Happy Belated Fourth of July

I have never felt this "on top of things" in my life, and man does it feel good!  Part of it is the three day weekend this weekend.  My husband also took off last Monday, so this is his second three day weekend in a row.  I love having him home, but besides spending time together we have done a lot of house projects to prepare for the appraisal that occurred today.  (I use "we" lightly here).  We are refinancing with all the great rates.  "We" put up three light fixtures we have had for almost two years!  And two paintings I have had for almost 6 months!  It just feels so good to have these things done.  We also got the carpet steam cleaned and I got treated to a one time house cleaning-yippee!  Plus, I mentioned in the last post I got a desk for my birthday, so that is definitely contributing to the sense of organization around here.

The fourth of July weekend was perfect in my books.  It was mellow and low key, a good mix of immediate family time with dh and Charlie, as well as extended family time. I even had some cousins come in from DC and the country Jordon!  As far as the actual day, fireworks have been cancelled here for 2 years in a row due to the economy. Since they are well after Charlie's bedtime, we didn't mind. We recorded them and watched them on tv the next night! :) Also, big fireworks are illegal, but I usually keep my distance from those anyways. We did poppers on the back deck while grilling. It was so cute to see Charlie try to step on them a few times before finally making them "pop".  I've included a pic and a video. 

Yesterday, we were on our way to the car from eating out and got caught in this crazy short but furious rain storm.  We all ran to the car, and I couldn't stop laughing.  Charlie dropped his horse on the way out ("neigh") so dh had to go back and get retrieve it from the street.  I tried to get in the backseat so I could buckle Charlie in from there, only to find dh had it piled high with his gym bag etc.  I had to run around and put Charlie in standing in the rain.  He got poured on the whole time, as did I.  Dh had water dripping from his nose, and Charlie just thought the whole thing was hilarious.  Of course, when I laugh these days I pee (lovely, I know, but true), so that just made me laugh harder at the whole mess of a situation.  It was one of those silly things that I will always look back on and smile about.  I took some pictures to remember the moment.  We were seriously only in the rain for a minute or two-crazy! 

Well that is it for now.  I am excited about prayer buddies, as I know many of you are.  If you are new to my blog-sorry it isn't very eventful lately!  Though that is probably for the best with pregnancy!  Let's hope it stays this way-I have an ultrasound Thursday (I am 22 weeks) and it is the one where they really look at the health of the baby and can see if things are wrong in a lot of major areas (heart, spine, brain, etc).  It makes me aware at how up in the air this whole pregnancy is since many of the things that can go wrong are apparent at this point.  I never let myself worry much past the first strong heartbeat and it lessens with time, but the 20 week or so ultrasound always makes me realize it isn't over until the healthy baby is in our arms.  Still, if the ultrasound goes well, I will not think twice until labor.  For now, this week is a lesson in letting go and letting God.  I am back to my practice of calling on the Holy Spirit and good ol' St. Raphael whenever doubts start to creep in!  :)