4th of July & Celebrating Emmie

The Fourth of July holiday continued through the beginning of the week. My dad took the kids at their house to get donuts, but Donut Palace was closed and they ended up going to Hy-Vee. I guess they were quite the sight in their pjs and bedhead.

The older kids and I made our way over to my parents later that morning. The kids swam some more. The twins really wanted to jump off the rock into the deep end without their puddle jumpers and they did a great job. They even tried diving a little bit and actually did it right a couple times. Ellie and I went to Wal-Mart to look for some shorts for her since we discovered that most of hers weren’t working. That evening, Andrew and I met up with Heidi and Jeff at La Fuente for dinner. It was great to see them and visit since we hardly get to see each other anymore. We visited for about 2 ½ hours before we decided we needed to get the kids and head home. I don’t think the twins had had a bath in three days nor brushed their teeth, so we definitely needed to do that. Then the next morning, they went out to the ranch. I did a ride on the trainer and cleaned up the house and things that had been neglected over the past several days. Annie and Brad got into town the day before, so I had offered to have dinner for everyone for the 4^th if they wanted to. It was all confirmed later that morning, so I finalized a shopping list and worked on getting stuff ready. And I couldn’t resist doing some decorations too since I had stuff I could throw together. I didn’t get to the store until around 3, so it was a rat race to get everything ready, but we got it done. Andrew grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and I got all the sides and dessert ready and everything went smoothly from there. We had a good dinner and then the kids went out back and shot off some fireworks while I cleaned up. They took a break from their fireworks to eat dessert. We had ice cream along with some toppings…caramel and chocolate sauce and I crushed up some M&Ms and Reeses Pieces and made some brownies to go with it. Then it was back to fireworks.

We had planned to go to a parking lot and watch the city’s fireworks but we got moving a little later. I was trying to clean some stuff up and knew that I wouldn’t have much of a chance once we got back. The rest of them got out and took Ellie with them since they were planning a sleepover. But before we even got to the car, they had started so we just sat out in the front yard and watched. It wasn’t the best view, but we could see a decent amount and the boys enjoyed it. And so was the end of the long 4^th of July holiday. The next morning, I went for a swim and then a run. Jackson and Lincoln cleaned up the backyard…mostly. Andrew picked up Ellie from Matthew’s and she came home and got to work on cleaning her room and putting away her laundry, tasks that had been ignored over the last several days. At one point, Jackson even asked if there was any cleaning I wanted done since he was bored. So, I sent him back out to the backyard to finish cleaning up and gave him a big thank you. That evening, Ellie had her first game of her softball tournament. I think all of the sleepovers had caught up with her as she was very tired and said she didn’t feel good. She definitely didn’t look like she was ready to play. Their team was ahead until the third inning when the opposing team tied it. They went into extra innings and Ellie ended up pitching and they scored a run to end the game. She was pretty bummed afterwards. The good thing with the loss, though, was that they don’t play again until next Monday so she wouldn’t be missing any games since we were leaving for Tampa the next morning. After the game, Andrew and Ellie ended up taking a bike ride to Smoothie King and came back as the sky was darkening and the thunder was rolling. I had the boys take early baths so that I could get more laundry done since I was leaving the next morning. So, I got through some laundry and packed.

Thursday morning came early as Andrew and the boys were up around four to head out to the ranch and work some cattle.  They all got in on helping "push" the calves through the shoot into the trailers. And Jackson didn't ride this time, but followed in the back of Mary's truck flying the drone overhead. He got some neat footage and made a cool video of it-editing all of it and putting it to music. I think Andrew has watched it at least 100 times :-). 

I was finally able to get back to sleep around 5:30, but had my alarm set for 6:30 so that I could get a ride in. I went out to the lake and then did a little work outside before getting ready for the day. Then it was finishing up laundry, emptying the dishwasher and picking up the house before my parents and Molly picked Ellie and I up at 10 to head to Kansas City to fly to Tampa. Our flight didn’t leave until early evening but we stopped for lunch and a little shopping. I went to Target and only bought a loofah and a swimsuit for Ellie. Our flight to Tampa was pretty uneventful although it did take a little longer since we had to fly around some storms. It was raining in Tampa when we got there and our luggage was delayed a bit because of lightning. It was 10:30 by the time we got to Caroline and Jared’s house and we were starved. We got a quick tour of the house and it was beautiful. Then Caroline went to get us Sonic, one of the few places open, and I think that was a mistake for me. Ellie slept with Lissy and Molly and I were in the bonus room on the air mattress and couch. My stomach was starting to feel uneasy as I was trying to get to sleep and then I finally went to the bathroom and hung out there for an hour with nothing happening. I finally got to sleep around 3, I think. 

