Festivities and My Morning in Hell

WARNING: There are a lot of pictures in this post and they aren't in order. Hey, it's summer and I am trying not to work too hard!

This weekend was a lot of fun. Saturday night we hung out with Cheryl and Dick (Drew's mom and Step-Dad), MeMe (Drew's grandmother), David and Kelly (Drew's older brother and his wife) and Jonathan and Jarrett (our nephews). We watched fireworks and talked. I enjoy hanging out casually and not having to worry about entertaining anyone. I wish we did this more often. Addison loved the "pow pows" and all the kids had a great time playing together.

Sunday evening we had all of Drew's family over for a cook out. Drew made hamburgers and everyone brought something munch on. Again, the kids had a great time playing together and I enjoyed talking and hanging out with sisters-in-law and the rest of Drew's family. We really need to have more of these times together. I don't think any of the kids argued the whole time either. That's pretty impressive considering there were 8 kids here ranging in age from 2-11.

They stayed until after dark so we could watch some more fireworks. We could see several shows off in the distance, but could only hear the ones that were going off in our neighborhood.

Landri

Addison and Landri

Landri, again. Isn't she just the cutest thing?

Taryn

Addison

Jackson

All the cousins~ Jackson, Taryn, Bryson, Jonathan, Addison, Landri, Jarrett and Kian

Bryson

Addison and Kian

Addison and Taryn

Addison

Landri

Kian

Landri and Addison

Addison

Addison and Uncle David

Addison and PaPaw

Jarrett and Jackson

Jonathan and Bryson

Kelly and David

MeMe and Addison

Addison giving me "the look."

My three~ Bryson, Jackson and Addison

Addison and me~ Yes, I posted a picture of me without make-up on. I am a brave woman!

I just realized I didn't get a picture of Cheryl or of Matthew and Carrie. I will try to get one the next time we see them.

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Today I took the kids to the water park and, let me just say, it was HELL. First, Addie's Band-Aid came off her finger and she LOST IT! (I will tell you why she needed a Band-Aid in the first place later on, if you choose to keep reading!) Then, Jackson fell while RUNNING to the wave pool. Of course, I had little sympathy because he was running. They wanted to eat as soon as we got there (10:00). Bryson decided he didn't want the rest of his sandwich and threw it on the ground. Yes, on the ground. We were sitting not 15 feet from a trash can. I made him sit with me for 10 minutes because of that. We went to the lazy river and I was floating around with Addison on a double tube (She was crying and whining the whole time because the second Band-Aid I put on her came off in the water.) Bryson was hanging on, pushing us and ramming us into the wall and other floaters. He kept saying it was "an accident," but was proudly counting how many "crashes" we had, too. I texted Drew to come get Addie as soon as he finished up at work, but I couldn't wait that long. After two miserable hours of whining, crying, complaining, "crashing," littering and me about to lose it with my kids in a public place we left. On the way home I told the boys to take a shower and go to their seperate rooms. I told them I didn't want them to talk to me for a while, also. I put Addison in bed. I took a shower and went back to bed. I slept for three hours and now I am trying to forget this morning ever happened.

The Band-Aid Story:

Thursday evening I was giving Addison a bath. I had told her several times to get her hair wet so I could wash it. The last time I said it she decided to comply, but when she stepped back she slipped in the tub. She tried to grab on to the side of the tub to catch herself, but she grabbed my razor instead. She sliced the pad of her ring finger on her right hand and all hell broke loose. She was screaming and crying and I was trying to stop the bleeding. I could tell it was pretty deep, but I couldn't see through all the blood and through all her flailing around. I finally got a gauze bandage and first-aid tape on it. Each time she has taken a bath since that night or it has come off on its own, she freaks out. I'm sure it hurts and I'm sure it really scared her, but, my goodness, she just goes nuts! Drew told her tonight that the next time the Band-Aid comes off it is staying off. We think it needs to dry out and harden up so it will stop hurting. She will probably never touch a razor again and be one of those "all-natural" women when she grows up!