Celebration!

Our 4th of July celebrations went freakishly well. It was actually a little scary.

The Husband had gone to the NASCAR race with his brother, so the kids and I were on our own. I let them get muddy in the sprinkler and I was feeling lonely, so we didn't get around to dinner until late. We decided to go to out for pizza on a whim, so it was shower, dress, run to Pizza Hut.

We've never been there, so there were no immovable rituals that could be violated. I brought markers and ordered before we even sat down. Dinner went REALLY well. The Girl didn't even eviscerate her pizza before eating it.

When The Boy found out I wasn't planning to go to the fireworks, he was so bummed that I actually gave in. At 7:30, I drove my purse-on-wheels to the YMCA parking lot and snagged the last parking place in the last row. I covered us all in bug spray, picked up three beach chairs, and we started walking. The Girl initially complained, but we set ourselves down near the lake and waited.

Fifteen minutes later, DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF US, the fireworks started. They were awesome! Both kids had a great time! We walked back to the car, sat in traffic for 15 minutes, and made it home pretty quickly.

The Boy asked for sparklers, so we took them outside to play with for a while. In keeping with time-honored 4th of July traditions, The Girl burned her hand on one. (Hey, someone had to!) We went inside, made all the beds, wiped most of the bug spray off of them, put them in pajamas, and bam! They slept.

They made up for all that good behavior in church this morning, but for 12 blissful hours, I was the best mom on the planet. Mmm.