A Happy Fourth of July!

We skipped the firework celebrations last year as Dylan's bedtime was about 2 hours prior to the 9:30 start time. This year we decided to give it a try, though. As it turns out, Dylan missed his usual noon nap time because his school was closed for the holiday and Tom and I took them to Moe's for lunch and then I took them on to the mall. He ended up crashing in the car on the way home from the mall at about 3:30 and was still sleeping at 6 pm when I decided I'd better wake him up! So he was wide awake at 8:30 when we got to the Target parking lot to watch Ida Lee Park's big firework show from across Route 15. (Great view without the traffic problems or the loud booms that you get by going directly to Ida Lee.)  

The boys had a lot of fun playing on the grass before it got dark.

                                      

Captain America decided to make an appearance again!

Evan crashed in the car on the way home and was out for the night. Tom carried him up to bed and took his shoes off and just let him sleep in his clothes. Dylan, on the other hand, was still energized from his late nap and I wasn't able to get him to sleep until some time around midnight! Ay yi yi! 

Evan's Big Birthday Party!

Tom FINALLY got to come home on the afternoon of Saturday June 29th  and the boys were SO HAPPY to see their Dad! I had planned Evan's birthday party for the following day and rented a pavillion at our favorite park/playground. I was so worried that the weather was going to be a disaster as scattered thunderstorms were predicted for the whole day. However, we totally lucked out and other than a 10 minute period where the sky darkened up and we felt a few sprinkles, it ended up being a beautiful (but reallly hot) day!

Evan wanted  a Pirate Theme for his party and he and Dylan intially put on their pirate gear (and other friends came in partial costumes as well) but everyone ditched them after 5 minutes. It was just too hot to accessorize!

                                             The boys with their grandmother, "Grammie"

 

Here's Dylan and his best buddy from school, Christopher.  Christopher is the little brother of one of Evan's best buddies from school, Dylan Holokai.  So it worked out great that both Holokai boys could come to the party!

                                                 My Mom and my Mother-In-Law

                                                         My Mom with my In-Laws

           The really cute Pirate Cake that my Dad tracked down at the Walmart Bakery in Sterling.

                                     

                                      

                                      
      The only little girls at the party:  Emily (left), her big sister Abigail, and Evan's cousin Ava

                                               Showing off his pirate rings from the cake!

                                                     

        I found these big bubble wands at Target & bought one for each child. They were a BIG HIT!

                       Somebody poured his bubble wand out on the ground & then cried hysterically
                                                when he couldn't blow any more bubbles!!

                                    They never really got the concept of the Ring Toss Game.

                                                  Funky Dance Moves With No Music!

 

                                      

Four Handsome Boys! From Left: Connor, Shaun, Dylan H. and Evan

 

My sweet friend Megan and her son Brennan. She & I met when our first born baby boys were ~5 weeks old. (And just look at them now!)

 

                                     
                                                   Pappy, Cousin Ava & Aunt Becky

                                             My Dad at the end of the party...all partied out!

                                            My Energizer-Bunny Mom, ready to clean up!

 

                                     

Evan had to say his goodbyes to his "Pappy Too" and "Nana" after his party because they were leaving bright and early the next day for the airport!  We were all sad to see them go!

"Super Hero Day"

Friday, June 28th, was "Super Hero Day" at our daycare. I had already planned to keep Evan out of school that day because he had a 9:00 am yearly physical appointment at our pediatrician's office and then my Dad and I planned to take him to see "Monsters University" as a continuation of the whole spoil-him-rotten-for-his-birthday thing. When Dylan heard that Evan was going to the movies, he got upset and jealous, so I really played up "Super Hero Day" and how he was going to get to wear his Captain America hat to school. I even bought him a Captain America shield for the occasion, and well, it worked! He was all excited about it and even got upset that he couldn't wear his costume to school the day before. 

On Thursday night, Dylan seemed unusually cranky when I picked him up from school and that night at dinner time, he refused to eat and burst into tears, saying that his mouth hurt. I had a heck of a time getting him to sleep that night but he finally fell asleep around 10:30.  Then an hour later, he woke me up by climbing into bed with me and snuggling up as close to my back as he could get. Then he went right to sleep and kicked and flailed and cried out in his sleep throughout the night. (Ugh!) The next morning, I found him still snuggled up right next to me.  I could tell immediately from the warmth coming from his skin and the redness in his cheeks that he had a fever...and yep, it was 101.6.  So he wasn't going to get to go to school after all, and was going to miss "Super Hero Day."  I knew this was NOT going to go over well, so being a quick-thinking Mom, I got him up, dressed him in his Captain America gear and rushed everybody out of the house (myself, Mom, Evan and Dylan) so I could get Dylan in to see the doctor during the no-appointment-necessary walk-in period. Evan decided to get in on the Super Hero Day action, too, and paired his favorite Spider Man shirt with a Batman mask and cape!

 

 Here they are in the doctor's office waiting room. Everyone got a huge kick out of them! One Dad in the waiting room came up and told me that seeing Captain American strolling down the hall might just be the cutest thing he has ever seen!

  Captain America tested postive for Strep! I was afraid he was going to have the dreaded Hand, Foot and Mouth virus that he'd had twice before and the doc even susptected it might be that, too, after she found red spots in his mouth. But after he got the Strep diagnosis, she said this was a much preferable virus to have because he'd be put on antibiotics and would likely be feeling much better within 24 hours instead of being sick as a dog for days and having no medicine to take other than Advil! After his appointment, I had Mom wheel him around the parking lot in his stroller while I took Spiderman/Batman to his checkup.  Evan did great and scored much better on his vision test this year than he did last year.  At his 4 Year Check-Up, he'd been so shy that the nurse could barely hear him saying the letters on the eye chart and she may have scored some of them incorrectly. He also answered all of the doctor's questions correctly and showed her some crazy dance moves as a bonus to the balancing-on-one-foot test. :)