I had sort of decided that I wouldn’t be seeing the final Harry Potter at midnight. (Which would have made it the ONLY HP movie I didn’t attend the midnight premiere for…Yes, I am a geek. I know) But luckily my husband is amazing and didn’t even think twice about buying the tickets, finding a sitter for us, and enlisting the help of his super awesome Momma so that he could come home from work looking like this…

You can imagine my reaction when he walked through the door. Haha! I love him, and clearly… he loves me too. We had such a great time and I cried like a little girl. Not so much because of the movie, although I thought the movie was very well done. It was more about the end of an era. The end of my childhood. I know, completely silly. But I was 12 (I think) when the first book came out and I have loved Harry Potter from that first day I picked up the Sorcerer’s Stone and read it to some neighbor boys I was babysitting at the time. So for me, Harry Potter was a huge part of my childhood. Don’t worry that I’m married and have 3 kids…. the last Harry Potter movie being over, that made me feel OLD. My childhood is officially and undoubtedly over. Boohoo.

BUT….

So, that’s what I did!              :)

I love the Omaha Zoo. It’s the best! It’s not too spread out, but there’s still so much to see. The kids were bigger this time around and really enjoyed it. I can’t believe my kids are getting so big. My sister in law Sarah once told me that when she thought of herself as a mother, she always saw herself as a mom to little kids and they just don’t stay that way. When she said that I remember thinking, “Well, no kidding. Kids grow up.” But, you just don’t know how fast it flies by. There, I’ve had my cliché parenting line for this post. It’s true. IT’S TRUE.

ANYWAYS, back to the zoo… it was rainy and overcast when we first got there, but that cleared up quickly and we were able to be done for the most part before it got too hot and the place filled up with crazies. That’s how I like things. Crowds make me paranoid when I have my kids with me. “No one can be trusted! There are serial killers on the loose! Kidnapper!” You get the idea… woohoo! Pictures!

They were pretty excited to go, can you tell!? We rode up with my Mom and Dad so they marched up and down the sidewalk outside waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to HURRY UP!

We spent a weekend up in Omaha sometime this summer… looking back, it’s hard to remember when we did what and in what order. The first day we had meetings for the fireworks stand stuff, but managed to get some down time for the kiddos at a little playground in Wahooooooooo, NE. (There may or may not actually be that many o’s in the name.)  If you want to see a lot of hillbillies, go to a fireworks stand managers meeting. So much entertainment. :)

I was doing so well at blogging for a while. I have no explanation except that the summer is just so busy!  So here’s a recap in pictures.
Here is Ezra and I just a few days after I blogged last. He stayed where you put him and did little but play around on his tummy. He’s now crawling, pulling up on the side of the couch, eating baby food (and LOVING it!), has one tooth with more coming soon, and LOVES his Momma. He’s growing much too fast for my liking. It seems like each baby stays a baby for a shorter time.
Look at that boy. Oh I could just eat him right up!! And to top it off, if there was a competition for “Easiest Baby in the History of EVER” Ezra would win it, hands down. He’s just a dream. We love our little Easy E.

Jake is still running the shipping department at the shop. Of course that’s in addition to the screenprinting business, his design work, and whatever other idea he’s got going on at the time. He’s a busy guy and he loves it. If he weren’t so obviously heterosexual, I’d be a bit concerned about his sexual orientation after this past weekend though. He came home with fabric he’d picked out  and was excited to spend the weekend quilting with me. How’s that for a husband?! Hahaha, I love him! There is nothing he can’t do.

Oh, there were some holidays in there…. Here’s Easter goodies:

This year for the 4th of July, Jake helped my Mom and Dad run a fireworks stand in Liberty. So it was pretty uneventful. We did get to go to the lake for some down time afterwards and had a fireworks show over at Gramma and Grampa Fish’s house in mid-July.  It’s been ridiculously hot here, so we’re all pretty sweaty and disgusting.

Gideon loves Sparklers!

Ashelyn turned THREE {three} [3!] Holy smokes. That’s hard to believe. She wanted a Tangled party, so that’s what she got. She’s not spoiled or anything…  (rigggghhhht.) She actually had two parties. A little mini party at Grandma and Grandpa Richardson the weekend before, and the Tangled party the day of.

And more Ezra adorableness: