Fourth Recap...

It is sort of anticlimactic to discuss what we did on the Fourth, because we did the SAME THING this year that we did in 2012 and 2013.  Not that I would change a thing, mind you.  I'm a sucker for routine.  Plus, it is such a delight watching Banner enjoy the exact same parade and fireworks show that I did at his age.

Sometimes is the simple little things.  Probably why the Fourth of July has always been one of my favorite holidays.  Just good ole fashion summer fun with friends and family.

Anyway, I won't bore you with too many details.  Just a million and a half photographic memories of Banner's third half birthday:

Business as usual...

Waiting for the parade to begin.

Two year olds get a lot of candy tossed their way.  Especially
when they have a sassy fifteen month, female sidekick named Eva.

Have I mentioned that he has A LOT of energy?

Paw-Paw Mint.

CEO, Uncle Yum and Jeep.

Lady Loraine and the FABULOUS Auntie Mimi.

Rachel and Neighbor Becky.

So, yeah.  Catching isn't his best skill.  But to Banner's credit, he keeps trying.

Because being two means you gotta
pull the Dragon Wagon "myself".

After the parade, we returned home so Banner could open his half birthday presents from Jeep:

He is finally getting the hang of opening presents.

Present time was followed by "quiet time".  Little man keeps threatening to drop his nap, but we strictly enforce quiet time because...well, mama and daddy NEED a nap, even if Banner (*thinks* he) doesn't.

We were supposed to meet at my dad's house a little before 5 PM, but were delayed by a stray storm.  Lots of thunder and lightening at our house, but NO RAIN.  A mile away at my sister's house, though?  DOWNPOUR.  Abrams and Mockingbird?  HAIL.  Skillman and Mockingbird?  FLOODED STREETS.  75 and Mockingbird?  SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS.

For those of you not familiar with Dallas, I live exactly 6.1 miles from my dad, and four miles from 75 and Mockingbird.  So we are talking about a pretty bad a$$ thunderstorm that was less than three miles wide.

Here's a visual (photos taken less than five minutes apart) on Mockingbird:

The weirdest thing is that the storm NEVER crossed 75, and everyone we spoke to that evening was like, "What do you mean it rained today"?

Of course, it would have been a better story if it had actually rained at my house, because I'm all about free water in July.

Anyway, back to the festivities, Banner was a HUGE fan of the band at the club this year.  During their break between sets, he even went and found them drinking coffee and sat down like he was one of the guys.

Number ONE fan.

We weren't sure we were going to be able to see the fireworks because
little groupie didn't want to leave the stage and his new buddies.

But after a few rounds of peek-a-boo, and the promise of another band outside (I kid you not, he ended up on stage!), we were successful in getting him outside.

A rare family photo before the fireworks began.

I may love this photo more than THIS ONE taken last year.

Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday!  

We've reached THAT stage...

...where we have a lot of imaginary boo-boos, and my
kid ends up going to school looking like this.

In related news:  All the fake boo-boo drama this morning totally threw me for a loop.  Because having a fake boo-boo isn't enough.  We also need to milk sympathy for the fake boo-boo.

The kid is destined for Hollywood.

Anyway, I managed to forget about splash day at school (I blame the boo-boo).  Luckily, I had stocked his cubby with a bag of swim diapers, but no extra shorts.  Just pants.  Which is another parenting fail on my part because it is JULY.  IN TEXAS.  Fleece lined pants are simply not appropriate right now.  Neither are Syracuse sweatpants, for that matter.  But that didn't stop me from putting the latter over a swimmy and bolting from the classroom this morning with a quick, "Okay!  He is ready!  Have a great day!" in the direction of his teacher.

And suddenly the fact that my kid had a Cars bandaid on a nonexistent boo-boo on his face wasn't the oddest thing about his outfit this morning.  Part of me wishes I could have seen his teacher's face when she turned around and saw him standing there bare-chested in sweatpants with a bright red bandage stuck on his chin, and the other part of me is glad I ran before she could ask me any questions.

[Shakes head]

Clearly, I'm mother of the year.

Banner Art...

Feel free to skip this post.  I know no one but me (and maybe Trevor) enjoys looking at Banner's scribbles.  I know the day will come, and I'll have to start throwing away his art.  Because he has gotten rather prolific, and we only have so much space in our house.  It makes me happy knowing that some of my favorites are stored on this blog.  They take up much less space after being scanned in and posted here.

So, without further ado (and in no particular order), here are some of Banner's latest masterpieces from the last six months:

"What color is this?"
"Um, blue?"
"Try again."
"Pink."

I don't even know where to begin...

Anyone out there remember THIS STORY?  If so, it just got a whole lot more interesting:

Mainly because my mother-in-law teaches 3rd grade.  LOL?  Living On Lipitor?  Really?!

I'm obviously out of touch with today's youth.  And I mean that literally, not sarcastically.  Because my mother-in-law has YBS, CTN, and IDK'ed me all afternoon, and I have no idea what she is talking about.  It is like I don't know how to communicate with her anymore.

Case in point:

Of course it does.  

Basically, if you need to know what some sort of random acronym in a text message means, Gran's your woman.

In other news, I can't tell if I'm looking forward to or dreading the next time she LOLs something.  Hopefully, there will be some context clues in the message to help me figure out if she's laughing, sending us love or discussing her cholesterol meds.