Luke's Birthday and the 4th

We've had quite a few more days in our pajamas, but we also have had some busy days.

Luke turned 6! He has been counting down for nearly 4 months so this was a big deal.  That morning, June 28, he came into my room bright and early.

 I said, "Happy Birthday, Luke!"

And he said, "Mom.  Look at my foot. Look how ginormous it is.  It's a six year old foot!"

That evening we invited his friends to a gigantic indoor play place called The Tubes, housed in a local Bible Church, because in Texas "church" can mean all kinds of things.

We had pizza and cake and ice cream.

He wanted a Kirby cake this year.  And I hope I've learned my cake making lesson.  I've already learned a similar lesson in regards to sewing.  Making and decorating a birthday cake will take at least 2 if not 3 times longer than I think it will.  And whatever I turn out will never look like it warranted 6 hours of work.

I made some serious improvement after last years coconut oil cake fiasco, though.

Everyone had a great time.

The next night we had a family dinner.  Luke's request was ham, chips, and cheese ("just plain cheese").  I threw in the corn on the cob for good measure.

He asked for and received some new legos with lots of pieces, a new Kirby game, a "200 puzzle", and a box of assorted treats and goodies along with a water football and a rubber snake.

The next weekend was the 4th of July, and man we packed a lot in.  It was so much fun. Dan had a four day weekend so we made the most of it.

We blew up the water slide, went to the movies, grilled, and went to the fireworks.

The slide was a hit just like last summer.

Finn could only watch from the sidelines.

And this year some friends let us in on the best firework watching spot.  It truly was ideal.  Not much traffic but right up close.

The kids had a blast running around with all the other kids and the boys could hardly stop their glow stick light saber fights.

And what really made it seem unreal was the fact that the weather was crazy, crazy nice for July.  We sat out and waited for the fireworks and with nary a drip of sweat.

Of course the night turned out to be a late one.

The next day followed with more water slide action and a movie at Grandma and Grandpa's. Everyone was hashed and fell asleep all over the living room. Everyone except Ava and me, that is.

 But we had to wake them up to make an appearance at the lake BBQ for which we had RSVP'd.  Saturday Ava went with friends to a Home Depot workshop, I went to my first hot yoga class, (woah, Nelly!) and then Ava was invited to go boating with those same friends.  I was so shocked and pleased that she rode the tube and loved it ("until I flipped off and did a somersault under the water").

I can't explain to you how tired the kids were by Sunday morning, especially Ava.  First she was crying because she wanted to go to church.  When it was time to go to church she was crying because she wanted to stay home.  Max flat out refused to go to Primary and he spent the entire last two hours of church in Dan's arms.

Since our children were apparently born without the ability to sleep in, we decided on an early bedtime right then and there.

We got everyone settled and tucked in by 6:40pm that night.  At 8pm Ava came wandering downstairs saying she fell asleep but just woke up and she's confused.  Was it morning?

Of course it's not, dear.

We sent her back to bed but 45 minutes later, she was back down for a drink of water.

At that point we watched our "early bedtime" plans go up in smoke and just crossed our fingers that Ava's delirium would fade by morning.

Two days later, I think we're still working out some of our kinks, but we sure had fun getting them!