4th of july weekend

first, i need to start by saying that my not-yet-4-year-old can ride his bike without training wheels as of last week! how cool is that?!? yay riley! i gave him one push and he was off. no looking back. he crashed into a few bushes, but sometimes i still do. he can even start himself now. not even a week later, he is riding like a maniac. sharp turns, quick stops. it's enough to make me look away. the apparent catalyst was his new helmet (with flames) that he was so proud of. as he rode up and down the alley, he looked at me and said "is this a dream?" haha!

moving on: we had a nice holiday weekend. matt is off all week which is AWESOME (no sarcasm), especially since i have been less than stellar lately. friday we went up to his parents' lakehouse (while they were in london without us). we went out on the boat and had planned to spend the night, but the mosquitos were SO bad. they were all over the house. as the day went on, the only got worse. we made a mad dash for the car, but still ended up with 2 dozen or so inside the truck. oh and a broken windshield. courtesy of matt. and his attempt to smack a mosquito. he's either that strong, or the windshield sucked. either way it needs to be fixed asap, since we are currently trying to sell it. (anyone want a 4runner?)
saturday we went to my grandparents for my grandpa's 77th birthday party. fun was had by all. saturday night i got a migraine. woot woot. sunday was the 4th. we went swimming at my aunt and uncle's. then we spent some time at our friend's (with their 5 kids 5 and under!!) and lit off some fireworks. brewer was less than thrilled. needless to say, the kids were exhausted. i'm surprised they lasted as long as they did. monday morning we went to the world's longest parade (seriously..2 hours?!?). oh and it was like 95 degrees. i didn't think i would survive. barely did. the heat and i? not friends. back sweat? not pretty. we thought about going to fireworks, but they started too late and the kids would have been batshitcrazy. so we opted out.
did i mention we're in the process of teaching macie the meaning of the word "no"? an interesting process it is. especially since her favorite pasttimes involve death-traps like lamp cords and dog food. and since she pulls herself up on anything and everything.

i have a ton more to write about (including my novel to matt's mother) and lots of pictures. now all i need to do is find time...