Plus I have never seen anyone take raw red onion by itself to the face like it was candy let alone a 20 month old!!

& while the Fourth of July is all about celebrating the adoption of The Declaration of Independence- to me it celebrates so much more. I don’t know why but it is just a special day. I love the excitement of planning the day for my family & friends. I love the happiness & laughs- but most of all- despite everything that has happened in this country and to the country and by this country- I am so proud to be here. To be American. To grow up and have my children grow up in a place where we have been afforded SO MANY THINGS. And while some quintessential “American” traits are less than desireable, I am proud that I have the ability to be a strong, opinionated woman. To make my own choices. To vote. To do so many things that women in other countries STILL aren’t allowed to do. To not be STONED TO DEATH if I decide my husband isn’t the one for me.

I am proud that after 244 years- we are still standing. That we haven’t been broken. That there are still people willing to fight for my family. To defend a document written that long ago. Seriously? I don’t care how many times I curse taxes and the government and the fact that I can barely keep my family afloat. Because I am damn lucky that somewhere aong the lines a distant member of my extended family got their asses over here from Austria and Poland, and more recently- Italy. They came here to give me this. They came here so my children could grow up here. And I thank them.
I also would like to extend thanks to the service men & women of the United States for all they do & even more thanks to their families. Many, whom I have gotten to know from this blogging business: THANK YOU. Thank you for standing by the men & women in your families so that they can fight for me & mine. Thank you for the sacrifices that you must make as husbands & wives, as children, as parents to allow my own family to have what we have. Your sacrifices do not go unnoticed, at least by me.

…and so… We fire up our BBQs in unison and say “Americaaaahhhh- FUCK YEAH!” Okay, maybe we don’t say THAT, but the sentiment is there. Me? I’m pretty proud to be an American.

A few of my adorable kid & my 4th themed picnic table all set up & waiting for guests.

Hudson. With his foot in the dog bowl. He does this pretty much everyday.

My twin babies taking a break from the heat. And looking damned adorable while doing it.

We had about 10 people over for a potluck BBQ. It was kinda awesome because HOLY FOOD! But, as I was rushing around tending to babies & cleaning and setting things up etc, I didn’t actually eat much, save for the GLORIOUS chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips Harley made. I may have to make him come live with me so I can have those on demand.

We started at 4 & then around 7 (woah! 47!) we walked downtown for the city’s big firework display.

They block off about 5 blocks of the main street in our city & then 5 blocks of another busy side street and they shoot the fireworks out over the lagoon. We sit about 100 yards away from the people shooting them off. So, they are basically directly overhead. The display is always amazing. We live about 5 blocks away. The city actually pays for & puts on the fireworks, which is pretty much Disneyland status. It’s pretty crazy since the population is about 30,000 people. It’s a very small city. They don’t even have a high school! Even though we only live 5 blocks away we are in another city. Our city doesn’t have any fireworks- even though it’s population is about 100,000. I guess none of that matters. The city is genius for going this display & since fireworks are illegal in our area & even the few cities that DO allow fireworks only allow sparklers & small ground flowers & things. Since no one can do their OWN fireworks- this shit draws a crowd into the downtown area. Probably making the businesses in the area a shitton of money.

I was worried about how Hudson would handle the fireworks this year as last year he was still pretty young to fear thing like loud noises. I hoped the twins would act much like Hudson did last year. I was prepared for a meltdown times three but had no reason at all to be worried. Sawyer sat with Auntie Krust & stared intently at the fireworks. No crying. Krust said she only fussed between the fireworks. Scott held Truman & he was also loving it. I held my Hudson hoping that he wouldn’t freak out. After the first few explosions he started CLAPPING. He was so happy. I was so proud. Somewhere around the middle he wanted to get up and go to “dadeeee” so Scott & I switched our boys. It was a great time. Although somewhere towards the end a flying rock smacked me in the arm. It hurt and I was looking around getting PISSED. I was ready to lay into some rock-throwing idiot. Then? I found the rock. And GUESS WHAT!? It wasn’t a rock. It was a piece of firework schrapnel. As in: they shot the fireworks miles into the sky, it went off except for this giant pellet of gunpowder and then? The ball of gunpowder fell from the sky, I suppose gaining speed until it hit. my. arm. I mean, it hurt but not bad. It’s just the RANDOMNESS!? I mean, I got hit with fireworks out of thousands of people huddled there on the street. It never fails to amaze me that I have such STRANGE luck. I mean, I can’t win the Lotto- but I can be allergic to pregnancy, have twins out of nowhere and get hit my fireworks. Is lightening next? I mean, my stepdad survived getting hit by lightening. Maybe I would too?

