July 4th, 2009

We had a great 4th of July weekend!

Thursday night we took Kylie to gymnastics and then went bowling. There is some kind of a program in place that lets kids bowl free during the summer, and for about $24, I was able to add John, my parents and me on to also bowl for the whole summer. So we got to the bowling alley around 7:30 and Kylie and Josh bowled two games together and John, my mom and I bowled two games together. The kids are getting a lot better!

Friday we slept in a little (John and I were both off work) and just took it easy. I still wasn’t feeling well, and it was overcast, and just an overall lazy day. John had a lunch meeting to go to, so my parents graciously offered to help out with the kids while I took a nap. It ended up working out great…I put all three kids down for a nap and then I went in and took at nice two-hour nap. And my mom went and did the grocery shopping for the weekend’s festivities, which was a huge relief!

Saturday was overcast again :( but we still had fun playing outside and getting ready for our cookout. Our neighbors behind us were having an all-day party, so the kids spent most of the day over there and John and I popped over there a few times throughout the day. Joshie scared us to death while he was over there…he was eating a starlite mint and came over to us holding his throat and telling us he accidentally swallowed the mint. I wasn’t too concerned because he was obviously OK since he was talking to us. But then he kept telling us that it felt like it was still in there, and he was crying. I called my sister who thankfully assured me that the mint, if it was still in there, was slowly melting and that he would be fine. And sure enough, a few minutes later he was back to playing!

Later Saturday the on-duty police officers came over and we ate dinner. I made some shrimp skewers and a watermelon/cucumber salad and mom made macaroni salad. It was a great meal! After that John took the kids to the neighbors for s’mores and I put Ryan to bed, scrapbooked a little, and climbed into bed to watch TV. The kids came in and took baths and John slept with Josh up in his room and Kylie slept with me in my bed.

Sunday morning I woke up with my ear in excruciating pain. I waited until 9:00 AM and Kylie and I went over to Urgent Care. It turns out I have an ear infection :( I got my prescription and headed home. John and I made up a huge breakfast and my parents came over to join us. It was such a relaxing Sunday morning!

After naps we headed over to the church picnic (since we were having the picnic, there was no morning service, which was a nice break). The picnic was at the farm of one of the families and they had a huge tent set up, a couple bouncy-things for the kids, and a TON of food! We ate and played, and then we all gathered inside the tent for the service. Kylie and Josh got to sing the National Anthem in front of everyone by themselves! They both did a fantastic job! John and I were so proud of them! Then Kylie and I got to be part of a mock-up of “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” Patriotic edition. Let me tell you how dumb I felt! The other guy on our team knew all the answers for us (and he is still in school!). We won (thanks to him!) and got a nice basket full of all-American things – sparklers, an apply pie, a baseball and a matchbox Chevy truck.

The picnic finished up around 9:00 PM and we headed home. We got the kids into bed and watched a little TV before crashing ourselves.

It was a great weekend that of course, went by way too quickly!