Happy 4th of July!

Okay. I am not changing the name. I am apparently completely unable to do anything as drastic as change the name of my blog. As much as the name seems to mock my inability to sit down and write a novel, I have become attached to it and nothing else sounds right. So I will apparently live in infamy as "The Storytelling Mommy"...you know, the one that dreams about writing something worthwhile and instead blogs. ;-)

A lot has been going on around here, as usual! The 4th of July weekend was absolutely insane. My nephew Jackson was celebrating his 6th (what??) birthday that Saturday, so Colin and I spent the weekend in Tyler. We were there Friday through Sunday and got home just in time to go to sleep and then wake up for a big 4th filled with awesome stuff! We met Jer's parents bright and early for a 4th of July parade in their neighborhood and it was so much fun. We went back to their house and Colin played with the slip-n-slide while I marveled that I once threw myself down on one of those without breaking all my bones. A long time ago. After a great lunch, we headed home so that I could make up a couple of dishes for an impromptu evening with friends. Kim's parents, Barb and Dave, had some friends over and we stopped by. I really have come to think of that whole family as part of mine! :-) Colin had a blast and I actually managed to take ZERO pictures, either at Jackson's party or the 4th of July with Kim. I guess I needed a camera break. Anyway, we had such a great weekend!

As we drove home that night, we decided on a whim to pull over and buy some sparklers for Colin. It was a rural road and we pulled in to the first place we saw. The sun was going down on the day and Colin was already in his pajamas in the back of the car. He asked for "fireworks", and so he shall have! ;-) It was the cutest little place with families and kids buying stuff and even a litter of puppies being offered for free just running around the place. Colin was very serious about what color sparklers he wanted. GREEN AND GOLD. It turned into one of those little moments I will treasure one day when Colin is a man...I will always remember him in his turtle pajamas, half asleep already, but jumping up and down for sparklers. I will always remember that he was so worried about those puppies running away and how he wanted to make sure the other kids were holding them out of the way before we started the car. I will always remember how excited he was just to be with his family and doing something special. What a perfect day!

Here are Daddy and Colin getting ready for the show. Colin is going to ride in the golf cart with Jer's parents in the parade!


Colin's best case scenario: Cops, firetrucks, and military machines. He was beside himself over it!
This is SO cute of them getting ready to head out on the parade route! Colin was seriously into it!

Just a cute chat with Mom Mom. At our afternoon party, I got a couple of cute shots of the boys eating their spread of cookies, yogurt and cotton candy.


And last, but not least...my little man and his wonderful sparklers! Happy 4th of July!!

4th of July 2010!

I can't believe that today is Thursday...I feel like I am just now recovering from our giant 4th of July weekend. We started the fun on Friday morning with our weekly playdate and things did not slow down until Monday night! We met at Eren's house on Friday and she had the kids wear their red, white and blue. She even had an adorable art project for the boys; they decorated American flags with star stickers. I was blown away at how quickly the boys sat down and got quiet...it was so cute! Apparently, crafts are the way to go from now on! The kids played while the moms got a chance to chat. We stuffed all the boys on the couch for a group picture, which turned out surprisingly well, considering that we are talking about a bunch of barely 3 year olds. At least they are all sitting there! I got several cute shots of Colin and his buddies.

Colin and Jack being adorable. They were cracking each other up!

Colin and Hayden working on their flag projects. It was serious work!

Colin and Ryan working on their flags...you can tell that Colin was floating the room? ;-)

Here is the group shot! From left; Anders, Jack, Greyson, Colin, Ryan (holding Woody in back) and Hayden. Colin loves his friends!

This last picture cracks me up, although it is unfortunately a fuzzy shot. Colin, Jack, Ryan and Hayden all have birthdays within the same month and they were having a great time singing happy birthday to themselves and blowing out the "candles" on a toy cake. This is going to sound so funny, but I grew up with a group of very popular and handsome boys who also shared birthdays around each other. They had a group party every year, which was always a GIANT bash at our local country club pool. I swear this event got bigger every year. They called themselves "The Bad Bad Birthday Boys" (hello 1988!) and for some reason I still remember those parties like it was yesterday...probably because I thought they were all so "hot". ;-) Anyway, when I first saw this picture, I thought about that memory. It looks like we have our own set of bad birthday boys!

On Saturday, it poured down rain all day, which really put a damper on my original fun ideas. We decided to make a trip to the Asian market for dumplings and shopping, which was a blast as always. Colin LOVES that place!! He adores the seafood section to the point that I am worried about what he will do when he realizes that those lobsters and crabs are actually for eating! HA! Afterwards, we hit our first fireworks stand with Colin and he thought it was pretty awesome. We purchased a ton of sparklers and poppers. Colin came home and promptly threw every single popper that we bought in the backyard. It was so much fun to watch...he was throwing them down and stomping on them forever! Jer supervised, although Colin got the hang of it immediately. That night, we lit his first sparkler, which he looooved. It was a wonderful day!

