373 Thirty-three Years and a Firework Display

So, I turned 33 on Friday ... there isn't really much more to say than that. Once you become a mother birthdays just don't seem to mean as much anymore..... AS LONG AS THERE IS CAKE ....

I did wake up in a toddler bed for the first time in probably 31 years. Connor just would NOT go to sleep. He kept waking up, crying for me. Squeezing 69" into a 48" bed is just as fun and comfortable as you can imagine. In other words, I woke up on my 33rd birthday feeling closer to 83. We had a nice laid back day. Hot dogs for lunch and lazing about. That afternoon, Katie was playing at a friends, Connor was napping, and Chip had to run errands, so I attempted to lay out. IT WAS SCORCHING! I probably did not last 15 minutes and I turned over several times, hoping to find a way to persevere, but I finally admitted defeat and headed inside. I have no idea how we did this as teens. Although, one good point to laying out. I am so white that I reflect the sun. Just doing my part to stop Global Warming.
Also, as part of my relaxation I didn't take pics with the real camera, all pics of my birthday are off my phone, forgive the quality, enjoy the moments)After Chip went to work, Connor and I hit the backyard to throw the frisbee. That lasted approximately half a minute before Connor wanted to get in the water. First he played with the hose, but when his shirt got wet he stripped down completely. He found the sprinkler and threw a fit until I hooked it up. His cute little booty ran in the house and came back with his swimsuit. I guess he is shy ;) Then he must have gotten chilled because he wanted to get in the hot tub. Of course he was immensely surprised that the water was HOT ... but then most kids are. They touch the water and without thought they have to say "HOT!" every time! (yeah, so I do it too sometimes ... shhhh) Ah, Captain Obvious, how you make me laugh!It looked like I was going to have a cake-less birthday, but I loaded the kids up and headed to Schnucks. I HAD to have cake ON my birthday. I thought I would be able to pick out my own cake ... but obviously I forgot to take into account the fact I had two kids with me. Katie wanted yellow cake and white icing (my favorite). Connor was drawn to the chocolate. In order to save my sanity I opted for cupcakes, a little of each. After stuffing the kids full of sugar I attempted to get them tucked in. Connor fell asleep fairly easily, compared to the night before. Of course that was after reading all of his favorite books ... "The Night Before Christmas", "Runaway Pumpkin", and "The Little Duck". And then to get Katie tucked in. She has started reading me her bedtime story. We are bribing her to read right now by paying her a dollar when she reads certain books. The time will come when we stop paying her to read, but she still has a little room for improvement so she can earn a little more American Girl money. Although she officially spent her first real money on Silly Bands (aka the bane of my existence - damn expensive rubber bands). After I scratched her back and she dozed off, I spent a while just looking at her. Marveling at how this sweet gorgeous baby was made by me (okay, and a little help from Chip)! It continually amazes me!Chip felt like he had let me down when I told him I had bought cupcakes, so he swung into Walmart on the way home from work and picked me up this ADORABLE cake! The color is horrid in this pic, but it is so cute!And, even though my main gift (for the entire year) is my laptop, he also picked me up a little happy :) I can't wait to pull out the RockBand guitar and bust out this bad boy!We had already planned on going to the firework display on Sunday at Snowden Grove since Chip would be off work, but Katie came home from Kaitlyn's talking about the fireworks show at Latimer Lakes. She was so excited, and we didn't have any plans, so I packed some PB&J, chips, and drinks and we headed on out. The fireworks didn't start until 9 but we were there at 7. Plenty of time for the kids to play on the playground. A cell phone pic of us waiting for it to get dark enough for the fireworks to start. We met up with Katie's little buddies and laid out blankets. The kids ran around like wild things before it got dark. Luckily there was plenty of space. It was not nearly as crowded as I thought it would be.It never fails, 10 minutes before the fireworks were scheduled to start Katie had to go to the bathroom. Which of course meant that all of the kids had to go the bathroom. Weeeeeeee! We had to walk back without lights while fireworks exploded behind us. The girls were trying to check out the fireworks without falling. We made it back to our blanket safely and everyone settled in. Connor tucked himself behind my back. He wasn't crying or overly scared, he just needed the extra protection from Mom. About halfway through he scooted around and sat by himself. Well, when he wasn't sitting in Kaitlyn's Dad's lap. All in all we had a great time. The kids got to play, and they loved the fireworks. The weather wasn't sweltering. The bugs didn't eat us alive. We will be hitting the BIG show tonight at Snowden Grove! I might take a picture or two.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July!