Celebrating the 4th

We had a lovely 4th. We were celebrating for 2 years' worth since we weren't in the country last year, and it was a great day filled with all the things an Independence Day should be filled with! We barbequed with friends while the kids splashed around in the baby pool, ate lots, sweat sufficiently through our clothes, and watched fireworks. Jude stayed up til 10:30 since it was a special occasion and did great (Ada snored through some of the loudest fireworks I've ever heard...second children are awesome!) After we put the kids to sleep, Ted and I had a beer in the yard and watched some of the fireworks die down, and it was really nice. We sure are lucky to live where we do. Ted, Ada and I woke up at almost 10am the next day (with middle-of-the-night interruptions, of course) and Jude woke up at 10:30. I swear I have a teenage boy sometimes.
I mentioned sweat, which reminds me. Our hot water heater went out on Saturday morning and just got fixed today (Tues). Yep, that's 3 days without showering. Nobody could come fix it over the holiday weekend, and with 90 degree temps, we started smelling bad fast. After feeding the ducks in Broad Ripple one day (or "kicking the geese" as its quickly becoming known) we headed over to our friends Sam and Missy's house to bathe our family (thanks guys!) As soon as we walked in the door, Jude ran up to his BFF Thomas, grabbed his arm with his most serious face, and announced "Fireworks." Not an easy word when 1) You're 2 and 2) You can't pronounce your R's. The fireworks must have made a big impression:)
Rewinding a bit...our friends Dan and Bethan that we've known since college had their first baby last week, a beautiful girl they named Emma Rae! So we loaded into the car on Saturday and drove down to meet her for a quick day trip. She is just precious and Ada is excited to have a new fellow Colts fan her own age to cheer with:)


I started back to Pilates last night and it kicked my butt! I gained about 8 more pounds during my pregnancy with Ada than I did with Jude, and I've still got some pounds hanging out that need to go, which is hard when all I want is ice cream. I thought that craving would go away once she was born, but nope. I'm sore today but its a nice sore...it feels good to move again! Now if someone would just come take this ice cream out of my freezer!
And finally, Ada smiles. She's my silly goose. She smiled at me a few days ago when I was talking to her and smiled at Jude over the weekend while he was patting her head. There's not a lot better than watching your kids smile at each other. It almost made me forget about the screaming in the car on the way home from Louisville:)