Memorial Day Weekend

When Michael's away I dread holidays, especially the patriotic ones. I don't want to be the person whose imposing myself onto another family but I find myself in pity parties as I sit on my front porch by myself with the kids while every house around me is having a cookout with cars parked down the street. I hate being pathetic. And, it doesn't help when during the patriotic church service I find myself bawling as we remember those that have passed away serving our beloved country.

So to battle the pity parties I kept us as busy as possible. However, on Friday night my weekend didn't start as I had planned. Roman slept way too long in his nap to allow me the activities of working out and dining at Chick-fil-a. So, I had to scramble to get dinner made and discovered that my chicken had expired and with the $3.96 per gallon gas, there was no chance of driving a minimum of 16 miles to the nearest decent restaurant to eat out so we had PBJ and smoothies. To top it all off, I spilled my smoothie across the kitchen counter and the tractor died half way around the block and I had to carry it the rest of the way home.

On Saturday, we went and purchased landscaping materials (otherwise known as plants) and then landscaped the flowerbeds . This took four hours and it was a bit painful with only a few tears. Check out the background on the pictures below, it's hard to see because everything's still small, but I'm pleased. It kept us busy and I completely forgot (I tried to anyway) about the smell of grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and the sound of laughing children and families in the houses surrounding me.

Sunday we had church and ate out with friends afterwards, that was a good distraction for a good part of the day. Plus, friends from church invited me to a cookout for Monday evening - this meant the world to me because I had been "eavesdropping" on cookouts all weekend long!

Monday, the actual holiday, was the big hump. I was able to wake up with the anticipation of a holiday cookout with families, that was very helpful, but it wasn't until 6PM that evening. I decided to distract us with some retail therapy for some fun outdoor activities from Target's blessed "one spot". We already had most of these items, but these were new and so I enjoyed sitting on the porch and watching the kids have a good time with them. The kids loved the bubbles and the rockets and of course, the tractor came out.

Finally, five o'clock rolled around and it was time to start getting ready to head on to our holiday cookout! Even Mikey was anxious for some holiday fun (and to see his sweet little friends Jasmyn and Jocelyn)! He kept asking if it was time to go yet. As soon as we got there, the kids were on the trampoline.

Jasmyn and Jocelyn had brought their Barbie Jeep so they took it for a spin. Roman started chasing it around with glee, so Jocelyn decided to take him out for a drive. You can see that this jeep moves pretty fast and can turn on a dime. Roman had to hang on, but loved cruising with an older and beautiful woman!

Then, what would a holiday cookout be without some volleyball! The kids settled in to watch the game! I even jumped into the game, but that did leave Roman on his own a bit though...

After the game (games actually) it was "Apple Pie Time" announced by one of the pregnant ladies (finally, this wasn't me, but I agreed quickly!). The kids joined us after chasing some lightning bugs. After the apple pie, we sat back and watched the fireworks. Roman didn't like those so much. That was our cue that we should get going (even with a bonfire brewing in the backyard) and take baths and go to bed.

Overall, the holiday weekend wasn't so bad. One of my neighbors even sent over an invitation for a graduation party in the next couple of weeks. It'll be nice to actually eat the food and talk to the people...