A couple of weeks ago, Jack was asking me what the next holiday coming up was.
"The Fourth of July," I answered.
"No, but what's it called?" he asked.
"It's called the Fourth of July, buddy--" I replied, not sure what he meant.
"NO! What's it's name?" He was getting frustrated with his repeated request, and as I went to again answer "The Fourth of July," I thankfully remembered that it does, indeed, have a Proper Title.
"It's called Independence Day, Jack!"
At that point, he was satisfied, and I had to chuckle at the fact that I had to work hard to remember the proper name of what I've always called the Fourth of July.
So, here's the rundown of our Independence Day. Because Steve had to work, my parents picked up the rest of us that morning and took us to the local parade. It was a blast and I was glad to have something to do to celebrate the foundation of our country (other than hide in my house and try not to throw up while my kids ran around, that is).
On our way back to the car after the parade.
Maggie, digging in her bag for candy...
My siblings are always such wonderful helpers with my kids--I often feel guilty for how much they do for us, but then I remember my teenage years and all the babysitting I did for them, and feel a little more justified when I realize that my kids will be the "older" cousins who help with their kids. The Circle of Life as exhibited by a big family, amiright?
Molly and Maggie...there's something just so nostalgic about kids in wagons, isn't there?
Jack looks cranky here, but he loved the parade!
Smiles all around after the parade's over!
I've tried to teach my children respect for the flag of our country, and it made my heart happy when Jack not only stood up and put his hat on his heart for the beginning of the parade, but any time a float had a flag on it. I love this country.
Waiting for the parade to start!
Clark was a bit emotional, because although we were located only halfway through the parade route, most of the first floats in the parade had run out of candy by the time they reached us, and by halfway through the parade, he still hadn't gotten a single piece. He tried to have a good attitude about it, but I noticed at one point he was just sitting in his chair, crying, and it broke my heart. Thankfully, the later floats seemed to be better about their rationing, and he ended up getting a small handful of candy to put in his bag.
The night before the Fourth, our neighborhood put on a block party with food, friends, and fun. I was so glad they put it together--they had fireworks, games, water balloons, "The Sandlot" playing on a projector on our neighbor's shed door, and lots and lots of visiting. I truly enjoy being social, but when I'm morning sick like this, I forget that it's worth the effort it takes to, you know, get dressed and go outside occasionally.
I didn't take many pictures, but one of the games my friend Christie came up with was one where the kids all put shower caps on their heads, covered them with shaving cream, and then threw cheese balls at each other to see who could stick the most on. It was hilarious, and I had to take pictures of my kids!
Maggie's shaving cream melted too quickly for anything to stick, but she decided she'd rather eat her cheese balls than play with them, anyway.
Clark was pretty proud of his awesome hat--this picture was taken only moments before he managed to crash a neighbor kids bike, scrape up his knee, and go home for the night....but still, a success!
Jack decided he'd rather play with the shaving cream than keep it on his face. Funny kid....always has to do things with just a little touch of his own creative style.
The day before the Fourth, my family came over to help us in our yard. We got our sprinklers all functioning (again) and reseeded the back yard (we made the choice to let go on the yard while Steve was in nursing school, and EVERYTHING died except for our three fruit trees and pussywillows, which kind of turned into the overtaking Plant of Death and ended up growing taller than our house).
It feels SO good to be making some kind of progress on our yard again, even if it's not too noticeable yet, and we have a goal to spend a certain number of hours a week on the yard so that we can keep it maintained. Hopefully this round will survive my Black Thumb of death. I was talking to Steve the other day, frustrated about a plant I'd been trying to keep alive, and I said, "I'm just not sure what I did wrong!"
Steve smirked and said, "Did you, at any point, touch this plant? Well, there ya go."
Jack was great about helping, and while he was digging around, he found a lizard! He called it Larry and begged me to take a picture of it:
Because I grew up with a science teacher for a dad who showed me the proper way to hold snakes, lizards, and other reptilian animals, I've always enjoyed reptiles. I'm fully aware of the fact that I'm probably rather unusual in this area, but I had fun holding the lizard and showing Jack where his skin was coming off as he grew a new one underneath, where his tail had broken off at the tip, and how their blood doesn't stay warm the way ours does.
So, between yard work, lizard catching, barbecues, and parades, our Fourth of July was a pretty decent one. How was yours?
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