Fourth of July Weekend

As many of you may know, the Fourth of July is a HUGE thing in the O'Neill household. Not so much when I was an Allison--we lit a few sparklers, often had company, watched fireworks on the lawn and made great memories. But for the last ten years, I have celebrated Independence Day in the way that the Sumner O'Neills could only celebrate, as the 4th is the 2nd best holiday after Christmas.

For the last four days, we were back in central Nebraska, whooping it up. So, needless to say, I could write several blog entries on this one topic, but, the fact of the matter is, I just plain don't have the time and you likely don't have the ambition to read that much about the 4th. So, I'll summarize the highlights in a top ten list...an in-no-particular-order top ten list:

10) Chiggers, chiggers, and more chiggers. This is actually less of a highlight and more of a lowlight. But, memorable none-the-less. Both Bill and I fell victim to these mite-y beasts, likely while festivating in the grass with the girls during the Sumner 4th of July parade. What's more, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit, this is the second consecutive year I've had a bad case of them from the 4th of July. And they itch and itch and itch and itch....so much so that I couldn't sleep last night and had to watch the Food Network Challenge to fall asleep---an episode where competitors made cakes that resembled Disney Villans. Aikes.

9) Nieces, nieces, nieces. I love my nieces....all inherited via marriage. All of them are old enough to be my sisters; the closest is five years younger, the youngest is seven years younger. Bridgette and Nicole were back from Pennsylvania, Brooke from St. Louis. Though my children are their cousins, their children will be closer in age to my children than they are! Think about that for a minute.

8) Nephews, nephews, nephews. I love my nephews....all inherited via marriage. T.J, David, Joe, Sean, (college, college, college, and college, respectively) Andrew (12), Patrick (7). None too cool to hug their Auntie Jen. Or play with their little girl cousins.

7) Nephew-in-law: Dave. This is Nicole's husband. Since they live in PA, we haven't had much time to get to know him, but he got his fill of the O'Neills on the 4th. They stayed in Omaha on the 2nd, and I got to ride to Kearney with him and Nicole on the 3rd. He is just one awesome guy. He never tired of playing with the girls and they LOVED him. It didn't get much better than watching him help Livvy put Barbie shoes on each one of her toes.

6) Speaking of the car trip to Kearney, I loved getting to ride with Nicole. Three hours with no interruptions to just talk, talk, talk.

5) Time with the Allison family. Because of crowded living conditions in Sumner due to a high volume of company, we "commuted" back and forth between Kearney and Sumner. Time at my Mom and Dad's house was wonderful. They even commuted with us on the 4th. The girls do love their Grammie and Pappie.

4) The Parade. Though this was the event that led to the run-in with the aforementioned chiggers, it is classic. For those of you who've never seen a small-town parade, put it on your Bucket List. And I don't mean the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade....I mean a small hometown style parade. Complete with cowpersons on horses, shriners on their little go-buggies, old cars, tractors, homemade floats, and lots of candy thrown to the spectators. Livvy cashed in big-time, and she knows how to bat those eyelashes when she wants access to her loot bag.

3) Another Patrick-ism. Background: After the 4th of July Parade, there are footraces and egg-throwing contests on the Sumner Football field. My mom asked Patrick if he was going to compete in the footraces. Pat (seven years old) said, "It depends on how good the other kids are. Last year it didn't go so well." (Judy, don't you dare tell him I wrote this.)

2) Another Patrick-ism. We celebrated Camille's 4th birthday with family on the 5th as that was when everyone could be together. Patrick asked me if he could be the one to hand me the gifts to hand to Camille. I asked him if he would just be the one to hand the birthday gifts to Camille directly. He was overjoyed. I wish you could have seen the pleasure he got from giving Camille a ladybug nightlight for her room---ladybugs are, afterall, Camille's personal mascot--and Pat knows that. What a heart!

1) I was trying to help Camille get her candles blown out after the Happy Birthday song. Just as we were about to get there and I was coaching her, the audience silent in anticipation, Camille got close enough to the cake for the first time that day to see that it was none other than a picture of "Sam I Am" from her beloved book, "Green Eggs and Ham" and shouted with glee, "HAM!!!" So much for blowing out the candles.

Another year of memories. Off to bed I go, with the help of some benadryl and the Food Network again.