I wanted to attend the fireworks show that evening, but it sadly got rained out. Sunday was the 4th and we got up bright and early to begin prep. I made stuffed strawberries to take to the lunch BBQ we were attending at our friend Dave's house and watermelon-cucumber salad to take to our evening party at Kimberly's parents house. Colin had a great time at Dave's house...we swam, ate, and Colin played endlessly with Dave's daughter. We were late leaving there and missed dinner at our other party, but we had a GREAT time regardless! We were in plenty of time to swim with all of our best friends AND we got to set off small fireworks in their cul-de-sac. I was very shocked to see that Colin loved the fireworks! With all the noise, I was certain that he would turn and go back inside, but he thought it was awesome. Nathan was setting them off and Colin kept trying to "help" him do it! He did hold his ears several times, but never got too scared and really enjoyed himself. After one pretty awesome round, a police car pulled up. OOPS! Colin and his buddy Jack were thrilled with the arrival and went out to see the officer and check out the car. I am pretty sure that their adorable faces are the only reason that we did not get a ticket. ;-) That ended the show and we hit the road soon afterwards. Colin passed out in the car and did not even stir when I carried him to his bed. What a perfect day!

Colin eating a very American spread at Dave's house...ribs, corn and watermelon! :-)

Jumping to Dad!

Jer, Dave and Colin, all looking very handsome! :-)

watching the fireworks with Jer and Kimberly's dad, Dave

Colin "helping" Nate set off the fireworks!

Colin and Daddy with our favorite little man, Pierce

Group shot of the girls and some of the kiddos...Lindsey, Eren and Jack, Kayrene and Ryan, me and Colin, Kim, Hayden and Piercy J!

Ready to party!

The firework that brought the police! ;-) You know it's not a party until the police show up!

We woke up on Monday and headed straight over to the rainforest water park for swimming with the whole gang. Jack's actual birthday was that day, and all the families got together there for a picnic and swim. We virtually collapsed when we got home...it was a busy and wonderful holiday weekend!! The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays and I feel so blessed that we got to celebrate with so many of our wonderful friends!

Fourth of July Weekend in Pictures

There were so many wonderful moments from our weekend caught on my camera! Our whole family had the most wonderful time! The photo above was taken at my parents curb. My dad had flags lining the whole house. It looked beautiful and Colin loved it! Below is the mess of iced brownie at Mom Mom and Pop Pop's house. He started his holiday off with a bang!

My beautiful twin sisters at Jackson's birthday and 4th of July bash. Meredith (left) is 7 months pregnant. So technically this picture is of Alieson, Mert AND Pryce. :-)

The BEST NEPHEW OF ALL TIME, Jackson. He had a great time at his big party!

Colin being all-American with his hot dog!

Colin taking charge at my dad's office. I love this picture more than any I have taken in a long time. My dad has been in this particular office for...I don't know...25 years? I used to show up there several times a week after school to ask for $20. :-) It is like a second home to me and seeing Colin in that seat smiling like that is so precious. Look at that grin!

Colin answering Duke's phone. He has wonderful leadership skills.

Colin and Mama enjoy the pool.

Duke and Colin share some ice cream. This was pretty much the highlight of BOTH their afternoons. Colin adores his Duke...he has been saying, "MOM! DUKE'S HOUSE!!" ever since we got home.

Hanging out with the best husband and daddy in the whole world!

Colin fresh and ready to go on the 4th! Such a dapper little man!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

I am writing tonight from the living room of my parents house...worn out and a little sunburned, but happy as can be. We have had such a special 4th of July this year and I wanted to be sure to post on the actual day, even though the pictures will have to wait until we get home. I have a LOT of good ones to share, but left our USB cable at home. We came to my hometown to celebrate Jackson's 4th birthday...we thought it was pretty cool to celebrate his "4th on the 4th". :-) His actual birthday was Wednesday and his party was today. Meredith and Cory threw a big bash at their pool and clubhouse and Colin had an absolute blast. There was lots to eat, lots of cake, and lots of swimming. Jer and Cory spent the entire time in the pool throwing Colin and Jackson all over the place, which was both adorable and scary at the same time. ;-) Meredith looked entirely too skinny for a woman who is 7 months pregnant and even wore a bikini. She is that woman who manages to look like a super model with a basketball belly. My sisters are really too much at times. :-) We had so much fun at the party and finally had to drag Colin home for a nap close to 3pm. This was WAY past his nap time and he fell asleep before I could get him all the way in the bed! It was crazy and wonderful. I guess the key is to spend hours in the pool getting thrown all over creation by your dads. We all took a rest and then regrouped for a quick dinner at Spring Creek. We decided at the very last minute to try to take Colin for fireworks and ended up watching a wonderful display right here at my parents house!!! WHO KNEW?! The country club not far from our neighborhood was putting on a show and we watched it from down the street. I still can't believe we were trying to find out where to go and it was right here all along! The show was great and Colin thought it was AMAZING. It was his very first fireworks display and he stopped what he was doing to watch, point, ohhh and ahhh, and make sure we were all watching too. It was precious. After a quick bath, Colin is now snugly sleeping and we are joining him! We are totally exhausted, but what a wonderful 4th! Our whole family together in one spot just celebrating! As it should be!! :-) Happy Birthday, America!!