After the fireworks we walked home & some of the group went home. The kids went to bed & the few that stayed sat around our firepit & drank tall boys of High Life. I put on my sweats. It was a good time.

I hope everyone had a fantastic 4th. Stayed clear of rouge fireworks & spent time with those you love. Also?? I hope you didn’t contend with a mess like THIS in the morning:

*notice how cute that plate is?!*

Anyways- this was dinner tonight. I just basically throw anything I can find on his plate while trying to cover all the food groups. Tonight? Mac & Cheese, cheerios, mixed fresh berries, zucchini & carrots with parmesan cheese & sliced up cherry tomatoes. What do you feed your toddler?

Side note: he refuses to be fed. He wants to eat things he can pick up with his fork. Yup, my kids eats with a fork.

SOMETIMES, yes, SOMETIMES we’d be out & about and Hudson would need to eat. I’d have to hit up Whole Foods or where ever to grab a jar of baby food every once in a while. And friends? One day I was at Babies R’ Us & found these cute little packets while waiting in a super long line. I am a SUCKER for packaging and I thought- WOW! Those are cute! I’m gonna buy some!

I did. And you know what I did with them? I threw them in my diaper bag and forgot about them completely. I did. And the other week, Hudson was tearing through his diaper bag and pulled out one of these sweet little packets. SO, I twisted off the cap & handed it to him! HE. WAS. IN. LOVE. So much so, that my next trip to Whole Foods I searched for them & was so happy to see they carried them (except, of course, not the flavor I was searching for)! I went home and immediately emailed the good people at ELLA’S KITCHEN to tell them that Hudson was a HUGE FAN!

Through a few emails, they sent me over a sample pack filled with one of each of their 8 flavors. 6 are for 4+ months & 2 are for 12+ months.

AND they are offering the same sample pack to one of my readers!

(I even made him an Easter basket full!)

I have combed their website & it’s pretty much a great product. The baby food packets contain NOTHING but organic fruits & veggies. Not even water. No preservatives. It is PURE WHOLESOME GOODNESS! The Smoothie Fruit packets for 12+ months can be frozen and slurped like a slurpee! And don’t think your toddler has outgrown the baby food either. Not only have all the adults in my family tried a taste- Hudson LOVES them. Now, instead of squeezing out the packet and serving him with a spoon- I just HAND HIM the packet and he can drink it through the straw like top it has on it. HE LOVES THEM. I cannot even tell you how much. And how can I say no? They are conveniently packaged, with minimal packaging, super cute & healthy.

You can find them at Babies R’ Us & Whole Foods- and GUESS WHAT!? STARTING THIS SUNDAY- Target stores carrying organic groceries (140 stores in the US) will ALSO be carrying Ella’s Kitchen

Here’s what you do to enter:
-Follow me on Twitter
-Follow Ella’s Kitchen on Twitter
-Follow Ella’s Kitchen on Facebook

You know the drill- leave a comment for each thing you do & winner will be chosen at random on April 11th by Random.org

SOMEONE likes Gianna’s cookies almost as much as Mommy!

AND I DIDN’T GO INTO LABOR! (I figured today was the best chance as the stress level was like at least 3 feet over my head.)

My wonderful family & friends were so helpful in executing this wonderful party. My cousin helped me go grocery shopping, My aunt-in-law picked up cupcakes, My friend Lisa took me to Costco, my sister-in-law picked up balloons and my other sister-in-law hand crafted (among other things you will see later) every decoration we had along side me. In fact- we were in Michael’s racing through the aisles about 10 minutes before they closed last night to recreate the birthday banner I bought on etsy and never actually received. We did it by hand and were finally ready for sleep around 1 AM.

