July!

A favorite month in our house.  Aaron and I met in July 1998, we moved into our house in July 2007, and of course the biggest celebration, we welcomed Nate to the word in July 2010.  Also a great month to celebrate family birthdays - me, my Dad (aka Papa), Ashley, Brendan, Grandma Shirley, Cyndy, and a couple of my uncles.

The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday.  How can you not love a holiday that celebrates the beginning of our country and is observed by relaxing, visiting the pool, eating hot dogs and drinking beer?  Last weekend, we held our fifth annual July 4th cookout.  Things this year were a little different than in the past since we were going on 48 hours without power.  But we didn't let that stop the fun.  We knew from past years that the partying all occurs outdoors anyway and without power indoors we had to grill all of our food - party or not.  Without a doubt, Nate's favorite part were the cupcakes his cousins Taegan and Shailey made - he licked off all the icing and then went for another one.  Can't wait to see how he enjoys the birthday cake later this month!

We eventually got power back and I spent Monday throwing away everything in our fridge and freezer and then scrubbing it top to bottom.  A chore I've been meaning to do anyway so I suppose I should thank our power company.

Also on the early July agenda was Nate's very first field trip.  Tania and Raul took the kids to the zoo on Tuesday.  Nate was clueless when we talked to him in advance but Tania tells us he was nuts when they got there, running all around and naming every animal he saw.  We're looking forward to taking him back when the petting zoo is open (it was too hot the morning they went).  I think petting a cow might blow his little toddler mind.

This weekend we're having a big yard sale as we clear out the playroom as we get ready to move Nate into his big boy room.  Then we'll likely camp out at the pool as we try to keep cool.