Fourth of July

I am so unmotivated these days it's pathetic.
I am only now getting around to posting about the fourth of July for that very reason. Okay, so the fourth of July was towards the end of the Gallo Family Reunion (my mom's side) and was a total blast. The only down side was driving to Corona everyday, but the company and laughs made up for it 10 fold.
  The morning of the Fourth, we packed up the kids, chairs and our giant canopy (the baby can't be in the sun) and drove down in time for the parade down Main street. It's a total tradition. Neither Brian or I care much at all for parades, but my dad loves them, the kids love them and my dad LOVES watching our kids faces at them. We do too. It's hard not to. Kids just make cheesy things fun. Anyway, this year it was especially fun since two of my Aunts, my cousin Jake and three of my four siblings were still down.

These ladies just crack me up!!

Aunt Marla

Aunt Gwen



Jonathan and Nicole



After the parade, we went back to my parents for games, food, laughing and more games. My parents took my Aunt Gwen to the airport and when they came home, we started up the Bar-B-Que. After a good meal, we headed out to the Juice it Up patio area to watch the fireworks. The kids LOVE fireworks and it's the first they've seen of them all Summer. To our surprise, even Daylon loved the fireworks. Last year, he sort of missed the fourth of July (being in a coma and all) so this was a lot like his first fourth.

I still think the Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. God bless America!

The jellybean game

Fourth of July weekend was the "Gallo Family Reunion" (my mom's side). We have a disgusting game that we play whenever we all get together. It's pretty funny to play, my tummy can never handle it well. Basically, we play "Knock" aka "31" with a few slight changes. If you knock and you are the lowest at the table, you eat two jellybeans. If you're just the lowest at the table, then you eat one jellybean. So I know what you're thinking...What kind of punishment is eating a jellybean, right? Well, these jellybeans aren't just any jellybeans. They're a equally mixed jelly belly beans and Harry Potter jelly bellies. The Harry Potter beans have lovely flavors like vomit, boogers, dog food, soap, pencil shavings, rotten eggs and moldy cheese--just to name a FEW!!  I have to admit that it is pretty enjoyable to watch someone reach in and blindly grab out a jellybean and then watch their facial expression to see if it was cherry or centipede. I enjoyed taking pictures all week by pictures are some of the funniest (in my opinion, anyway) of the reunion.  Believe it or not, there were 15 or so of us playing, but it seemed like the same few people kept having to eat beans! Enjoy!

He blew dog food in her face

She threw up after this picture

That would be me trying not to vomit while eating rotten egg. Yup. Good times.

"PEACH!"

T.G.I.F.

 Like most wives, I can say that my husbands driving makes me nervous at times. To be honest though, he's either getting better and maturing with age or I'm getting used to it, because he rarely scares me. In the last eight years that I've known him, Brian has not had a single moving violation or accident. Not too shabby, right?
    
Tuesday- he backed into an illegally parked car trying to avoid my brother's illegally parked car. Go figure. Oh, and it was in my beautiful van! (sniff, sniff) :) It had to happen eventually, so whatchagonna do?

Wednesday came and went on and everything was peach keen.

Thursday you ask? Well, he decided to top himself and rear end a PORSCHE on the way to work. The good news? No one was hurt. The better news (totally kidding) is that we can FINALLY get a new car. I've been begging Brian for an upgrade (it's his car) for the last several years but he wanted to drive that old clunker until it stopped. Boo! That thing is as ugly as they get. I'll I'm asking is for a car that has been made in the last 15 years. ;)

Thursday night, on his way home from Walmart he was pulled over in the van and given a ticket for having a broken head light. Luckily, he was at Walmart to buy a new head light so it was written up as a warning.

What a week!

Good-bye Wawanesa. We will miss your ultra affordable insurance rates.

Some Father's Day thoughts...

This is late, but Blogger was giving me issues.

This year, I sat the kids down to ask them about their Daddy (I took the liberty of answering for Daylon). Here's what they said:

My Dad is someone who...


"... loves me."- Keira


"...cooks yummy pancakes so Mommy can sleep for like 2 years! " -Violet (so we're clear, 2 years is 9 am on Saturdays!)


"...covers me when I go to bed." -Caleb


"...makes me burst into a smile and start flapping around when I see him" -Daylon

"...is special." -Sadie

I love to...


" cuddle with my Dad"- Keira


"race Daddy and play catch with him! Oh! I also love to be Daddy's helper!" -Caleb


"go with  him to the store and it's just me and him!"- Violet


"play soccer ball with him and when he flies me in the air." -Sadie


"get WAY TOO many M&Ms from Daddy every night during scripture time."- Daylon


We love you, Daddy!!

Okay, so if you'll allow me, I'm going to be the obnoxious blogger for a second. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband, who is also a great Daddy. Our life has not been at all like I expected. Brian was such an amazing Dad (seriously, I was impressed) to Keira and Caleb. He worked long hours, went to school and still had time to run them around the house and read stories during the 30 minutes he was home in between the two .  When Caleb was 13 months old and the twins were born, I wasn't sure how I would make it through the insanity and LONG. NIGHTS. but I knew I could because Brian and I were a team. I would take one baby and he would have the other, and we lived like zombies together. :) He would find ways to entertain our 4 kids (3 and younger) so I could cook dinner, or vacuum. Almost 2 years ago our life was kicked up a notch when Daylon was born.  Since then he has dealt with assisting me in bandage changes that have made him sick, the heavy guilt of injuring our son by touching him and yet he still continues to be willing to help, a wife who cried almost every night for months (pathetic but true), and four young children who require the same, if not more attention than typical kids. In this last year he took on the role of Mr Mom staying home with them most days at the Ronald McDonald house while I was at the hospital with Daylon. We would go days with only seeing each other for a minute or two when we met at the front of the hospital as he dropped off my dinner. He cleaned, cooked, dressed the kids, mastered the ponytail (without lumps), entertained them and taught them. All I know is that I struggled to do that when we were at home and could only make it through the day knowing that Brian would be home by 6pm and would help me out with the kids, not to mention provide adult conversation. He didn't have that. On top of all of that I would run into the other families or RMH staff and they would tell me how well behaved our kids were and how impressed they were with Brian's ability to keep them under control. I have NO CLUE how he did it! He provides for there material well being, but he also contributes to our children's physical and emotional well being more than I've ever seen another dad do. I know that it's only because of the way he's handled the various trials we've been given throughout the years that we're such a close knit family today.
 Brian, I love and admire you so much! You're such a wonderful Dad. Thank you for being my husband, my best friend and my comedic relief. Happy Father's Day!

  I have also been blessed with a great Dad, myself. Brian and I both appreciate his council and fun sense of humor. The older I get the more I realize how great my dad is. He brought the church to our family and raised us to want to be good people. I love my dad so much! Not to mention he's one fun Grandpa!

I will always be grateful to my father-in-law for showing Brian how to be the man he is today. He is Brian's hero and it shows. We love and miss him everyday.

To the dad's in all our lives, Happy Father's Day!!