Family Day, Fireworks, and the Fourth of July!!!

Maliana ~

First let me begin by sharing my Facebook status from Monday. You see, to preface it a bit, Abby had to have surgery on her eyelid, and therefore she ended up coming home with the "Cone of Shame"...here's what happened next, as shared with all of Facebook:
Cracking up right now. Shawn forgot he was wearing this cone and just chased our puppy down the street so it wouldn't bother one of the neighbors as he took his evening walk. The look on this guy's face as Shawn and the puppy ran towards him was priceless! Kind of thinking it would have been less traumatic for just the puppy to run up to him for a quick hello...just a hunch.

You have one silly Daddy, you know that? ...One of the million reasons we love him!

And speaking of Daddy ~ one more thing. A friend of mine shared this with me. You and Daddy were pictured in Columbus Parent magazine from an outing you guys took to Katzinger's Deli a few weeks ago! Here you are, chowing on their famous pickles ~ yum!

how cool is that?! you're famous!

Ok, Blinky...moving on. Here's the rest of our week in a nutshell. Now, you may be asking why I referred to you as Blinky. Well, lately you've begun blinking quite profusely and complaining of blurred vision sometimes. It's actually become frequent enough that I was starting to get a little more than concerned by it and decided it was time to get your vision tested again. There were no quick appointments unless we went in on an emergency basis, which was fine with me so that I could get a little peace of mind. Fortunately, there is no emergency situation with your eyes...unfortunately, we found that it could be a few different conditons causing your vision issues. The first is a condition called convergence insufficiency, which basically is where your eye muscles relax outward whenever you are trying to focus on something up close. The second is the result of being someone who deals with eczema (which you do) and thus having your eye lids similarly affected. From what that one sounds like, your pores get dried out and clogged which causes the sensation of dryness and thus, lots of blinking. The first scenario would require therapy for your eye muscles, the second situation just requires hot compresses and keeping your lids clean. We will go back to the eye doctor in a couple weeks for a more comprehensive exam but at least we have a few possibilities to mull over for now.

Regardless of the crappy reasons we ended up at the eye doctor, we had a lot of fun browsing the frames there. You really were hoping to need glasses and found a pair that you adored!

After the exam, we headed to Fazoli's for lunch. We were debating whether or not to take you back to daycare or take you back home to hang with Audrey Ayi. Ultimately we decided on daycare, with you saying, "My friends kind of go crazy when I'm not there, Mom" ~ Ha ha.

Since it is unlikely that you will need glasses (yet, anyway), you were pretty bummed after all the fun of trying them on at the eye doctor. That night I took you to Claire's to shop for some fashion frames and we wound up getting not only some funky fashion frames, but also some faux leather fingerless gloves and musical note suspenders. Watching you strut around in this get-up made me flash forward to a teenage Mali. You just might be the alternative punk girl in your high school and I just love your individuality. I can't wait to see how you bloom and express yourself!

After that fun to start the week, Aunt Tina was nice enough to host you on Wednesday, letting you play with Sam and Erin in the morning and then taking you all to Slate Run Farm in the afternoon. She had glowing reports of how good you were with them and even stooped down to tie Tina's shoe when it came untied at one point. Such a sweetheart of a kid, you are. That night, Erin came back over to our house and hung out with us. Addison also came over to play, we ordered pizza, and it was an impromptu party. Silly, silly girls...

learning to play the ukulele

Thursday was the last day of work and school before the long holiday weekend, (thank God!) We debated what to do but ultimately decided to build a bonfire and hang out at home with the neighbors. We pooled together all of our fireworks and let you kids go wild with them, then watched the neighbors around the circle from us light off one of the best displays of home-cooked fireworks I think I've ever seen. You kids had a blast and I think you *almost* made it to midnight before your eyes just would not stay open any longer, falling asleep on my lap in spite of everyone talking, laughing, and setting off explosions all around you. Love, love, love nights like these.

