Our day started off with a hail storm. Right around 6:30.  Of course, it woke up Maria who has her ears on for any sound of bad weather, 24 hours a day.  She was content though to snuggle in our bed until about 7:30 though.

Our morning was spent distracting the kids and getting things set up for our annual party.  Charlie went down for an early nap and I convinced Maria just to lay down and rest. She fell asleep for about 10 minutes, but then again was woke up by the sirens (first Wednesday of the month, 1 pm). So then I spent another 10 minutes convincing her it was just a test, even though we know they worked because they went off 2 days earlier.

Our guests started arriving right around 1:30. We hit the backyard and the new pool by 2:15.  And this is the only picture I took during the party.  At least it’s cute and catches the mood of the day!

We had a great spread (thanks to everyone that brought food!) And a good party. No one got too hot and everyone had plenty to eat!

After our guests left and the house/yard was put back in a little bit of order, we went over to the neighbor’s party.  We came home for baths around 8, but never made it back. Maria talked herself out of fireworks and then after stories, laid in bed fearful and in tears that the loudness of the fireworks was going to make it into our house. Poor girl! Although she did see some of the action from her bed through her window, she fell asleep with headphones listening to lullabies on the iPod. Charlie slept through every single firework.

I took them both to daycare/preschool today and all Maria talked about was how excited she is for next year to see the pretty fireworks.  🙂  It’s funny how she remembers things.