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Sometimes it takes long holiday weekend with your kids to remind you what's important. Like all of us, I get caught up in the day to day grind of trying to work full time and take care of two kids. It gets overwhelming and exhausting. But then something like a 4 day weekend will come along and I allow myself to forget about work and obligations and just be there for my kids. If there was a way to bottle just the pure joy that comes with being 4 years old (or 1 for that matter) and literally not having a care in the world, we would all be rich. Rich and completely fulfilled...

Friday we had lunch at the Cafe served by our favorite waitress and the we went to the Disney Store where The Boy charmed his Gigi into new jammies and "Slinky" the dog from Toy Story 3. Meanwhile, I have been forced to admit that my daughter has a little bit of typical girl in her as she has decided that she likes her "baby" doll. It is a fabric boy doll that we bought for The Boy when he was little and it sits in her bookshelf in her room. Recently she has begun carrying it around the house saying, "My baybee...baybee." So I let her have a treat also and took her to get her another fabric doll at the adorable, albeit ridiculously priced, children's store. She loves it. We then came home and ate dinner outside and had a nice relaxing evening and got a good night's sleep.

Saturday, The Boy left with his mom for a few hours and The Girl, my mom and I went and did the weekly grocery shopping. We came home, all had a little nap and later my cousins (who The Boy LOVES!!) came by for dinner to introduce her boyfriend to the clan. We had fabulous food (salmon burgers from Trader Joe's...who knew?) and good times and a little wine. It was a great day. And then of course yesterday was Fourth of July...

This day deserves picture documentation. We started off by clearing all the furniture off the patio and cleaning the patio and all the furniture itself. The Boy was a fabulous help...

...and he only sprayed his sister once with the hose...
And then later we had my mom and stepdad and my grandmother over as well as some family friends. Can't really ask for more... Here is The Boy enjoying many a 4th of July strawberry...
...meanwhile The Girl was content to cruise around in her favorite little car...
My mom brought The Boy a little nerf airplane thing from the $0.99 bin at Target and he could not have been more thrilled. He played with that thing all night long...
And The Girl thought that there was no reason she wasn't big enough to go down the slide herself. So she tried. Over and over and over. Thank God the slide is surrounded by grass...
And after about 90 tries, we got a semi decent family shot:
Then after a fabulous dinner we put The Girl to sleep and my step dad stayed with her while my mom and I took The Boy to see his first fireworks show. We found a great park literally 5 minutes from my house, with ample parking, and sat down about 5 minutes before a 20 minute long fireworks show where I watched my son's face WAY more than I saw the fireworks themselves. We came home and all collapsed.

And today we get to just recoup. We slept in late and are still in our jammies as I type this. Tomorrow we return to the world of work and stress and finances but this weekend? It was all about time with my kids and realizing what amazing little people they are. I am a very lucky woman. Hope everyone had a happy and safe weekend!