Sophia was teaching you the art of painting

don't worry...the lighters you're all holding are only props!

sparklers!

Friday, the 4th of July, we headed downtown to the Doo Dah parade which is a must-see holiday tradition for our family. It was very funny this year and in spite of you feeling very sleepy, you had a good time, especially because the neighbors, Sophia and Cori, as well as Audrey, Uncle Flint and his girlfriend Monica went with us.

our friend, Erin stopped by to say hi!

and to give you a kiss!

lounging with Sophia...you were so tired

Sophia and Cori posed with Captain Ohio...
you wanted NOTHING to do with him

Daddy randomly brought his luchador mask and posed with
these guys as they went by (Daddy is on the far left)

Uncle Flint is protecting you from the scary
zombies that were walking by

some sidewalk art I spied while on the way back
to our car from the parade

The rest of the holiday until evening you played with the neighbors until it was time to head into Westerville for their fireworks display. We (you, me, Daddy, Audrey, Sophia, and Cori) all piled into the car, stopped to get pizza, and then met the Szwabinsky(s) just off Schrock Rd. in our usual spot and then Mike (or MIKE REGNER! as you like to call him ~ "Stop it, Mike Regner!!" is a common yell heard from you what with all of his teasing and joking with you...ha ha) met us later. You had a super time, running around and laughing, taking a walk up the street with the big kids, and enjoying sparklers before the light show that night. You even saw a friend (Blake) who ended up sitting next to us during the fireworks and who you giggled with and chased until after dark. I love, love, love watching you have so much fun with the kids in our life. It was non-stop silliness and gigging all night, from both kids and adults. I can't even begin to express how nice it is to have such a fun group of neighbors who have become such good friends to us. And poor you...between Mike and Mark on either side of you as our neighbors...you will never be free from teasing until you leave for college. Ha ha.

you even brought our super hero
capes to the fireworks!

at Little Caesars!

chatting with another neighbor in his store

Mark and Jenny

Audrey, Mike, myself, and Daddy

Happy 4th of July from Mommy and Daddy!

sparkler moustache!

Mike helping you light a sparkler

one of the many reasons we love our
"Crazy Jenny"

playing cards to pass the time

Mike and Audrey Ayi

after your walk with the big kids

Uncle Flint and Monica

more games with the big girls

and finally...the fireworks!

Saturday we went out to breakfast with Memaw and Papaw, with you dressing up in your current alter ego, Super Monkey. Yes, you heard that right...Super Monkey.

da da da dah!!!

even Super Monkey has to sleep from time to time

Both Memaw and Papaw got a big kick out of you as you walked into Bob Evans in full get-up. It was so great to see them, the first time since our beach vacation. They sure do love you and we love having them in our family and watching them as your grandparents.

once home...you liked feeling your cape fly around
behind you as you rode your bike

Sunday was our second big celebration of the week, FAMILY DAY! We slept in a bit and before even getting out of bed, you asked me to retell you the story of our trip to China to bring you home. I love telling you that story and I love that you love hearing it. We got up slowly to a breakfast of cinnamon rolls at which point Audrey Ayi came over and you sat with her on the couch to retell her your special story too. You showed her your photo album that I made for you when you were just a wee thing, to help you get a better visual of our adventure.

Then I had promised to take you swimming and so off we went to the YMCA. At this point, Daddy's friend (Robare) who is doing a lot of remodeling for us was there, and while the grown ups were staying behind at home, you and I piled into the car with you singing "YMCA" at the top of your lungs, thinking you were hilarious. We even did a drive-by where they all thought we left but then we drove by again and you rolled down the window yelling..."Y-M-C-A!!" out the window at them all. You were so giddy to get to go swimming...you are too funny.

goofball

you did amazing in the pool, we ran into a friend of yours
(Cassady) while there, and you were the biggest giggle
puss on the way home...the above picture was what
I saw every time I looked into the backseat!

