Weekend of the 4th

Our fun weekend started Friday, the day that we celebrated Will being in our family for three whole years. What a fun day he had!! A day that he had to do no work (just like a birthday) and all day long he was able to play and play and play.

That morning he received a new-to-him pedal tractor (it used to be Jason's) which put him on cloud nine. He kept that thing busy all day.

Though it aparently had some mechanical issues that had to be fixed pretty early in the day.

He got his requested bobcat cake....and I was very thankful that he could tell what it was without any hints. :) Never a good feeling if you spend a couple hours decorating a cake and then have to drop gigantic hints to your child so they can figure out what it is.

And his daddy was even kind enough to give him the piece with the bobcat on it.

The next day Jason was home all day (which we absolutely love!!) and in the evening we hung out in the kitchen. We being Addie, Jack, and I. Jason was outside working and Will was in bed due to growing enough arms to officially make him a crab. Something about birthdays/family days wipes our children out.

Jack has learned the best way to cool off when in an un-air-conditioned house. Don't feel bad for us. It's our choice. We have a window unit that we could put in, but we kind of prefer the open windows and the breeze that we catch since we sit up on a hill.

Saturday is also the day that I messed up and informed the children that in a couple days we would be going to see fireworks. I'm learning, slowly, that I must not tell them anything in advance or they will quit sleeping. That, and they will also drive me crazy with the constant, "Is today the day we get to go to fireworks?"

Sunday was church and the afternoon with some friends. Oh, and it's also the day that we got to go to Dairy 'Clean' to receive my free birthday blizzard. If you've never signed up for the Dairy Queen birthday club, do it today. They'll send you a buy one get one free coupon for a blizzard every year for your birthday.

Oh. And Sunday started out with this. I learned that leaving a nearly two year old to eat cereal unattended is not a wise idea. Shower immediately followed.

Monday morning I expected the children to sleep in. Didn't work. Addie was sitting on the couch when we got up at 6:30, bouncing around, wondering when we were going to see the fireworks. Major disappointment when she found out that fireworks wouldn't be happening til well after normal bedtime that night.

Will came giggling down the steps about 6:45 begging to wear a certain shirt to the fireworks. More disappointment when the news was broke.

And then last night the long awaited show took place. The children were giddy with excitment. Addie and Will bounced around in their carseats the best they could the whole way there.....and as a result so did Jack. He can't be left out.

We walked quite a distance and finally arrived at the 'family spot'. Two of my brothers help with setting off the fireworks and as a result their families get front row seats. Being the kind sisters that they are, they allow the rest of us to hang out there with them.

We waited for about thirty minutes before the show began...and took advantage of the time to snap a most lovely family photo. We always take one on June 20th, the day we became a family of four, but this year we forgot. Plus. The last family pic we took was when we were still in Russia. It'd been a whole five months.

The fireworks were spectacular. However, three of our children (that would be all of them) were not so impressed. At least to start with. Addie, who had been sitting on Grandma's lap, suddenly appeared to sit on Daddy's lap. She was wrapped up in a blanket and it took some coaxing to get her to uncover her eyes. Will, who remembered crying the entire show out last year, had declared all day that he wasn't going to cry. And he didn't. However, he DID say that he was ready to go home about three minutes after they started. Jack, who was sitting with Jason when they started, dove to my lap and shivered and shook for the first ten minutes. As long as his thumbs were in his mouth and I kept his ears covered he was okay. But they were too bright and after so many times of shutting his eyes, he simply kept them shut and fell asleep.

We were thinking that perhaps we should've just stayed home.

Suddenly, though, Addie uncovered her eyes and started to enjoy them. Will loosened his grip and started exclaiming how 'nice' they were.....and finally went to sit with Grandma. So brave. We stayed and all enjoyed.

And once again we were reminded of how thankful we should be that we live in the US.