Our Holiday Weekend, The Verdict, and How I Might Be Liable for Setting Someone's Children On Fire

We celebrated the 24th of July weekend by having a fun little BBQ in the backyard, playing, riding bikes, and then doing a few few fireworks. The kids wanted to do some sparklers, but they were all sold out at the store, so I got these little "fountain shower rocket" things that I assumed were fancier sparklers.

On Friday, I even directed this customer, dad of 2 very small children, to these so called "fancy sparklers" and told him that they are probably just like those morning glory sparklers or something that shoot out a little bit, and that I was getting them for my kids.

At first I felt a little bad because when Troy read the package it said to "put them in the ground". Well, why would you put sparklers in the ground?

So Troy decided to hold one to test it out before giving them to the kids to hold. Here is a funny picture of his experience:

Oh! That wasn't so good! At first it was nice and shiny fun, until a few seconds later when it started shooting crackling sparks everywhere and Troy almost set on fire!!!

So anyway, needless to say, we did not let our kids hold them like sparklers. We put them in the ground like it said, but I feel really bad that I might have this customer who bought these same things who is setting his children on fire as I type this. That would be really really bad. I didn't know. They looked like fancy sparklers. What do I know?

Anyway, before the firework experience, Saturday was mostly fun and guilt free, unless you count all that food I scarfed down!
We ate and the kids played in the backyard. Here are some cute pictures:

The kids can balance each other out on the teetor totter with 2 on each side! See how cute they are?



Oh, and the decision continues with the bangs/no bangs dilemma. But I think the verdict is in that Jewelia will probably KEEP her bangs for a while, although I think we will try to thin them out a bit. Her hair is cute with the little curly cues, but it's been such a bigger struggle to keep neat or pinned back, and Troy really liked her bangs. So, maybe we'll just do some days with and some days without?

Oh, and Macey will keep some little bangs for a while for now. I liked the picture below. It was taken in front of a mirror, so the flash reflected above her head, but it kind of makes her look "angelic" I think.

It's also interesting to see how much alike Jewelia and Macey look in these 2 pictures. And I've always thought Macey looked so much different. Maybe not.

Bangs or No Bangs?

So, Jewelia has this crazy curly hair and since forever I have usually left the back to do it's own curl thing, but then flat iron her bangs. It's a real pain actually because they go all crazy a couple hours later when she gets hot or sweaty. I can't just leave them to dry because then they go all weird.

I've played the bangs no bangs game with her sister, but Macey seems to not have as much curl as Jewelia, so either way works for her, although I think I've opted for the no bangs, or bangs to the side thing.


But anyway, I think it would be nice to be able to just brush Jewelia's hair and be done without having to wait for flat irons and what not. (Gee, don't we all!) Especially in the summer when it's already so hot, it's easiest not to have to add any more heat!

I guess that's why I've given up the straightening the hair thing for the summer and resorted back to my let it dry curly thing.



Anyway, back to Jewelia. Today in my laziness I thought, gee, I don't want to flat iron her bangs anymore. Why don't we just get rid of them. So today we tried a no bangs thing:

What do you think?
Should we grow them out or keep them?

What Macey Says

So, I suppose I get to yelling sometimes around here.
Sometimes the kids are being a little bit too wild, or sometimes things are just too loud.
I think the kids have this new thing where they go around either roaring or screaming all day and it is driving me crazy!

Of course, I guess my shouting has rubbed off on the youngest member of our family.
Take a look, here you can hear exactly what I've been shouting lately:



Troy is kind of upset with me because I think it is so funny and laugh when she says these things. He'd rather I teach her to say nicer things. Hey, it's not that bad! It's not like I'm saying any bad words or anything!

Don't worry, I will try to shout some nicer things that Macey can learn for later.

How Lucky am I?

I'm a pretty lousy wife and mom most of the time. I suppose I'm lazy and stay up too late and sleep in too much, and usually this summer I have been a huge slacker, but I think I am pretty lucky.

I've got one of the best husband's out there! He is so nice and always loves me no matter what! And I'm telling you, I can be pretty mean sometimes!

And what an awesome example he is to the kids! Our oldest, Micah, is following right in his footsteps! He helps me so much. Really, I don't have to do anything in the mornings this summer because he is the one who gets the other kids up, dressed and fed, and then even fixes lunch and does his jobs all on his own. (Of course this really goes to show how awfully lazy I have been and why I'm a lousy mom!)

Oh, and what a handsome boy he is becoming!

OK, so I suppose Troy isn't the best cleaner and I usually come home on Saturdays after my weekend work to see all the kids pretty slobby and the house a disaster, but really, I'm not doing too well with that lately anyway, and Troy is trying.

Who else will go out at the latest hour to buy me a cheeseburger, or icecream, or who else will tell me how wonderful and beautiful I am when it's really just a lie?

I am pretty lucky. I couldn't have asked for a better husband!

And I think he's pretty cute too.

'Tis Berry Pickin' Time!

It's berry picking time at our house! We were lucky when we moved in (over 7 years ago, can you believe it?) that the previous owners had planted tons of fruit plants. We have an apple tree, a peach tree, strawberry plants, and raspberry bushes. While the strawberries give us a handful, the apples are OK (kind of sour), the peaches are pretty good when we have a good year, the raspberries are always a winner!

We have a long long row of raspberry bushes that give us tons of raspberries every year. Now I personally hate raspberries, but the kids and Troy all like them and so I get the kids out to pick them all so I can make them raspberry jam. We have so much we can usually make enough jam to last the whole year. (And trust me, they go through almost a jar a week!)

We got a pretty good haul our first time out. Maybe we would have had more if Macey would have stopped eating hers. I told her to put them in the bowl, and so she would, and then she would eat them. We usually can go out every other day and get a new batch for about a week or so.

Here are the kids and their bowls of raspberries:

If you want some raspberries, come on over, maybe we could spare a few or maybe you'd like to make a trade of something good that you don't like!