Independence Day

I'll throw in some pictures from our 4th (3rd) of July later in the post, but for now, independence. As Mark and I sat inside on Friday, we watched Zack and Xander wander off by themselves to play with the neighbors. I thought about their independence, things they can and like to do by themselves. Zack more so than Xander, but I realized how grown up they are becoming, with the things they say and do. I have to remind myself, amid cars and trucks and cereal pieces and bathwater all over the floor and piles of dishes and laundry that always need to get done, that I am so privileged and blessed to have these two small children.


Zack likes to:
1. open doors for himself and others.
2. pick out clothes and get dressed by himself.
3. set the table by himself.
4. buckle himself in the car.
5. get his own snacks.
6. get the mail. Actually, he likes to go to the bottom of the driveway and wait for the mail lady to drive around the circle.


Xander likes to:
1. feed himself, mostly with fingers, but sometimes even the messiest things with a spoon.
2. try to drink out of a big boy cup by himself.
3. put his shoes on by himself, but he hasn't quite figured out how to get his heel in without stepping on the back of the shoe.
4. brush his teeth by himself with his Elmo toothbrush ("Elmo. teeth.").


Okay, our 4th (3rd) of July... I made muffins for breakfast before the kids headed outside to play. Mark cut the grass and took a bike ride, while I tried to get motivated to fix the planter in front of our house. (We desperately need to tear out the rotting railroad ties and overgrown bushes.) That evening, we went to WFRHS for the Band of Oz and some fireworks. We saw two people I used to work with and our neighbor from Knightdale (who we passed on our way out of the neighborhood as she was coming into the neighborhood). We had chick-fil-a sandwiches and hot dogs, that were not worth the $2 we paid for each of them, for dinner. Zack and Mark waited in line for over an hour for the inflatable bouncy thing. Zack was in the last group that they allowed to jump. Meanwhile, Xander and I found a spot on the hill where we could lay down and watch the fireworks. It was quite a steep hill, so sitting there for a long time was not so great for my feet in flip-flops.


I've decided that kids' reactions to fireworks is the same as people's reactions to opera (according to Richard Gere in Pretty Woman). They either love it or they hate it! I really didn't know what Xander's reaction was going to be. On one hand, I could see him getting really excited about it. On the other hand, I could see him being one of those kids that screams and cries. He was sitting on the my lap when the fireworks started, and I felt him tense just a little, but after that, he was completely mesmerized! Zack, on the other hand, (wow, that's lots of hands) was putting his hands around his eyes because he said it was too bright. The fireworks themselves were mediocre. It seemed like they sorted out the types of fireworks and lined them up, then set off all of the same kind right in a row. So we saw a minute and half or purple whistlers, a minute and half of white spirals, a minute and half of green bursts, etc. Then there were a couple times when they set of NC legal fireworks off on the bleachers. It was pretty funny when they lit up "MORE?" right before they did the "finale." The best part was being able to lie down on the grass, Zack snuggled between Mark and I, Xander switching back and forth between our laps--a whole swan snuggle!

Eating watermelon on the front porch. It was seedless, so there were no seed spitting contests.

Yeah!! Xander's eating fruit!!!

There's that big boy cup!

Part of the swan snuggle. I tried to get at least three of us in a picture, but I'm no good at self-portraits.
One of the flashes, as Xander was calling them.

Our real 4th of July...we had a wonderful lunch at Gramma's house--hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob, watermelon, (coleslaw and potato salad for Gramma) and star-shaped brownies with homemade ice cream for dessert. Unfortunately, my part of the day with the family ended early, since I had to go to work (the bad thing about working retail--it wasn't all that bad at work, though--we had fun). So that was our weekend--Independence Day and 3rd/4th of July!