Fourth of July Firsts

We had a great 4th weekend!!!

The kids had a day of firsts.

Brandy's cousin had gotten married the week before on the other side of the state, and was having a wedding reception. All of the kids needed new shoes, so we left early to do a little shopping.

My "Roller Aid" is AWESOME! It gives me a whole new freedom. Haven't I mentioned it? It's powered by me, kinda like a 4 wheeled little kids scooter. I can have my hands free!! I can reach down and pick up things off the floor!!! It's so wonderful!! I still sit with my foot propped quite a bit of the time, since my physical therapist things that part of the reason for my delayed healing was swelling (even though I had my foot up most of the time before, there was still a lot of swelling).

Svanna kinda cut off my head in this one, but you can see my cute little basket! (smile)

It made it so I could shop! Ok, and this is crazy, cuz normally I don't like shopping, almost to the point of hating it. But after this long I actually enjoyed it! LOL

We had gone through the Mickey Ds drive thru, but Brandy's not a big fan. So he got a to-go order from Buffalo Wild Wings, his absolute fav restaurant. Well, you can't really drive and eat hot wings, so he stayed in the van with the other kids while Shi, Sierra, Svanna and I went into Justice, a girls clothing store and got a few things.


Then off to the mall, of all things! The first time Svanna, Gabe and Summer were in a mall. They did great!! Imagine...walking down the mall...Brandy, 7 kids, and me on a scooter! I'm sure we were a sight to see.


Then off to their first wedding reception! Congratulations to Jamie and Zac!!


It was wonderful to catch up with Brandy's cousins again. And see aunts and uncles we haven't seen in a while. Jamie had the neatest idea. She had colors and wedding coloring books on the tables. It kept the kids busy for a long time!! Not to mention coloring on the plastic table covering. Of course Grandpa and Grandma were a hit as well.

Shianne really enjoyed getting together with her 2nd cousin, Madison. We had gone to stay with them a few years back, but now life's gotten busy and we haven't made it back to Omaha for a while.


Then came the dance! Shianne and Sierra took right to it, but Svanna was hesitant. She is a BEAUTIFUL dancer. Especially when she dances traditional Ethiopian dance. However, everything she wants to do lately is American, and she doesn't feel as sure of herself dancing that way (hoping once the newness wears off that she enjoys her Ethiopian roots once again).

Brandy doesn't like to dance, I usually have to pull him on the dance floor. I had a feeling if he asked Svanna to dance, that she would feel more at ease, so he did. Here's what happened next...

Then Svanna really got down with all the other kids! Here's Brandy's cousin Tracy joining in. Or maybe I should say leading the group? It was really cute. Madison and her sister Ava are in on the fun, too.Finally, Summer was the last to join in. Way cute!
This was Gabe's opinion of the whole dancing scenario..."Too loud!"As is the case, wedding dances are a bit on the loud side, although this one was pretty calm. They were predicting fireworks outside later on, but we decided to leave before it got too overwhelming/overstimulating for the kids.

We called some friends and met them at a local fireworks show. Gathered in the back of their van...

It was an unseasonably cool 4th! Here we are in jackets, waiting for the show to start...



However, Gabe, I don't think a winter coat and hood are in order! (smile) But it works!

Svanna was begging for me to take pictures. We only had Brandy's little camera, and it didn't like the low light. But here's one.

I asked Brandy to grab me a piece of paper so I could record their comments of the first time they saw fireworks, on "America's birthday."

I assumed it was the first time they've seen them. But thought I should make sure, so I asked Svanna if she'd seen fireworks in Ethiopia, Mekelle or Addis.

She looked at me with the preteen areyoucrazymom look with a "No." Yeah, dumb question.

Svanna had only this to say in an awestruck voice, "Mom...beautiful..."

Gabe had lots more to say! Which shouldn't surprise me. =)

"Spiderman! Spiders!" (in regards to the smoke that hangs downward after the explosion). They do kinda look like spiders.

"Mom, Wainy!" (aka raining, also in re: to the left behind smoke)

"Fire go clouds!"

"Happy Birthday, America!!" (in the cutest accent ever)

Earlier in the evening, they kept asking if we were going to see the "fireplace," and we would correct them with "fireworks."

So during the fireworks show, Gabe says,

"Fireplace, living room."

"Yes," I said, "Fireworks?"

"In sky."

"Yeah, honey," I said, "sky"

Wonderful Fourth!!