4th of July Weekend: The One Where We Did All the Things

7.07.2019

Hello! Did all my American friends have a good 4th of July? And did all my non-American friends have a good 4th of July minus the fireworks and the waving of American flags? ;) 

Both Jordan and I were off work Thursday and Friday, and it was the best 4-day weekend I can remember in recent history. Mostly because I can't remember the last time I had a 4-day weekend. We ate popsicles on the back deck, went to the park multiple times, went to the science museum, went to a 4th of July party, stayed up late to watch fireworks, had a friend come over, got ice cream, and I took an afternoon nap every. single. day. while J napped and R watched Daniel Tiger (she hasn't napped in over a year and a half; we've tried), and I have no regrets about any of it.

I also love that the kids get more time to be together. Since they are at daycare all day during the week in separate classes, sometimes I feel guilty and wonder if it's going to hurt their relationship at all. But they really do love each other, and there are some super sweet moments. Of course, they also can get into it pretty hard, but we always make them apologize and give hugs, and I pray they will grow up knowing they always have each other.

It's crazy hot here in Oklahoma, and I don't even care. Summer can stay forever as far as I'm concerned, minus my most hated of all things: mosquitos. I tried to sit out on my deck last night after the kids were in bed and they destroyed me. They don't care one squat about Jordan, which he claims is from all the garlic he eats constantly (seriously never met anyone who loves garlic as much as that guy does), but they have always loved me, and I do not share their feelings.

Over the weekend we discovered our bird, which we were told was a boy when we bought him a year ago, is actually a girl. Jordan came running in shouting something about Moses having laid an egg. AN EGG. I was like, what? Apparently they can lay unfertilized eggs, and the kids were very confused and excited about the sudden appearance of an egg in the cage. Jordan was like, "I had suspicious... I never could get her to sing like male birds are supposed to." I said, "What do girl birds do?" And he said, "They lay eggs." There are currently three eggs. So that's happening apparently. 

I pretty much don't watch TV these days, but my long afternoon naps the past few days have given me the ability to stay up past my usual bedtime, and I've been watching the Netflix show Dead to Me. I don't know if watching 6 episodes in 2 days is a true "binge watch," but that's certainly more TV than I've watched at one time in a very, very long time. I was a little scared because it's Netflix and rated TV-MA, and I was prepared to turn it off if it was bad, but I was surprised to find that so far, the worst of it is really just a fair amount of the F word. I don't say that lightly, of course. I don't like the F word. However, if I have to choose that over nudity and a lot of crude sexual references, I'll take some cursing. Anyone else watched it? I have a few episodes left still!

Jordan and I also watched the new Netflix movie with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston Murder Mystery. We are really living up our long weekend! We never watch movies! It was ridiculous as expected but mildly entertaining, and I didn't hate it. I wouldn't watch it again, but it was amusing and not as dumb as other Adam Sandler movies I've seen (I've just never been a fan of that type of humor.)

I read Daisy Jones and The Six in about a day over the span of two days. The kids have been loving our splash pad in the backyard, and I got some good reading in on Thursday while they played for an hour or so. Here's my Goodreads review if you're interested. Basically, it is getting a ton of buzz right now, and it's legit. Super creative, unique book. I read it, but I think it would be an excellent book to listen to on audio.

On July 4th, I took engagement photos for a friend of Jordan's. Or, should I say I took photos *of* their engagement. So far in 2019 I've now taken photos of a home water birth and a live engagement. These type of events are stressful! Like, if you miss the moment it's over and done, and you can't be like, oh wait, yeah... my setting was off and the photo is blown out. Can you get down on one knee again, and can she act surprised?  Or, So, the photo of your baby coming out of you was way too dark. Can you please put him back in? I don't think so! But thankfully she said yes, and everything went well, and I think I got some good ones. Really expanding my photography portfolio this year! Not that I'm going to quit my job and be a professional photographer, but it's fun.

I'm not happy our holiday is over and it's back to the daily normal tomorrow BUT, my birthday is on Wednesday, so that's fun! The kids have swim lessons all week, so I think we will probably just wait and go to dinner to celebrate next weekend. We are going to try a new-to-us pizza place! I love doing something new for my birthday. But on the actual day, I'm thinking I'll take a half day in the afternoon, and maybe leave work and go home and take a nap before picking up the kids. Although honestly I'll probably cave and go pick them up immediately because I can't handle it ;)

Hope you had a great weekend and have a great week!

Carolann @ Finding Ithaka said...

So glad you had a great long weekend! We did too. We did so many things and also relaxed a lot. I'm with you on summer. It's almost unbearably hot here in DC but I'll take it and I'll absolutely take it over winter! I managed to stay outside a lot this weekend despite the heat and being super pregnant, so I suspect I won't mind it too much once I'm no longer pregnant!

Amie said...

So glad you had a great weekend. Our daycare was closed all week which meant I was off also with the little guy. We have done this each year up to this point and I must say this age made it truly enjoyable!! Him being potty trained makes going places soooo much easier! haha Hope you have a great birthday!! We have swim lessons this week too :)

Lauren said...

This four day weekend was EVERYTHING, seriously. It's REAL tough today lol...

AnneMarie said...

That's so great that you had a good weekend! Our entire month of June and last part of May was utterly insane, so I was grateful for a nice big "vacation weekend" (we went to my parents' house in Kansas, so I didn't even have to cook!). That's hilarious about your bird turning out to be female and laying an egg. That's neat to hear about your recent photography experiences, too! I imagine it would be stressful to photograph those kinds of Big Life Events. What did you think of getting to witness a home waterbirth?

I hope that your week goes well, and that you have an awesome birthday!

Katie @ Live Half Full said...

Daisy Ones on Audible was AMAZING!!!! There was a full cast. Glad to hear you guys are having a great summer!

Rach said...

What a good weekend! Four days off together is awesome for one thing, but then all the fun things you did made it even better. I'm so glad you four had that time together.

Happy birthday week!! Hooray for July birthdays! :)

Amy said...

What a fun, busy long weekend! I'm so glad you guys got so much family time. And it's birthday month! Happy happy. It's my half-birthday (July 4!) month, so I feel like I'm half as cool. :)

Thanks for the book recommendation. And I'm super impressed with your photo-under-pressure skills. Those are high stakes moments!

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