July Already?

Last week June finished speeding by and ran into July. Where is the summer going? It needs to slow down just a bit...August is around the corner...I'm not ready for that...

Monday night Anna spent the night with Papaw and Grammy. She had a great time visiting with them. I actually had most of Tuesday by myself since she was at my parents and Mason went to daycare. I cleaned the pool, cleaned some in the shop, did house work and then read a book. I have always loved reading but since the kids came along there just hasn't been time between them, the house and working outside the home. Since I've been at home this summer I've started reading again. To me it is so relaxing and enjoyable.

My mom has been going through all my things that I left at home when I moved out (in 1997!). She has started sending them to me. I don't blame her at all because I left pretty much everything other than clothes and necessities. Tuesday I went out into the shop and went through the stuff she has brought to determine keep or throw away. I ran across so many childhood pictures. It brought back some great memories of time spent with friends.

I'm trying to pass my love of reading along to Anna. Wednesday I took her to the library and helped her check out some books and movies. We were planning to get her own library card but the library is remodeling and only had one computer working. Maybe we can get it next visit. She seemed to enjoy the experience and keeps asking when we can take back the current items and get new ones.

Wednesday evening after worship service we did our annual firework shopping. We don't buy much, just sparklers, snakes, bottle rockets and a few other kids items. We did a couple of fireworks that night. Mason did his first sparkler ever. At one point I seriously thought he was about to catch Anna or Kevin's hair on fire. Lesson learned: never turn loose of a two year old with a sparkler for even one second! Thankfully no one caught on fire.

Thursday Anna and I met Mimi at Dillards for a little shopping. Dillards was having a great sale on kids clothing. Of course Mimi bought Anna and Mason several outfits. Anna even picked out her 1st day of Kindergarten outfit. It is a Hannah Montana shirt and H.M. shorts (surprise!). She is so excited to wear them. After shopping Mimi took us out to lunch. We picked up Mason after nap time and took him for a much needed haircut. Then Mimi took him to her house to play while Anna and I did more shopping and ran errands. Anna ended up at the mall playground and played for about an hour. She amazes me at how fast she makes friends. (She gets that from Kevin. I'm the shy one.) She made two "friends" during the time we were at the playground. We had a great day Thursday.

Friday night we did more fireworks at our house. There were two large displays going off that we could see. So we sat on the tail gate of Kevin's truck and enjoyed other people's fireworks too. Anna said "I bet they are watching our fireworks like we are watching theirs." I didn't say it but I seriously doubt they saw our little bitty fireworks from their viewpoint! ;o)

Saturday was Independence Day. Our family attended two celebrations. We started the day in Piggott at the annual Parade and Picnic. (We originally thought about letting Anna ride her 4-wheeler in the parade but decided against it this year. We had some concerns that one more year of growing and maturing might help. So maybe next year.) We were close to the start of the parade and collected candy like crazy! Anna & Mason (along with the help of several adults nearby) left with a huge bag of candy. Both kids enjoyed the parade. Mason didn't even mind the screaming fire trucks.

Proud American!

A Popsicle to cool off!

After the parade we headed down to the picnic grounds. Anna rode several rides but Mason only rode one. There really weren't any for his size.

Waving at Anna as she rides by.

Anna & Kevin prepare to slide.

By the time the kids finished riding we were dripping with sweat. We headed to the food stands to pick up BBQs, hamburgers and funnel cakes and then headed to Grammy's house to eat in the air conditioning. We got to visit with Aun'tee and Unc too. Poor Papaw had to work. Maybe he will get the day off next year.

We got home mid-afternoon and let the kids take a nap before heading to our next destination. We went to our friends house, The Cooks. They invited several people over for a BBQ and swim. The pool was a little over Anna's head but she had help from Emily and Allie. Mason was soaked with sweat so another lady asked him to get in the pool with her (I didn't go dressed to swim although I later regretted it since the humidity was like 100). Mason said he wanted to swim but by the time I got him changed into his swim trunks he decided against it. He did finally get in briefly and spent some time on the edge dangling his feet into the water. It helped cool him down some.

Once it got dark the kids started doing fireworks (Snap Dragons, Sparklers, Smoke Bombs, etc). Then the good stuff got underway. The fireworks were beautiful, and I don't think Anna will ever forget Bad to the Bone. It was 9:30 by the time we got in our truck. Anna was tired and Mason was beyond tired. During the large fireworks he turned, layed on my shoulder, grabbed my arm and pulled it around him and said "I hold Momma." I think he was tired and scared. We considered heading to Jonesboro for the fireworks there but decided against it since the kids still needed baths and we had church service the next morning. We had an excellent day with family and friends. God Bless the USA!