4th of July 2012

We had a great 4th of July this year. The day was packed with fun stuff, but it somehow felt very relaxed as well. We didn't plan anything really until last minute, which in days past would have stressed me out, but just going with the flow really made for a fun, relaxed day.

A few days before the 4th, Mariah started decorating. My kids know if they want anything holiday-ish, they probably need to do it themselves.

We decided to venture out to the city Libery Festival. We were a little hesitant with our girls to head into unknown levels of noise, crowds, chaos, and excitement. We were so glad we did it! The activities were very kid oriented, and the girls loved it! I was sad this was our last opportunity to celebrate the 4th in Oklahoma.

We watched a couple minutes of the kids' parade, but then realized we were in perfect position to jump in line for the horse rides that were just starting. Perfect timing. The line formed quickly behind us, but we only had to wait for 2 groups (about 3 minutes each). Elaine and Mariah, who have both ridden full-sized horses, were pros. Sally was pretty nervous at first; I asked her if she wanted to be done. She said no, she just needed to hold onto my arm.

When the girls were done riding, they got to pet some rabbits and a chicken. Again with only a 5 minute wait in line.

Mike stood in line for face painting while the girls made necklaces at a neighboring table. They finished the necklaces just as it was their turn for face painting.

We watched some of the United Freestyle Stunt Team Show--a couple of guys doing tricks and stunts on bikes. Pretty fun.

As we were watching the bike show, we saw this little train go by. It was empty, so we decided to follow it and see if they were giving rides. We were the second ones there, and the driver said to wait 5 minutes. We really were blessed with perfect timing all day.

Both Mike and I (and the other parents) were expecting the train to just go in circles in this little parking lot. We were all shocked when the driver just kept on going and disappeared around the corner. We had no idea the planned route or how long the ride was supposed to last. Mike and I laughed, hoped our kids were not screaming their heads off, and walked around for about 10 minutes. A nice break. And the kids were returned safe and happy.

Next stop was this shady pavilion for lunch of melons, cherries, banana bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, hummus, triscuits, and cheez sauce.

We had the girls take late naps in case we decided to watch fireworks that night. After naps, while I fixed dinner of beanburgers and corn on the cob, Mike played in the pool with the girls. Quite possibly the highlight of the day!

Fireworks of any kind are illegal in our city, so we headed over to our friends' house in a neighboring city to use their street. They were out of town and said go for it. Their street dead-ends to the city park, and we couldn't have asked (or paid) for a better location.

We were a little embarrassed when we realized the fireworks I bought at Sams' Club were not even fireworks, but confetti candles. We discovered this only after Mike tried to light a couple, and the "fuses" just burned out. They were the kind you just hold and pull the string, and a bunch of confetti flies out with a loud pop. Ha ha.

Eating ice-cream sandwiches and waiting for the show.

Good thing we hadn't yet filled our bucket with water to douse all our fireworks!

Before we realized how dangerous confetti candles can be, we let Mariah do a few. She ended up getting a pretty good burn on her finger (which would not have happened at all with real fireworks because she would not have gone anywhere near them!) Thank goodness we had ice for our ice-cream sandwiches.

Throwing snap-pops.

At 9:00, we heard a bunch of fireworks go off near the park. We decided to venture over and see what we could see. I have no idea why we were the only ones in the entire west end of the park, but we had a completely awesome, unobstructed view of the show, which (apparently) was everyone else in the city somehow knowing to meet at the east side of the park at 9:00 to set off every kind of firework imagineable. We stayed for almost an hour, eating popcorn and enjoying our private show. No idea how long it went, but it was still going strong when we left. Never seen anything like it.

Here are a couple videos Mike took of the show.

My 4-year-old!

My little Lainey turned 4 today. Amazing! She is such a sweet and spicey girl! Some of her favorites right now:

• She loves to dance.
• She loves to jump. Off of things. That is how she did this yesterday. Twice. We thought maybe (and hoped) the tooth was ok after the first time; not so sure after the second. Good thing Dad's almost a dentist and can keep an eye on things.

