A Fourth at Home

It is a rare occurrence when this family actually gets to be home on a holiday. This was an exciting holiday of mostly nothing - just like we liked it. In the tradition of the American requirement, we had steak, potatoes, and watermelon for supper. Mommy was semi-nonexistent as the majority of the weekend was spent reading the 4th in the Twilight series... started and finished and now can go back to real duties :)
Coop had cheese :)
And Meg made a mess. Because the kids had managed to have pretty long late naps, we decided to risk finding some fireworks. Little did we know (or think ahead) about getting there hours in advance to have a parking spot that was ideal... but we made do.
Once we decided to go, we started talking to Meghan about it. About the noises and the lights. She was getting very excited - super cute considering she didn't know exactly what we were talking about.
We parked across the street from the lake where the fireworks would be shot off... in a park on a hill with our blanket. I must say, both kids did very well. Coop was a little fussy toward the end (it was like 9:30 afterall) but no big fits. We were far enough away that the noises were very muted so not scary. There were probably 5 or 6 areas around where fireworks were going off so plenty to keep Meg's attention. Still plan maybe to just stay at the house next year and see what we can see.
Fun park - will have to go back... without mosquitoes perhaps.
This is the age we are in... the age where we intentionally ruin pictures and do not smile. This stage only last 15 more years, right? Mommy and Meghan played with the swings and did some climbing. I must say, and don't judge the following statement, only in America (and definitely more likely with Houston) do you look around on the 4th and realize you are some of the few definite Americans there for the celebrations. Saw some (?) Vietnamese, Indians, and lots of Hispanic people. Maybe we were part of their sightseeing trip too :)

And again you see... At least we got to wear our flag shirts again!

First Season Snowcone

... or ever. Not sure that Meg's ever had one. We went to get a snow cone Sunday afternoon (it was super hot outside) and ran into Meghan's best day care friend. Meg and Hailey have gone to daycare together for two years. You could say she's her oldest friend... Meg just kept dancing around "Hailey's here... Hailey's here"... and running up and hugging (practically tackling).
You could say she stole my snowcone as I sure didn't get much of it. All was going well until Meg had an accident in her pants - lets just say Daddy didn't put a pull-up on when we went out. She didn't seem to mind... would be easier if she did to get his thing stressed to her!
Hailey kept coming over to sit with us... Cute kids.
And then there's this little guy. He had fun just eating the straw - no snow cone needed here.

While You Were Gone...

Daddy went to Colorado for a week with Pa, Great-Pa, and Lance - who picked him up on the way to Houston. We've had fun at home, but we are ready to have Daddy home. Several times daily Meg says "Where Daddy go?". When pressed she says he went "campin'" and lists off the co-campers. We've talked about "mou-tins" - and said "thank you campin, thank you mou-tins"...
Things Daddy has missed... First haircut; a trip to Mesquite to meet the new babies - Jack, Audrey, and Brooklyn; a super fun trip home with Mom outnumbered including an interesting DQ trip including blizzard on the floor; good naptime in the car - kids really behaved pretty well; changing the DVD while driving down the highway; Coop's 5th tooth pushing through and working on the 4th on top; Coop's crawling improving with a fun new skill called "standing up on everything possible" including potties, tile floors, beanbags, and, the best, in the bathtub; waiting to solve the driveway and furniture crisis for Daddy's input; Meg helping take out the trash with a trashcan much larger than her...
Braving the first grocery store trip managing two kids at one time; Meg now demanding to be allowed to "not you, me" buckle her own seatbelt; Meg getting better at declaring the road "safe" - not really grasping the concept of looking before declaring; an awesome crazy long fit before leaving Mesquite regarding "poopy" and ripping off clothes... very long; Meg's problem adjusting to being home, laying down on the blanket in Mommy's bedroom floor with pillow and baby saying "cover me up"; a very intense thunderstorm two nights later with Meg waking up crying "too loud" to go to Mommy's bed at 2 in the AM, AC go out, puppies panting then to my bed, then up to check on Coop, then down, then up to yell at dogs, then down, then up to kick out dogs when AC came on, then telling Meg to calm down to sleep... still haven't reset all the clocks :) .... Meg's favorite new expression "for little bit" and in little bit of peepee, play outside, time for reading; new favorite book routine includes sitting at the foot of the bed on the floor in front of the bookcase - "no you hold it; don't read it" while handing books to Mommy and hiding the ones she wanted to read under her thighs to keep them from Bubba; making Coopy laugh in the car while singing those jumbled words to "moo moo hare, moo moo dare"; referring to self as "sissy"...
All in all I'm sure Daddy missed us more than we missed him! We did okay guys! And prayed for Daddy every night... See you in two days!

Memorial Day Weekend Trip

First (Real) Haircut

So this beautiful blonde hair kept getting longer and longer. You had yet to have a "real haircut" other than trims. And it really was looking quite shaggy. So we piggy-backed the Wichita trip to see my (former) hairdresser. The only regular one I've ever had.
Before the hair went more than half-way down your back - more so when wet.
You watched Momma get her haircut and then it was your turn. We didn't know how you would behave...
But you just sat there the whole time. Didn't really want to talk to Becky. Just sat quietly - not sure if it was fear or nerves or shyness.
The only real response we ever had from you was when Becky stepped away for a minute. I watched you look down at the hair laying on your drape... and pop it from beneath to make the hair fly up. It was pretty cute.
And no matter how much Memma whined... you didn't get bangs. Those things are just now growing out!You look even cuter kid!