Memorial Day

Well today was very nice, actually. My parents came over so my Dad could shift the vast amount of crap that is not being used and is going to be sold in the garage sale this coming weekend. It all filled one side of my 2 car section of the garage. Poor guy had to haul things from the 3rd floor, 2nd floor, and up from the basement. My Mom brought some buns and baked beans and we grilled (well, I grilled) a couple of burgers, a few hot dogs, and some corn on the cob that I had frozen. Yesterday I made potato salad and it turned out great, despite the fact that I could not find Jim's famous recipe from his Mom. I should have put more bacon in, though. What was great was that I didn't have to buy anything for today - since there is usually 2 adults and this was 3 adults, everything was covered by 2 hamburgers, 4 hot dogs, and5 ears of corn. Then my friend Suzze (soo-zee) came over and we had a fun time comparing recent stamp and scrap projects. She has 2 grandsons that are 4 and 2 and she enjoys seeing the differences between them and my girls. We both get a kick out of some of the things that are common in every sibling situation. For dinner we ate leftovers from lunch, knocking off the hot dogs and the corn and making a sizable dent in the potato salad. Emma played with her new bubble generator a few times today while the adults sat on the patio chatting. It was amazing to actually sit for 10 minutes or more! The only downside to the day was that Emma was overtired and cranky all afternoon. She also gets VERY anal when she is tired, so doors must be shut and windows closed, as well as all items that are currently on the floor remain on the floor. If not, you seriously risk nuclear meltdown. Oh, and Mary is not allowed to eat pudding, and her response the what she wants for dinner is 'yellow foods'. I cannot figure that one out. So I put both girls down at 7 (an hour early for Emma) and it is 8:45 and they are still crying about it. With the sunlight lasting until 9:30 I have a hard time getting them to sleep anytime before 9. But I will tell you, I could not tolerate them one minute longer if they stayed up. They are ready for sleep, they just don't realize it.

Suzze left about 8, after I ran up to Cold Stone and got some Ice Cream. I was really glad to have some people over as one day runs into another when Jim is gone. And it is hard to remain patient with the kids when it is just me all day and evening long. Tonight I plan to go to bed early (which I cannot seem to do) and get a solid night's sleep. I just hope the girls will do the same.

On a side note, when I went to the ice cream store, I did not run in to one neighbor. This is strange because it is the only open store to walk to in our new 'downtown' area, and whenever we go we see at least 3 or 5 neighbors we know. Then there are others that obviously walked, too, that we aren't familiar with. So tonight was odd. The line was out the door, and believe it or not, packed with tourists. Tourists to Cherry Hill Village. One lady was standing in line with her mini cam filming the streetscape. Another person in a SLOW moving car was taking pictures of the prettier (read:bigger) houses. Yep, we got tourists. I just couldn't believe it. In addition to that they all brought their families and friends, making each 'group' 5-7 people that were getting ice cream. I thought I was never going to get through the line. It went pretty fast in the end, and I bought some extra to freeze for later this week. I can't get enough of that Birthday Cake Remix they make.

Now everybody is gone and the girls have finally quieted down (9:01), although I don't begin to suppose they are asleep. I have some picking up of toys to do and nothing else of import. And for those of you who are wondering, Jim left for Saudi Arabia last week and will be gone anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks. Yep, it's just me and the babies here for up to 28 days, give or take. I think I have every right to indulge in some really fattening, sweet, and tasty ice cream. As a matter of fact, I am going to have a second serving while I anxiously wait to win an eBay bid.