I think I have a case of the blahs. For as busy as I've been, I don't feel like I have much interesting to share. But I do ... when I really think about it.

Austin turned 8 this past week. He seems so much taller to me lately. I look at him and see the young man he'll be some day ... and I can hardly find that little baby boy he once was. On his birthday, he and Maya were amused by me giving them updates on where I was in labor / delivery at different points in the day--but 8 years earlier. (Maya might be less amused by me updating her about how things were going with her labor / delivery as I was in labor through the entire night ... she might just prefer the good night's sleep! :D)
Austin cracked me up on the trampoline tonight. He was sitting on it while I was bouncing him--something we call "making popcorn." I gave him 3 or 4 good, high bounces in a row and he said through all his laughing "stop! stop! oh! shiver me timbers!! those were good ones!" Shiver me timbers ... what a hoot!

We went to Toledo's fireworks on the 4th. Interesting bunch of people who turned out for it. I'm not exactly even sure how to sum it up. There were times that I felt like my family was out of place being there in clean clothes ... if you get my drift.
We ended up laying on top of a little hill with the fireworks bursting right over us. It was a wonderful display set to patriotic music broadcast by a local radio station. It was nice thinking about all of us who were out there from very different backgrounds, with certainly different political views and opinions--and we were all brought together to celebrate this country that we live in.

My dad and Monica came up from North Carolina for Austin's birthday party this past weekend. We had a nice visit and had lots of fun at the party. I always enjoy having my house full of family and friends. My brother and sister (Matt and Jenny) were the only family not able to come. Otherwise, we had a really nice turnout ... and Austin made out like a bandit!! As Maya said, "he got everything he had on his wish list." (I was really excited that he had several books on his list--and in the 2 days that he's had them, he's already read 5 of the 8 books he received ... and they're chapter books, not just picture books!! Yeah!!!)

Monica and I put together a little cabinet for the bathroom while we were drinking margaritas Sunday afternoon. It looks great ... and went together quite nicely. Our little mantra of the afternoon was "we don't need no men folk--except for Tim to keep making us margaritas!" We sure do have fun together!! :)