Jackson had his first game of the tournament that night and he had a great night. The whole team did and they came away with a win. He had a couple of great hits that resulted in him getting on base and eventually stealing home and the other one he was out, but got an RBI. 

The sun was shining bright into our room before 6. I tried to fight it for a little bit, but then I gave up after an hour or so and got ready. Emmie was up after I got out of the shower and I think she was excited to see everyone. Andy, Autumn, Briley, Amanda and Carolina got in around 10 or so. We just hung out around the house and went to their neighborhood pool for a little bit. It was very pretty and the girls loved it. They also loved exploring on the walking path and playing in the splash pad outside of the pool area. I was still feeling a little sick, so I joined them at the pool a little later after resting for ½ hour or so. That evening, we tried to go out to eat but everything was pretty busy. So, we did some window shopping at the outlet mall near the restaurant. I couldn’t even convince myself to try on some shorts I was interested in because I just didn’t feel like spending the money. After we ate, we had to go back to the house, collected our stuff and then Amanda, Carolina, Lissy, Molly and I went over to the hotel to check in since there wasn’t enough room for all of us at the house. It felt so good to go to bed that night after a couple late nights/little sleep. Saturday morning we met up with everyone at the church for Emmie’s baptism. Sara and Bella caught a ride from the airport with Jared’s mom and met us there too. It was a sweet, short baptism and the deacon did a good job of working with Emmie who wasn’t too excited about missing her nap. I rode in the car with her on the way back to the house and she didn’t last too long.

Caroline and Jared had lunch for us when we got back and then Lissy convinced some of us to take the girls go-kart racing. Lissy found a place online and it made us all giggle when we pulled up. We were a bit in the minority and the girls were ready to go. They started on the go-karts, but Ellie and Briley were the only two who could ride by themselves. They were a little hesitant at first, but by the time they got around to their third time to drive, the competitiveness really came out. Ellie and Bella shared a cart and got out just in front of Andy and Carolina and Ellie tried her hardest to not let Andy pass her. It was pretty funny. After bumping her a few times, he finally passed her on the last lap.

We were soaked in sweat by the time we were done, so a ride back to the house in the cold air condition felt good. Jared picked up pizza for dinner and we had Emmie’s birthday party. Caroline and Jared kept it pretty simple, but it was so Emmie. They had a dinosaur piñata and a Frosty birthday cake…two of her favorites. She and Lissy made a cute banner out of all of Emmie’s different expressions. Emmie loved her cake and her presents. 

Caroline and Jared have a little pond out back from their house and Ellie was excited to finally see a little alligator in it. She really wanted to get a picture of it.

Later that night, we decided to hit up the pool again. We had been warned by those leaving the pool area, that the lights in the pool were off but the girls loved it. They tried playing hide and seek and just had fun swimming around in the dark. 

Jackson had another ballgame Saturday morning. Andrew dropped him off early and then took the other boys out to the lake to mess around for a little bit.  Andrew said the game definitely didn't go as well and they ended up losing. Jackson scored another run though.

The next morning, we got to visit for a little bit before our group and Andy and his family had to head to the airport to catch our flight back to Kansas City. Ellie and Briley got to sit by each other on the plane and even though I was sitting right beside them, I didn’t hear them discussing their plan they approached me with as we landed…they were hoping Ellie could stay in Kansas City with Briley and I would get her later. It didn’t happen. Then Ellie remembered Lauren was in town and she kept wanting to use my phone to talk with her on our way home. Andrew and the boys were waiting for us when we got home and I was impressed with how everything looked. They had cleaned the house, started some laundry and mowed the yard. I unpacked and continued laundry and then after dinner we went outside. Andrew worked with Ellie and Jackson on softball/baseball and then Lincoln and the twins joined in. I watered some flowers and pruned some bushes. We also tried to fix a couple of Bennett’s toys that got ran over…all in the same week. The first one was his fault since he left his scooter partially behind Andrew’s truck. It bent a piece on it that wasn’t needed for it to operate smoothly and I tried to get it off with no success, so I turned it over to Andrew. He wasn’t able to get it off either, but was able to move it enough that Bennett could still use it. Then I ran over one wheel of his Ziggle. Someone had used it on 4^th of July and didn’t get it put away. We couldn’t get it fixed either and, since it wasn’t his fault, I was going to get a new one, but they are nowhere to be found now. But then it was time to head inside for baths and get ready for the upcoming week.