Thursday morning, I had a mouth full of toothpaste and turned around to find Brandon walking into our bedroom. He hinted about an earlier flight, but I thought maybe he meant he’d be home in time to grill dinner for us. As soon as I saw him, I did a quick mental scan of our kitchen and hoped the kids were both dressed. With all our running around, the three of us sometimes live a slightly disheveled life. Thankfully, the dishwasher was humming, and the kids were ready for the day. Our cover wasn’t blown.

I don’t remember what we did on Thursday, but I do know it wasn’t anything outside. It was a soggy day, and the weather followed us into the 4th. We packed up our chairs and went to the parade. Rain be damned, we are a family of tradition! Most of you reading this, live within a few hours of us so I probably don’t need to mention how chilly it was. Our friends, the Hindmans were in town for a visit. They moved to Florida a few years ago, and I think our weather reminded them why. We watched all the church groups, veterans, and giant hamburgers masquerading as floats, from under our umbrellas.

Later that afternoon, we passed a fireworks store. Alex mentioned something about it and Brandon told him I wasn’t a fan of buying fireworks. Not wanting to be a wet blanket, I told them they were free to shop as far as I was concerned. Now, here’s the deal; when Brandon is behind the wheel, if you pass something you can forget it. I’m not sure he would turn around if we left one of the kids at a rest stop. So imagine my surprise, when Brandon whipped the van around on a fairly busy street and made a bee line for the former-grocery-turned-temporary fireworks store.

Meredith and I were told the boys were going to buy a couple of things. We waited in the van. After thirty minutes, we gave up and headed in. Brandon and Alex were standing in a long line with a basket filled to the brim with explosives.

I threatened that no one would light or see a firework if they didn’t take a nap. Brandon thought it included him. When everyone woke up, we went to the Ehnes for a cookout and fireworks show. It’s amazing we all still have in-tact skulls considering the falling debris we had to dodge. Brandon and Jill’s brother-in-law Austin, had us running for cover more than once. Jill’s dad bought enough fireworks to light up Hamilton county.

We came home late and the kids went to bed even later. Meredith was so sleep deprived she had extremely vivid dreams. She woke us up at midnight, convinced she had somehow inhaled a barrette. She was insistent and very descriptive. “I’m tewing da twouf! It was hot pink! It had the Cat and the Fiddle on it! It’s in my stomach! What will happen?! How will we get it out?!”

I’m a fairly rational person, yet Meredith was so convincing I was sitting on her bed in the middle of the night testing barrette after barrette to see if one would possibly fit up my nose. They didn’t and I was tired, so we decided it had to be a dream, and I slept next to her…just in case. I’ve seen more than one episode of Medical Mysteries.

Saturday morning, I met Jill and her extended family to take some family pictures since they were all in town for the 4th. They are hilarious and it was so much fun trying to get them all to sit still and be fairly serious for a few minutes.

This is Jill's wonderful mom, Barb with her kids. This picture makes me want to have a third baby, and then I remember I'm not organized enough to do so.

Saturday night, Jill and Scott through a huge party with unbelievable food, live music, and fun drinks. We took our kids for awhile and then sent them to their grandparents’ for the rest of the night. It was a much needed break! It’s redundant to say we had fun with the Ehnes’ because we always do.

I couldn’t stay up too late because I was meeting the Hindman family for pictures this morning. We shot at Dillon Park, steps from our neighborhood. Since they live in Florida, we thought it would be a nice change of backdrop. They were troopers and even jumped into the creek when I asked them to. I was soaking wet and sloshed all the way home, but the light was so beautiful it was completely worth it. Aren’t they a cute family?! I am so lucky!

The rest of our day today was pretty mundane. I edited pictures and Brandon and Alex spent the better part of the afternoon buying paint and a new ladder to take care of the walls we wrecked delivering our couch ourselves. I’m ready for Monday. I need a break from the weekend.