Happy 4th!

Celebrating yesterday reminds me to praise God for our nation (although imperfect) and the many blessings we receive from living here!

We went to a party last night at a friend's house and their neighbors lit off the most spectacular, private fireworks display I have ever seen. It just went on and on...I cannot begin to imagine how much money they spent :). And Brody, our little trooper, just slept upstairs in a pack and play through an hour of some seriously loud explosions. You gotta love the third child...I am pretty sure he could sleep through the sound of a tornado.

Speaking of sleeping through a tornado, last night we had the loudest thunderstorm at 1:30. It was so intense--complete with lightning, thunder, and sideways hitting rain that--I actually thought about turning on the news to see if there was a tornado warning and we should all be down in the basement. Of course, all of my men (the little ones and big one) were just happily sleeping away while I feared that we might blow away. It was scary! We have been having the craziest weather here this summer...so unlike Colorado!

I finally fell asleep when it was over, only to be awakened thirty minutes later by Brody who somehow soaked through an entire diaper and his pajamas--from head to toe. Poor guy. I'm not sure how that happened. It's like he had some extra bottles stashed somewhere in his crib and snuck a few before he fell asleep. My night was sort of starting to feel like some weird twilight zone episode. Needless to say, I think I only slept about 3 hours total but still felt somewhat rested in the morning.

This morning Brody was sitting on my bed when Joel came in to say good morning. I love to see the look on Brody's face when he sees Joel in the morning or after he's gotten up from a nap. He has the hugest smile and flings his arms around in excitement. I'll try to get it on photo because it is just SO sweet. Anyway, that happened this morning and Joel smiled back. I said, "Joel, Brody loves you so much and he always has a big smile when he sees you!" Joel said, "And I always get the biggest smile when...(I am assuming he's going to say "when I see Brody, too!")...I see my friend, Helmsley!" Oh, okay. He has a serious friend crush on this little girl, so I shouldn't have been surprised, I guess!

Yesterday when Zac told Joel that he loved him very, very much, Joel responded by saying that he loved Helmsley very much too. Oh my. We could be in for it!

Hope you are all having a wonderful 4th weekend!!