Our Fourth of July didn’t involve BBQs like most people, rather, Ben and the girls (and our friend Jun) spent the morning washing and waxing the car, while I was inside on my hands and knees cleaning our floors. After all our hard work, the car looked nice and shiny, and we had most of the house finally in order. It feels so good to get things cleaned.
In the evening, Ben did make one of my favorite meals. I went to the local Mexican market to pick up some things we needed for our meal, and decided to get some pan dulce as well to celebrate the Fourth. They didn’t have any red and blue colors, so I settled for pink and white on a blue plate. Stick some candles on top (we didn’t have red) and we sang “Happy Birthday” to the United States of America. Despite our lack of festivities, Ben and I did be sure to discuss with the girls the importance of the day as we were getting dinner ready.
Before bed, we we’re all going to watch This is America, Charlie Brown but then that’s when the girls decided to start breaking rules, and after repeatedly warning them that their movie night might be threatened due to their lack of obedience, we ended up not having movie night after all. You feel so bad when you have to take it away, but we’ve got to stick to our word and they have to know there are consequences to bad choices. Ben and I felt bad about it, but we had to be firm.
They went to bed, we didn’t have fireworks because our city does its big annual fireworks show the Saturday prior, so we all kinda felt like we celebrated the Fourth of July with that. Ben and I felt bad that we didn’t do movie night, and we talked about how we probably should have made a bigger deal about the holiday, but we didn’t. I think we got so wrapped up in getting an extra day to get things done around the house that we should have put more effort in making the holiday more special for the girls. Next year, Lord willing, I’m going to make sure and get sparklers or do something equally as festive for the holiday because it is definitely a day worth celebrating!
Haha, love the expression on her face! Is that avocado and shrimp sanwich? I LOVE that, ate 3 the other day! 🙂
sopes!!! my favorite!
Sometimes it’s so nice to have that extra day to get things accomplished!
That’s totally how we see it! But I felt so bad we didn’t really do anything to make it special.
it’s so awesome the ways you guys stick to your word with the girls! i’m a teacher, and i see so many parents not doing this, which is just a disservice. looks like you all still had a nice day!
I totally agree, kids need to learn that rules are there for a reason, and that breaking them has consequences – you’re setting them up for success in the grown-up world, where speeding leads to speeding tickets and all that bad stuff!
hey ruby just wondering if you could share how you write on the photo “funny girl” thank you
I use photoshop! Also, I have a wacom tablet. It’s fun for things like that!
Oh, Bravery. What a funny gal.
Oh Ruby, just think of the near-future when they’ll take the movie-night-loss threats seriously.. you’re just laying the groundwork- they’ll figure it out. I could have written this post over and over when my kids were younger……
I’m hoping that this helps them understand. I just feel bad about it sometimes.
Hi Rubyellen
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Hi Stephanie, Send me an email and we can chat more about it. Thanks!