Sunday, July 6, 2008

4th of July Weekend Update

Warning!! This post may be very long because we had a jam packed weekend! And, I have posted tons of pictures to go along with it.
Starting on Thursday night, my sis arrived in town for the whole weekend. It was sooooo good to see her. We all went and ate dinner at Chilis and spent some time chatting and catching up. She seems to be doing so well. We all miss her so much. She only has about 2 and 1/2 months left. Maybe not even that long. But, it was so nice to get to spend the whole weekend with her, and I know she loved getting to be with the kids all weekend too.

Dennis was off work on Friday, and since Sadie doesn't wake up until about 10:30 in the morning these days, we got up and cooked a huge breakfast together on Friday morning. It consisted of waffles, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, bacon, and steak. I felt like I was going to puke shortly after. I'm definitely not used to eating a breakfast like that, but it was so yummy!!!! We stayed around the house all day long and just played and played. We haven't done that in so long, because we're usually on the go, but it was nice to be here all day together as a family just hanging out and enjoying each other.

Friday night, we went to Dennis' aunt & uncle's house for a little while and ate dinner with everyone.

They had a ton of people over to eat dinner and watch the fireworks from their back deck. Normally, we stay and watch the fireworks, but since my sis was in town, we decided to meet all of them at Long Hollow Baptist and watch their fireworks display this year. Plus, it's much closer to home, so we had an escape plan in case Sadie got scared! So, we arrived at Long Hollow around 7:00 or so, and they had the greatest set up for kids. TONS and TONS of blow up things, tons of water slides, tons of games, food, snowcones, fruit stands, horse rides, etc. It was definitely a kids wonderland. There were a million people there and everyone seemed to be having so much fun. We took Sadie out of her stroller and let her run around, and she literally went non-stop until the fireworks started around 9:25. I've never seen this child with so much energy, especially when it was WAY past her normal bedtime.
Sadie did AWESOME during the fireworks! She seemed to love them. She even "ooooh'd and aaaaah'd with us a few times". She wouldn't take her eyes off of them. It was so precious to watch. It's one of those things Dennis and I both said we've waited for for a long time. The amazement in kids' eyes as they watch fireworks. Such a precious thing. The pics below look so funny, because she's blinking over and over again as each firework goes off, so her eyes are half shut in all of the pics we tried to get. Check out her "humidity hair do" in the 2nd picture. LOVE the curls!!!
Saturday, Dennis went to his grandad's farm, so Sadie and I did some shopping w/ my dad and then we hung around the house and waited for DaDa to get home. We had dinner over at my mom's house that night with all of my family. It was great to be with all of them.

My dad came over and had hundreds of dollars worth of fireworks to shoot. It's a tradition he started with Chance 3 years ago, so we all headed to a school parking lot and they got set up. Check out the pics of Sadie below. She had climbed onto some of the boxes of fireworks, and she had a lighter in her hand thanks to DaDa! She was ready to light some of the fireworks all by herself! I don't think so, Miss Sadie Jane!!!

We all had a ball. My dad, Chance, and Dennis lit all of the fireworks and it was a great display. People were stopping on the side of the road to watch, and they got some applause after the "grand finale". Sadie enjoyed them once again, thank goodness. It was such a good time. I think my dad and Dennis wished they were 10 years old again. Too cute! Thank you Poppy for all of the fireworks. They were enjoyed by ALL!!! You are the best Poppy in the whole world!!
Sunday, after church, we just hung around the house. My mom brought Rachel and the kids by on Sunday night to tell us good-bye, because Rach has to head back to St. Louis first thing in the morning. I can't even begin to imagine how hard that will be for her. If I knew I had to get up in the morning and say good-bye to my kids again, I don't think I could bear it. It makes my heart hurt just to think about it. But, I know that God is just filling up her bucket of blessings for the sacrifices that she is making to get her life right. I have a strong faith that He will begin to pour out those blessings on her right when she is finished at Mercy, and hopefully while she is there. The kids all played for a little while and it was such a sweet time. We've missed aunt RaRa a lot and we can't wait for her to get home so that we can continue these memories with her and the kiddos.

Here's a short video of the kids going down the slide.

We had such a fun weekend. Just hanging out, spending time with family, making memories with Sadie and mentally preparing to add another one to this mix very, very soon.
Thanks to all of you who have been praying for my sister. Please pray that Mercy will let her come home when Sawyer is born, even if it's just for that day. She wants to be a part of it so bad, and I would hate for her to miss out on that.
I hope everyone had a great 4th as well!!!! I can't wait to read all of your blogs!

1 comment:

Amy Lafayett said...

It was great to see Rachel. She looked great. I am glad that you all had a good weekend together. Sounds like you have been busy. Get what little rest you can before this baby gets here. There's no rest for the weary with two!! It's almost time for us to be down the street, so maybe I can help you with Sadie sometime. The girls would LOVE it!