The 5th of July

Please indulge me a second while I feed myself a piece of taffy for blogging about the 4th of July on the 5th of July. I might eat an Otter Pop too. What, what's that you say? I'm a month behind in blogging other things and this post totally just cut in line? Fine, then I won't have the Otter Pop. But the taffy is history. The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. You get to celebrate the fact that we live in the most blessed country in the world. During the best season of the year. With no stress or preparation. It just sneaks up on you and then BAM! All of a sudden you're sitting around your backyard grilling with buddies, and watching some fireworks. We went to check out Cody & Katelyn in the Riverdale parade. Anabelle said her 2 favorite floats happened to be the 2 floats they were riding on. I'm good with a little favoritism. I think when all was said and done the taffy count had to be in the 30's, per kid. It was fun to watch the kids get candy, each in their own style. You could not get Lila to pick up more candy than she could shove in her mouth in that instant. She contributed nothing to the candy bag. Maisey would squeal each time before making a move for it. Anabelle didn't seem too concerned either way. They all loved it. Then we had lunch at Jeff's. And then I sissied out of taking them to the carnival. I just didn't have it in me. In the heat, right at nap time, with the crowds that set Lila off. As Maisey would say, No way Jose Jose. Anabelle was sad when I broke the news to her but she did really well as we conversated about it. I've talked to her a few times in similiar situations about how there are three of them, who are very small and needy. They need drinks and food and diapers and potty breaks and naps and they all need them at different times. And there's only one of me. So we can do some things, but we can't do everything. I tell her we have 2 choices: We can stay home and do nothing because of our situation, or we can so some things. We have to be realistic about the things we can do. And we try to do as much as we can. But nobody wants me to completely lose it, right? Later we went to the splash pad with some new friends that I had met once on a walk in Florida. Where we ran into my across the street neighbor from Florida, because the Ar Force is cool that way. And they came over for dinner and I officially declared them to be fantastic people who I like very much. Which is exactly the kind of people you want eating your cherries when they're $3.00 a pound. And then, although I felt guilty doing it, I put the girls to bed and watched fireworks alone while jumping on the trampoline. And maybe I wet my pants and maybe I didn't, that's between me and the 20 minute shower I took afterwards. And for those few minutes, sitting in the backyard by myself, I thought about last 4th of July. How I was alone then too. And I thought about the next 4th of July, how I will either be ending another deployment, or shipping him out the next day. And about how all that ties in to the significance of the day. I love this country, heart and soul. And I believe in it. And however we can be a part of that,in our tiny tiny way, we're grateful to do so. God bless America, and those who defend it.

So maybe I did color coordinate their popsicles to their outfits. It irritated me less when their clothes were covered in it because at least it didn't clash. Kudos to me for only worrying about the big things.

Lila did a lot of street dancing. With her shadow of course. She simply couldn't help herself- the DJ only played the soundtrack to my entire life. I would totally pay two installments of $19.95 plus s&h to ride that hour long emotional roller coaster again.

As Anabelle presents.......LILA!

A very proud moment when she finally reached the top

Jeff did a great job schooling Maisey on how the whole parade thing goes down. It was fun to watch.

Anybody else suddenly wondering if Katelyn and Jen were former platapuses? What is the plural of platapus? Platapi? Platapoosin?

Some 40 something year olds will do anything for a tootsie roll...

Somehow, and I can't explain it, the Chik-Fil-A cow plays an important part in Lila's life. I only know she becomes abundantly happy once she has hugged that cow several times.

Coolest boy scout ever.