• She's really into puzzles right now. That's often how she spends her 2 hour rest time.
• She loves to rhyme.
• She wants to start reading lessons (again) tomorrow, now that she's 4. We've tried twice before, but she has a perfection complex and doesn't want to make mistakes. She pretends she doesn't know. I've tried to take the pressure off and told her we'd just stop for now and try again when she's 4. We'll see how it goes this time.
• She loves playing in the backyard pool and has learned to not be afraid of water on her face. Hallelujah!
• She loves being my helper. Last night while Mike took M and S to buy E's presents, she helped me clean the kitchen after dinner. She stuck with it to the bitter end, even sweeping the whole floor herself (with a whisk broom).
• She loves to swing and can pump herself (about 6 months now).
• Elaine loves primary. She's very social and doesn't hesitate to speak up when she has an opinion or something to say, but she's also a very good example of reverence. (I saw her once, gently putting her arm around a boy sitting next to her, and whispering, "It's time to be reverent," with a very motherly look on her face.) She loves being assigned to say prayers or give the scripture in primary. She did not get that from me.
• She prays every day for her Uncle Chad in "Africanistan."
• She has the loudest scream when she's upset or hurt. Blood curdling!
• She loves cuddle time; I should do it more often with her.
• She is learning how to ride a pedal bike. (I love strider bikes!) She's almost got it. It's been so hot, it's hard for me to stick with it for more than a few minutes at a time. We got her a 12-inch bike, and the seat is at the lowest height, but her short little legs barely reach. Makes starting and stopping kind of tough for her.
• She's a singer. Today in the car, she was belting, "Baby alooga, oh, baby alooga!" (Baby Baluga.)
• She loves to color and draw and is finally over her Mariah's-little-sister complex and is progressing rapidly (instead of just scribbling to avoid being compared to, or criticized by Mariah).
• She's excited to start preschool in the fall. Her mom's still not sure about it.

This morning she woke up in cheerful anticipation. Presents were first thing (after dressing in ballerina stuff.)

Book from Grandma Orva and Grandpa Paul.

Twisty balloons from Mariah (for the party).

A rhyming card game from Sally.

Littlest Pet Shop from Mom and Dad.

I got this scooter free from somebody who was moving. We gave it to the girls today to add to the fun.

Poor Mariah had a pretty hard time with someone else having a birthday, and she tried all morning (inspite of herself) to sabotage the fun. I decided we needed to get out of the house. Good decision. Everyone was happy at the zoo.

Eating lunch and hiding from the rain.

We hit the elephant show after lunch and then the cat forest.

We spent the bulk of our time at the splash park. Fun for all.

After dinner of beanburgers and sweet potato fries (birthday girls' request), we had the "party." After several fails, we finally got some twisty balloons into shape.

Then we headed outside for the last of our 4th of July confetti "fireworks."

Elaine wanted a strawberry castle cake. I made frozen raspberry dreamcake, but subbed in strawberries instead and added a coconut cream layer to the top. Can you tell that's a strawberry castle on top? Good enough for a 4-year-old. Her comment, said to herself when she didn't know anyone was listening was, "Such such good cake!"

I'm almost 40.

Closer to 40 than 30, that is. I turned 35 today. Yikes! What happened?! I'm not one to gripe or feel down about petty things like growing a year older. I've never really had a hard time with my age, but this one's been a hard one. I've felt kind of out of sorts all week. Maybe because I remember being 14 when my mom turned 35? Or because I thought, growing up, that I'd most likely be done having children by the time I reached this age? Maybe because my younger sisters (some of them) are done having kids (and they have 5 or 6)? I don't know all the reasons, and I'm done being grumpy about it, and I'm really fine with it. I wouldn't trade Mike or my girls for anything, including the opportunity to start and finish my family at a younger age. I was really just caught completely off guard by my feelings over the past few days, and since this is the only journal I keep, you get to hear about it. There. I'm done.

Today was a great day. Actually, celebrations started Friday night with a date to Matthew Kenney, my favorite restaurant.

Yesterday, my friend and yoga instructor invited me to come do hot yoga, for free! (And that was on top of watching our girls for free Friday night so we could go out.)

Mike got up with the girls this morning while I slept. I had quinoa berry salad (made yesterday) for breakfast (yum!), and then the girls had me find the presents they had hidden for me. (This is becoming a birthday tradition at our house.) As soon as I found them all, they sat right down and opened their gifts to me.

New white board markers from Mariah.

New markers from Elaine for my menu board I'm making (soon).

Cooling racks from Sally. Yay!

Mike got me a food dehydrator! No more oven-baked kale chips! The girls had fun with the box, and I'm putting the deydrator to work tonight.

I made this frozen raw key lime pie for my birthday dessert. Delicious!

Thanks for all the happy birthday wishes. One year older, and hopefully a little wiser. I'm truly blessed. Here's to the next 35!