hands.

With a headache when I went to bed, I hoped I would wake up refreshed with it gone in the morning. Instead I woke up at 2am and had to make a run to the toilet. I'll just leave it at that. TMI? Oh well, this is my story:) Tylenol, water, and a carrot allowed me to wake up pain free.

Today at church, the bread for the sacrament was a tad bit late, so we got to sing an assortment of patriotic songs while we waited. As I held the book for Matthew to sing along, I asked if he knew what a "Star Spangled Banner" was. He said no, and I felt bad that we hadn't done a decent review of the holiday the day before. "Well," I said, "It's the American Flag." Long may it wave...stifling my birthday and all.

(It's possible that a purging of posts is upon us, so stay tuned.)