The Wallisers

We had a pretty busy long weekend… but I really can’t complain a bit! Saturday, we went to the family reunion on my Mom’s side of the family… saw a bunch of people that I couldn’t remember… and a few that I did. Nora had a blast dancing while Papa and Uncle Jerry played music with a few others. This kid is a real big fan of music! I LOVE IT!

Sunday, we got up and went to the cemetery where Jeremy’s Mom’s side of the family meets up each July 4th to remember his Grandmother. Then a big family breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We dropped the girls off at Grandma & Grandpa’s house for naps and some swimming while Jeremy and I came back here to get the yard mowed and the house cleaned up. Everyone was coming over to our house for fireworks so we wanted to make sure it was all ready. When we were done we headed back over to Jeremy’s parents house and cooked some steaks and went swimming until it was time to head over here and get everything set up for fireworks.

We ended up with a pretty decent crowd… in addition to Jeremy’s parents, sister & her husband, and his Aunt and cousin… my parents made it over too, with a cameo appearance by Aunt Whit and her new boyfriend… who soon left for bigger and better fireworks (apparently).

Nora LOVED the fireworks! We were afraid that she’d be scared… but she really seemed to enjoy them. We started off with some sparklers and she thought those were pretty cool. She really liked the little snap pop things but couldn’t throw them hard enough… so she’d stomp on them on the ground (which was pretty awesome). Sarah hung out with us for a little bit but she was getting pretty tired so Grandma Kathy gave her a bath and put her to bed for us (Thanks!!).

Oh, and we can’t forget my super awesome cherry chocolate ice cream that I made! – see previous post.

We started in on the fireworks in the backyard and had a blast. Nora kept hopping from one lap to another to watch the show… which was pretty cool because everyone got to enjoy them with her. Surprisingly, the kid stayed up till almost 10!! Before Grandma Judy (& Grandpa Mark) left, she read her a story and Nora was pointing towards her bed wanting to be laid down – what a sleepy girl!

Unfortunately, the late night didn’t make her want to sleep in any longer – both the girls were up at 6:00 am!! Oh well.

Today, we decided we’d make a trip to the bookstore to get a few new story books. Mom & Dad are really tired of the same old selection of stories at bedtime so it was kind of a treat for us all. Grandma Judy met us up there and hung out with us while we looked for books, browsed another store or so, and had lunch at Red Robin. By the time we got these girls back in the car it didn’t take long and they were both asleep!

Anyway, it was nice having an extra day off and getting to spend the day with the whole family. Back to work tomorrow…