Happy 4th!! And Catching Up...

Our new little American Citizen!

Miyah, Mei Lin, Hannah, and Grace at the neighborhood kiddie parade

Mei Lin and Miyah in their (overly) decorated rides

I hope you all had a great 4th! I love the 4th of July. It's a relatively easy holiday...if you're a mom you know what I mean. So many holidays require a lot of work and planning. The fourth of July is just lazier and sort of slow paced. No gifts, no fancy meals (the men even cook!), and no big traditions that you'll feel guilty about missing. Well, that's usually how it goes....

This year we (minus the two Sleepers-I'll let you guess who they are) were up at the crack of dawn for the annual neighborhood kiddie parade. If you remember from my website post last year, Pat promised to crush the competition in the bike and stroller decorating contest. So that meant we (I) were decorating Miyah's bike and Mei Lin's stroller the night before (there goes the easy holiday!). Well, Mei Lin's stroller won first place and $35 worth of decorations got us a blue ribbon and a free scoop of ice cream at Ben and Jerry's. I suggest next year we save the $35 and take the whole family for ice cream at Ben and Jerry's. But Miyah loved helping decorate, she loved the parade, and thought her bike was amazing all decorated...if the 4th was easy and without traditions before, that's all changed.

Later that day we took the kids to the pool and then went to some friends for ice cream and amazing fireworks. Our friend, Richard, really knows how to put on a fireworks show. One of them flew off near us and nearly killed us, but it was still amazing!

While I was putting Mei Lin to bed the family walked over to see the city fireworks and we ended the night with some of our own fireworks in the cu-de-sac.

It was fun to celebrate Mei Lin's first 4th of July even though she had no idea what it meant for her. I feel so blessed to live in a country where we're free and I'm glad to have been able to give that to our girls, as well.

A special thanks to all the service men and women who've made that freedom possible!

I know some of you are straining to see what is written on Miyah's shirt....well, I'm not so proud that it says "Future American Beauty Queen". I'll just admit it...it was the last (supposed) patriotic shirt at Old Navy in her size and I didn't have time to look anywhere else. No offense to anyone, but I actually despise the whole "beauty queen" thing. As beautiful as they are, you'll never see one of my daughters parading for a pageant...that's just not my thing. But it was the right color, okay!
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Off my soapbox and onto catching up....

Last weekend we got a visit from my sister and her family. We hadn't seen them in a year and it was so fun to catch up. Pat and Matt were on a white water rafting trip with the men's group from church, but came home in time to see them for a few days.

Cody, Michele, and Craig

The girls love their Aunt Michele

And they loved Uncle Craig

Matt and Cody playing XBox 360

Me and my sister, Michele

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And today's tidbit of advice...if you have a toddler and you're considering taking them to see a movie, think again! At least not a crowded movie on the trial run.

Why would I even consider such a thing, you ask?

I'd been telling Megan that I'd take her and her friends to see Ratatouille (or however that's spelled) because Pat had off Wed-Fri. Well, I forgot that Pat had a final exam to study for today and wasn't able to watch the little ones. So, I thought I'd try to take the little ones with instead of disappointing her by asking her if we could reschedule. Mei Lin was a free ticket, after all!

So, after a day of dentist appointments and gymnastics, I packed up the provisions and we were off.

Well, It was a NIGHTMARE from the moment the previews began! I wish I had known this before spending $20 on tickets and $3.50 on a small Coke (I packed snacks and drinks for the little ones...shh!).

Mei Lin was SO afraid of the noise. I never realized how loud a theater really is. She didn't make it through the previews before she was crying with her face firmly planted in my chest. We were on an exit row so I thought I'd get up and walk a few steps near the exit and let Mei Lin walk a little while Miyah watched....I could see Miyah from there, she could see me. But when I suggested that to Miyah SHE started crying and so it was clearly time to gather all my things (two bags, a booster seat, drinks, snacks, two crying children) and get out of there as discreetly as possible.

We stopped near the exit and watched a little of the movie but moments later Miyah screamed out that she had to go potty with a voice that said, "NOW or else we'll have bigger issues" and so I once again gathered my load and headed to the bathroom.

I won't go into details, but the rest involves wet bathroom floors (not from Miyah either), nowhere to set my things down in that wet bathroom, Mei Lin on hands and knees in said wet bathroom peeking under a girl's stall, and me thinking about the nearly $30 I'd just wasted! Including the $3.50 Coke I left and never got to drink!

The good news: I stopped and talked to the nice lady at the front and she gave me two tickets for another movie so I can take Miyah by herself next time. Miyah was so sweet and understanding about the whole thing.

Lesson learned.

And even though Megan and her friends weren't thrilled with the movie, they had fun at the pool afterwards and are now enjoying a little sleep over tonight.

Whatever makes the girls happy, right?

Megan, Hannah, and Kirsten