Once home, we got changed and headed off to Easton for Jeni's ice cream with Audrey, another request of yours for Family Day. Jeni's has become quite the favorite around our house this summer.

After ice cream, we came home and actually convinced you to take a (much needed and well deserved) nap. We realized the trick in getting you to actually take a nap is to have Audrey take one with us...a few minutes of giggling with each other and you were out like a light. The sleep felt awesome. We all needed that rest from so many late nights lately. So, I guess from now on, we just need to have Audrey come over every time you need a nap. Simple, eh? Ha.

even Suzy joined us

That evening we broke out the Family Day cake that you had picked out the day before, chocolate on chocolate (yum!). We are actually having a big celebration for Family Day in September, delaying it by a couple months to coincide with our friends' (the Williams family) visit and combining Family Day celebrations for both you and Cadence. So, on the actual anniversary of our Family Day, we had a small gathering of just you, Audrey Ayi, Daddy, Mike, Mark, and myself. Audrey asked you what your favorite part of Family Day is and you replied, "Celebrating me!" Ha.

I can't believe you've been home 5 years already!

you have recently fallen in love with bunny ears,
so much so that you even give them to yourself!

Uncle Joe and Aunt Tina had stopped by earlier in the day
while we were at the pool but had left cookies and a
sweet note for you...here you are sending a heart
of appreciation to them for your surprise

That night once everything calmed down, you were sitting on what will eventually be our front deck with Daddy and asked him, "Daddy, what's the deck going to look like?"...to which Daddy replied, "Well, I'm not exactly sure right now" and then you asked, "What? Don't you have any blue papers?!" I love your little Mali-isms. And coming upstairs to look out the door to see the two of you, shoulder to shoulder on the front stoop was so cute.

Finally, dipping into Monday morning...I wanted to share another little detail with you in relation to our family and Family Day. It all began with a teary phone call to me at work from Daddy that very morning. I was alarmed at first, but he immediately assured me that nothing was wrong. He'd actually had a great morning with you before school. The thing was, as he drove to work he began reminiscing about our first days and months with you, how our world had been so turned upside down, how we felt so blissfully happy and utterly confused all at the same time, and he became overcome by his emotions and just how very much he loves you. It was a very sweet call and my heart went out to him. I knew what he was feeling. I can get overcome by it all too. Sometimes it's all-consuming, the love we have for our little family, our bigger village of friends and loved ones, and the life we have built together. It's pretty amazing and better than anything I ever dreamed of for us.

On the way home from the Y the other day you were asking a bunch of questions, most of them silly but a few were more serious. One that dabbled into the serious side was, "What do you do when you're in a family?" Curious about your answer, I turned it back around and asked you. Without missing a beat, you replied, "You give them love." ...Such a simple thing that so many people can forget how to do for so many different reasons. I hope that you can always remember though. I hope that our family can continue to give each other love just like we do today. Because, while I know that our family may not be doing everything perfectly, and I'm sure we're making a lot of mistakes along the way, (we're human after all)...but the one thing that I am pretty confident that our little family is good at doing (even if it's messy sometimes) is giving each other love, just like you said. Oh ~ and laughing! We're damn good at that one too!!

Happy 5th Family Day, Maliana!!
Daddy and I love you, forever and always.

Love,
Mama

P.S.
One more thing...here was my ode to you and our family, as shared on Facebook on July 6th. I had to include it for you here again so you'll have just one more example of how much you mean to us.

5 years ago today we met our daughter for the first time and all of our lives were forever changed. 10 days later, she took her first airplane ride and finally came home with us. Ever since the first time we dreamed of her, saw her picture, and then (after such a long wait) *finally* laid eyes on HER and held her in our arms, life has just gotten so much sweeter and a ton more fun every single day. Never a dull moment in our house and I wouldn't have it any other way. We love her more than life itself...Happy Family Day to our little monkey-fish, tootsie-pop, bugga-bean, the one and only Mali Ollie.