SLIDE POOL!

Jer is on vacation this week and we have been having a great time! Yesterday we packed in some bouncing at Boomerang's, lunch at Empress of China and a trip to the slide pool after dinner. I was bound and determined to get pictures of Colin coming down this slide...you have never seen a more excited boy! I managed to get a couple of cute ones, but it is really hard to take pictures of people flying down a water slide. Colin continues to have ZERO fear of water. The first time he went down, Jer arched his back and laid all the way down on the slide, thus turning it into a luge. They flew down the slide and both Jer and Colin went all the way under water at the end. I was certain Colin would come out screaming (it was rather scary to watch!) but he just wiped the water out of his eyes and yelled, "MORE!". How cute are these boys?!

Below are a couple of pictures from Boomerang's. The lighting in those bounce houses makes for bad quality pictures, but Colin is adorable none the less. He seems remarkably bigger this week to me...I think he may have hit a growth spurt. He seems slimmer and much taller at the moment. I can't wait for his two year appointment later this month for the official stats. Today has been fun, with the exception of the 100 degree heat. We bought Jackson's birthday present (he is FOUR YEARS OLD today! I love you, sweet nephew!) and had lunch at Five Guys Burgers. It was delicious and Colin loved it so much that he actually stayed in his seat and ate for longer than 30 seconds, which is a miracle. Anytime I finish a meal at the table in the restaurant is cause for celebration. This afternoon we are having a pre-4th of July swim and dinner at Jer's parents house and tomorrow we are heading to my parents for Jackson's party and 4th of July weekend. This is a very busy and happy week!

4th of July Weekend Wrap Up and the BEST DAY!

I can't believe that it is already Sunday night...this holiday weekend went by WAY too fast! My mom and sister Alieson came in on Friday and spent the weekend with us. Our 4th of July was peaceful and uneventful...we took Colin to the pool with his Aunt Alie and had some fun in the sun. Jer made his famous burgers on the grill for dinner and my mom bought our favorite blueberry pies on her way here and we feasted on them all night! My poor dad had to work all weekend long and we missed him. Yesterday we all went to Mercado Juarez for lunch and then drove around looking at houses that none of us can afford. :-) Today....ah today. Today was the single best day that I can remember having in forever. My sweet mother basically kicked me out of the house all day long. I have been needing to run some errands and have been putting them off because they were tough to accomplish with Colin in tow. She told me that she wanted time alone with Colin without me in the way and to get lost. ;-) She even gave me a little stash of spending money as a special present and told me to enjoy myself. I have the greatest mother on the planet. I left the house at 10:30am and headed out. I first parked myself in a bookstore and spent over an hour walking around the entire store, reading the backs of every single book I could get my hands on. The bookstore is sacred ground to me...it is where I find my own inner peace...books as far as the eye can see!! I can't honestly remember the last time I got to mill around a bookstore with no time restraint. I walked each aisle slowly and devoured the experience. I only bought a single book, but it was probably the most therapeutic thing I have done in a year. I left there and headed out to several other shops looking for something cute, comfy and inexpensive to wear to Colin's birthday party. It was wonderful to meander around the stores at my own pace. Typically, I ended up looking at things for Colin instead of me, but it felt like heaven to search slowly through the baby clothes without the little man trying to climb out of his stroller about 30 seconds into the first store. :-) After my shopping trip, I met my sister for lunch at La Madeline, which is one of my favorite places EVER to eat. Then we went together and had...get this...A PEDICURE!!!!!!!!!! I used to get pedi's ever three weeks before I had Colin. I was addicted to them and when we were childless, it was just something I did to unwind from work. I have not had one since the week before Colin was born. It was AMAZING! I did not get home until 3:45!!! I seriously don't think that I needed anything more than the day I had today. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I have not had a day to myself since Colin's birth. I realized today how much I need time for me. It felt so good just to...be. Several hours where I was not watching out for someone else...just existing. I did not realize that I was so tightly wound until I was in that bookstore...and I felt the stress sliding away. I see now that in order to take good care of Colin, I need to take care of me, too. I am going to force myself to take one Saturday or Sunday a month and schedule time for me. At least one afternoon where I can walk around a library or bookstore...just some time to myself to allow my mind to slow down. I don't know really how to put it into words or make sense of what I felt today. It is hard to explain. When you spend all your time taking care of an infant, you are "on" every second. It is wonderful, but exhausting on a level beyond the physical. I did not realize how "on" I had been until I was alone today and was able to turn that off for a few hours. I feel refreshed in a way that sleep does not touch. I can't really think of another way to explain it, but it was amazing. I love my mom so much for taking such good care of me and my family. I would never have been able to justify spending money on a pedicure and she knew that when she gave me the present of today. I love her so much.