Fun Fourth

I am utterly exhausted. Last year we began a tradition of having a Fourth of July cookout at my house. It works out beautifully as I have a decent sized back yard. We pitch in and buy fireworks, we have hamburgers and hotdogs. This year, we had my luxurious pool for the children. It was a life saver. Do you know how boring it can be for small children to sit around and wait for dark for the fireworks to be shot off? The pool helped a lot with the younger kids. Even the two new babies had fun.

The weather was cloudy and not hot. This made for wonderful cookout weather. Our state sells fireworks. Good fireworks. Dangerous even. I find that I can't resist the allure of setting off fireworks in the backyard. The kids love it. We lived in NC for years, and they don't sell anything more than firecrackers and sparklers. So we ate and listened to music until it got dark.

Last year we had a firework mishap. One of them tipped over and shot out everywhere. I really concerned about it so I made a "stabilizer" so that we would not have a repeat of last year's fiasco. What I didn't count on, was one of the fireworks being lit upside down. My sister did that. I won't say which one, in order to protect her identity. I realized it was upside down as soon as she lit it. Several thoughts ran through my head but the only thing I could scream was, "IT'S UPSIDE DOWN, SHE LIT IT UPSIDE DOWN!!!". No else realized the gravity of the situation. Once sparks started shooting everywhere I think everyone realized how dangerous it was.

Next year I will be checking for firework stability and I will implement a system to verify that the fireworks are being lit in an upright position. I should probably concede that fireworks are dangerous and give up my fireworks display. I won't for a couple of reasons. One is that I don't host a great deal of events at my house and I like the fairly new tradition of our Fun Fourth cookout/fireworks show. I love you people, but all of your admonitions and warnings will more than likely go unheeded. Thanks for trying though.

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My sister left out yesterday morning to drive to Ohio to pick up a van she bought from Ebay. Nick and Logan (her sons) stayed with me after the fireworks Friday night. Are any of you aware that 6 and 8 year old boys will wear you out? I didn't know. I have two girls. Saturday morning they let me sleep in. strike After everyone was awake and had breakfast, the boys wanted to get in my luxurious pool. Which they stayed in pretty much all day. My luxurious pool does work fabulously for entertaining young kids. When it was time for lunch, I made PB & J's and sliced apples for everyone. We had a picnic lunch on my back deck. I put a blanket down and we all ate outside. The kids thought this was the most wonderful thing ever. Then it was back in the pool for the remainder of the afternoon. Finally, when they were all exhausted, they came in and went in Keri's room to watch TV. I took advantage of this quiet time by going to Wal-Mart to pick up groceries.

I was so exhausted from our afternoon in the pool, I could barely manage to shop. I had to because I had five children in my house and NO FOOD. Not a good combination AT ALL. By the time I got the groceries home and unloaded, I could barely speak. I had picked up a couple of movies at Wal-Mart. Incidentally, did you know if you browse through the 5 dollar movie bin at Wally World you might actually find a movie you like? I found "A Series Of Unfortunate Events" for the kids and "Thelma and Louise" for us girls.

I spread blankets on the floor for the boys, turned on the movie, and within 20 minutes they were both asleep. Which was my ingenious plan all along....yeah, that's right. I planned it the whole time.

I am paying the price now for my weekend in the sun. My forehead, nose, shoulders, legs, and scalp are sunburned. Yes, I said my scalp. I applied sunscreen, but I think it was too late by then.

This pitiful blog has taken me days to compile, so I am kinda throwing everything in here. This weekend, all of "the sisters" and boyfriend/husband are traveling to our home state to visit relatives. Dejah and I and our respective children will be traveling in the van she bought. We are going to have a total of 8 traveling in the van down there, seven returning. I am curious to how this trip will play out with all of us traveling together.

I will TRY to keep my blog updated. Ben, Jeff, and Dad....hope to see you soon!