Fourth of July

I love the 4th of July.  It's one of my favorite holidays!  I love that it's in the middle of summer and the weather is beautiful....I love cookouts...I love how festive red, white, and blue looks on my little ones...and I love snuggling and watching the fireworks.

This year we joined our neighbors again at a local country club to enjoy fireworks.  We were in luck because there is a drought in our neck of the woods and many sites had canceled their fireworks - but not ours!!  We enjoyed a little kiddie carnival and dinner together.  Then our little family snuggled up on a blanket to watch the fireworks....and that lasted about 2 seconds because after the first BOOM our little Jaden decided he was TERRIFIED of fireworks.

It kinda makes me giggle....partly because I think each and every child goes through this phase at one point or another.  One year Eva had to watch fireworks with Matt's noise cancellation headphones on!  Soooo, instead of snuggling with my family Matt took our little man back to the safety of the car to watch the fireworks.  Eva sat with her buddies on the putting green and enjoyed the festivities.  Greyson slept through the whole thing.  

As for me?

I spread out on the blanket, enjoyed the beautiful fireworks lighting up the sky, and said a silent prayer thanking God for this amazing family that I'm blessed with...even if we aren't snuggled up together this year!

Big Dreams...

We recently experienced a neighbors house burning down in our neighborhood.  Luckily no one was home when the fire broke out, but the home was a complete loss. 

Eva and Jaden had never seen a house fire before and it was a bit scary.  The flames were taller than the trees!  Our neighbor took her boys and Jaden in our golf cart to get a little closer look (Eva was too scared to go).  They boys watched the firefighters climb onto the roof and use a chainsaw to put a large hole in the roof. 

Our neighbor looked at the boys and said, "Do you see how brave the firefighters are?!"

Her boys responded, "Ya!  I wanna be a firefighter when I grow up!!!"

Jaden sat there quietly and then looked up at her and said, "I think I'm gonna stick with being a superhero."

I love that boy.

My loves...

Notre Dame Basketball Camp

Our little Eva recently attended the Notre Dame Basketball Camp.  To say she was in heaven would be an understatement.  Not only was she around the Notre Dame girls basketball team (including Skylar Diggens), but she was also able to literally spend HOURS playing something she loves....basketball.

The picture above is blurry, but I still love it.  It happened to be crazy sock and headband day and Eva was done up for the occasion!  In this picture she was running relays with a perma-smile on her face.  That's one of my favorite things about watching Eva play ball - the CONSTANT grin she has across her face.

She also loved that her cousins were at the same camp and they got to "verse" eachother (Eva's term for playing eachother)....

Another big part of the week for her was spending time with one of her favorite basketball players, Skylar Diggens....

I noticed that before Eva would run relays, or while she was playing ball she would look around to see if Skylar was watching her.  If she was Eva would smile to herself and play even harder.  I loved seeing that drive in her! 

We first met Skylar last winter when we happened to run into her at the MAC counter at the mall.  Just like the last time we met her I was impressed with her demeanor and how she would relate to Eva...always taking the "star quality" off of herself and pointing out Eva's "star qualities".  Eva just hung on her every word.  I wrote Sylar a letter letting her know how much that chance meeting at the mall meant to our little girl...and to Matt and I.  Eva was struggling with some friendships at that time and part of the problems stemmed from the fact that Eva wants to play basketball at recess, and no girls would play with her. She felt like she didn't have any friends.  I explained to Skylar that meeting her seemed to renew Eva's self confidence a bit.

At the end of camp Skylar gave me a special gift to give Eva....

Yep, that's the headband that Skylar wears during games.  A special gift that Eva will always cherish (and thus far has rarely taken off of her head).  To me, a reminder to my little girl to always be true to yourself.

In all, a special week for our little girl with memories that will last a lifetime!

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."

--e.e. cummings

Hangin' out in the Dugout...

Not that I know all (or any) of the answers...but...

So I recently got an email from a reader that asked if I would share some parenting advice on my blog.  She said she would like to know some of the "rules" or guidelines I follow while raising my children such as....

How I handle a child that is not listening?
How I make special time for each of them?
What I do when a child talks back?

When I first read her email I was a little shocked....really?!  ME???

Trust me sweetie, I'm NO expert.  I've always said I wish God sent an instruction manual with these little angels. 

That being said, I am willing to share what works for ME (most of it found by trial and error) if it is something that my readers would be interested in.  Quiet honestly, we can all learn from each other because what works for one child doesn't always work for the next!  Ha!

Is this something you would be interested in me writing about?  Would you find it interesting?

If so please email me theblissfullyhappyhousewife@gmail.com and let me know what kind of topics you would want me to cover.

At this point I'm not sure I'm doing this....I do not want to come across as a parenting expert...but if there is enough interest I may consider it.

Have a beautiful day everyone...XOXO.
Jamie

Pinterest

I officially have an addiction to Pinterest. 

It didn't start out that way. I became a member on that site well over a year ago and rarely looked at it.  It's just been in the past few months that I find myself pinning away on a daily basis.  I usually do it after the kiddos are in bed at night.  I spend a few minutes - my "down" time - pinning a few pins to my boards.

Here's the thing....I figured the addiction isn't all that bad as long as I actually USE the pins. 

And I do.

I've made many recipes I've found on that site.  I've done a few of the activities I've seen with the kiddos (we just made sidewalk paint yesterday and next week I'm attempting to make giant bubbles with them).  Eva has a new favorite hairstyle that we now do thanks to Pinterest...

I've got quite a few decorating ideas accomplished thanks to that site...and I just purchased the materials to do another one.  This time I'm going to be making a personalized pillow (with a favorite quote) to sit on the chair in our master bedroom.

So do you use Pinterest?!  I'd love to follow you!