Monday, July 4, 2011

Finding Balance

Warning: This post may be super long because I am in a reflective mood.... or, it may be super short because I am totally wiped out! We'll see...

First of all, Happy 4th of July!!! I really didn't know if we were going to "celebrate" much. After all, there is unpacking, some more unpacking, and then some unpacking to do. (And perhaps some laundry and cleaning and organizing and.... well, you get the picture!)

But alas, I couldn't resist a little celebrating. Unpacking can wait! Though, I will admit, it was a tough decision! Daniel will be working the next 3 days, and not much can be done when he is gone and I am solo with the kids. But, that's why I titled this post, "Finding Balance." I think there needs to be a healthy balance between having fun and getting work done; especially with little kiddos!

So, Daniel made his wonderful American flag waffles for breakfast -- even if we couldn't find the box with vanilla, they were still yummy!

And, since the girls couldn't wait to jump in the pool, but Daniel still had to clean it, we used our handy storage box once again this morning. (There was plenty of swim time after lunch in the real pool, though!)

While the girls played, I worked on a little afternoon treat...

I can't remember where I saw these cones, but they were definitely a hit! I was lucky to find the sprinkles box just in time. Once again, I felt like I should be unpacking while the girls contentedly played... but I fought the thought and determined that making fun memories was more important.


As for any "real" fireworks, we once again had the girls throw some Pop-its."

We decided to keep it simple for dinner and headed to Souplantation. Natalie's eyes got so big when she found out where we were going that she declared it the best 4th of July ever! Afterward, we had to stop at the old house one last time. Somehow the clouds rolled in and it as a cool, beautiful evening. Despite having exhausted girls, we chatted with our old neighbors one last time, then decided to walk around the block one last time. Sierra was so excited, she ran much of the way declaring, "Walk, walk, walk!"

Ironically, I didn't feel sad one bit -- just excited about our future here. This place already feels like home. Tonight is night 5, and the girls happily went right down to sleep. They've had such a peace! Shortly after they crawled in bed, Daniel got them out to go see the fireworks from our guest room. We could see several shows at once, and it was pretty awesome! I took the picture above when it was pitch dark; hence Daniel's look of shock! Natalie repeated her comment from earlier. "See mom... I told you this was the best 4th of July ever!"

And she's right... it was pretty awesome! I do wish we could have invited friends, but our pool is actually pretty dirty still, so I want to wait until it is professionally cleaned. So, I will remember this 4th of July as a special family day where we said good-bye to our old place and felt at home in our new!

Ok, now I must go to bed. I am SO beat; wish me luck being on my own in this chaos with my 3 monkeys the next 3 days!

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