Happy 4th of July!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

I can't believe it is already the 4th of July!!! I remember well, this time last year. Our first 4th of July was marked with the struggle of surviving with newborns in the middle of Florida summer without air conditioning. Luckily, this year was much improved and the A/C was working very well this 4th. The greatest challenge I had on this day was trying to figure out how I was going to get a decent group picture of the boys in their red, white and blue patriotic t-shirts without a helper to corral the boys.

It was not easy but I was able to get the picture above by sitting the boys on top of the toy box. The height (while not very high) was enough to get them to sit still long enough for me to grab the camera and take a few pictures. I started to get a little cocky and even took the boys outside to try and snap some pics and here is the best one I could get.... At least they are all in the same frame! While I was enjoying the holiday with the boys, I really missed Mike today. As of July 14th, it will be a full year since I returned to work. Once I returned to work, we started working alternate days so one of us was always home with the boys and the other one was at work. The biggest challenges so far has been trying to cope with parenting triplets without any family close by and very litte time together as a family. Now, the boys are on a great routine and the days are becoming very "Groundhog Day" with every day being the same version of the day prior. This is a great thing because the days are very predictable... it could be worse. However, we are ready to start doing a lot more with the boys... as a family with Mommy & Daddy. Stay tuned as there are some changes in store for Team Darnell... good changes!

After I spent the morning sulking about not having Daddy home on the holiday, the phone rang and Daddy was done with work early.... yeah!!!! We all got very excited and we welcomed Daddy home with open arms. Once Daddy got home, we suited up the boys and headed outside to enjoy the kiddie pool and the swing set.

Here are some pics from our afternoon outside...

Daddy was teaching the boys to blow bubbles and they took to it like fish to water. Everyone started blowing bubbles... Andrew would stick his entire face in the water and blow bubbles. He really loved it... More bubble blowing...
Once we had enough of the pool, the boys took to the swings...
Taking a swing break to hydrate...

Andrew and Wes both looking at us on the patio with the look of... "you want us to walk on the grass... with no shoes on... seriously???"

Once the boys were in bed, Daddy and I had dinner and then enjoyed the local fireworks from our back porch. Before writing this post, I read the 4th of July post from last year. Last year I commented on how we watched the fireworks and talked about the boys staying up to watch the fireworks this year. Well, little did I know how much these boys would love their routine and their sleep AND how much I would love their routine and sleeping babies. Daddy and I did the same thing this year and talked about how next year we would let the boys stay up and enjoy the fireworks. We imagined them running in the yard and sitting in the fort to watch the fireworks. Next year boys, next year!

Take care,