A Swimmingly Fun Weekend

This past weekend was jam packed with so many parties and visitors! The weekend began with a party at the beach to celebrate baby Elena and the 4th (excuse me, Independence Day). We got to play, eat, and socialize with many of our local friends and to enjoy the Konickis' extended family. I was pleasantly surprised that Annabelle enjoys playing in the ocean again. After the beach, we headed home for naps before waking up with barely enough time to catch the 2nd half of my brother-in-law, Jason, playing at Palm Bay's big 4th of July celebration. The night ended with lots of big, loud, and pretty fireworks. I was very surprised that Corgan seemed to enjoy the fireworks more than Belle did. She was scared of them at first, but after a minute or so, she warmed up to them, but Corgan was watching in awe of the lights the whole time. Kelly and Kelson came down with Jason, so I got to witness adorable Kelson signing "light" over and over again throughout the entire fireworks show. She is precious and so incredibly smart!

Saturday was another busy day. It began with Belle's gymnastics class first thing, then on to Ella's 2nd birthday party at Erica's. The kids had lots of fun playing in the water. Annabelle and Ella were so cute sitting in the kiddie pool squirting one another with the hose. They were both laughing hysterically. I even joined in on the water fun and took a dive down the slip-n-slide to get the slip-n-slide party started. :) After the party, it was back home for quick naps again, then on to another party for more water fun with Kelly's in-laws. Annabelle has been talking about wanting to go swimming with Kelly for weeks, so she was so excited to get to do that. Annabelle's swimming skills were out in full force as she was swimming under the water with her eyes open, retrieving rings from under the water, swimming between us and the wall, jumping in, and whatever else she could get in to! After a little while, Grammy, Keith, Kelson, and Corgan joined us in the pool too. Corgan and Kelson surprised us with their A-DOR-A-BLE excitement over jumping in the pool too! We sat them up on the edge of the pool, and they both would get all excited then they'd jump into the water! Corgan had the BIGGEST grin of anticipation while sitting on the side of the pool waiting to jump! It's amazing what a difference a month makes because just a month ago, he didn't really dislike the pool, but he didn't get excited about it either.

We spent the rest of the weekend, hanging out with Kelson, Kelly, and Jason (and friend-Rodney), then had to drop them off at the airport this afternoon. For a long weekend, it was way too short! I wish they lived closer so the cousins could play together more!

My mom will be heading back home at the end of the week, and I don't know what I'm going to do without her! I've become so used to having her around! I really don't think I've had to cook, do laundry, or wash dishes for like a month (yes, 'Cole, I do do those things sometimes), and it's nice to have another adult to talk to during the day. She's been so great with the kids and they love having her here too! I don't think I've heard her complain once either, even when I just up and say "I'm go to such-and-such place... see you later." and leave her home with the kids for hours! I've gotten SOOO much done during this month too! Life's definitely going to slow down again next week as I try to adjust to being the only Mommy again. :S We're all going to miss having Grammy here!