Then- at 8 AM we were back at it. Driving and getting tables and chairs (thanks hunny!) when my POS HOA decided to not have any tables in the party room for us- decorating EVERYTHING IN SIGHT including the men’s restroom, because really- who DOESN’T want to look at some paper robots while you use the urinal?

Everything looked great.
Everything tasted great.
My back is fucked and I probably won’t be able to walk tomorrow.
I was stressed the entire time.
Did I mention that legitimately 80 people were there?
Yeah, it was crazy.

Then, my mom & step-dad took baby home with them. We hadn’t opened Hudson’s gifts because really- 80 people bring with them a copious amount of gifts and I doubted anyone wanted to stick around to watch us open gifts for 5 hours.

It ended up taking 3 hours, btw.

Now I am laying on the couch hoping that someone will send me pictures for this event for my life & of course, so I can show you all my decorations!!

There is NO WAY I coud have been in charge of a camera today, as Hudson for the very first time in his entire life would go to NO ONE but me for most of the party. So I waddled my giant pregnant ass around carrying him and leaving the pictures to my SIL & cousin, who are much better with a camera than I am anyways.

The only shitty part? I would basically do anything to be sitting here sifting through the pictures. And when I get the pictures from them, they will most likely “edit” the ones out they don’t like- which makes me have to choose the pics I like out of the ones THEY like. But, of course I appreciate the fact that they took the pictures to begin with so I won’t complain.

After everyone starting heading home, my friends & family did a wonderful job of doing most of the cleaning for us allowing me to sit for a few minutes. (But, don’t worry- I cleaned a ton too!) Then the final 5 or 6 people packed up all Hudson’s gifts, the leftovers, the decor, etc and drove it to our house and unpacked it into my house(we live on the second story).

I am so grateful. I appreciate so much everyone who helped, who came and hung out, who had anything to do with my son and his entire first year, which is coming to an end in 4 days! I could not ask for a more supportive group of people around us. We are entirely too freaking lucky.

Pics to come as soon as someone sends me some- and now?

I am vegging out on the couch while husband polishes this bottle of scotch. I’d join him if it was allowed! <3

It is basically a total of 5 minutes of your life you will never get back- but for whatever reason- I find it adorable watching Hudson eat his body weight in broccoli.

I would like to apologize ahead of time for my heavy pregnancy breathing, my husband talking about stupid stuff in the background and the all around pointlessness of these videos. Whatevah. I do what I want.

K thanx!

Ok, in the words of 2Pac, because I’m westside till I D-I-E, today we are starting making some changes.

Last night I went to the grocery store & like a really bad mom- I forgot that we were running out of formula. Although this seems like a pretty dick move on my part- I don’t BUY formula as our entire formula intake over the past 6 months has been given to us! (Scott’s aunt is a nurse & hooks it up) So, I just assumed we had more cans in the closet. Usually I’ve got like 10 cans waiting. Oops.

So, after returning from the store and getting in my PJs & shit Scott went to make Hudson’s night baba, which apparently used every last bit of formula.

Anyways: the point of the story is that he is turning 1 year old in less than 2 weeks now. I figured that milk couldn’t be that different now & two weeks from now, so this morning- Hudson got his morning bottle. OF MILK. COLD. And surprisingly, although it took more than the usual 30 seconds to drink, he drank the entire 7 ounce bottle. It was 2% milk because that’s all I have, but since it went over so well I think I will run out and get whole milk today and just start my little man on his 1 year old style diet.

So, in a few we are off to have Oatmeal & banana.
And for lunch I am thinking some cheerios & a veggie of sorts.
And for dinner? I think he will just get whatever we eat.

So, today, my baby is officially graduating from Wholesome Baby Food to Wholesome TODDLER Food.

Big steps. BIG steps.

*EDIT: Just so everyone is clear- I checked with above mentioned pediatric nurse-aunt before doing this. She said it’s all good. That 2 weeks makes no difference and that by the next baba I should def go get WHOLE milk.*

But since of course I had Hudson in late January and then had a 6 week recovery period from my c-section in which I was told to hold off on the exercise- and then followed that up with two months of not exercising because I was feeling tired and still losing weight from breastfeeding only to find out that I was tired because I was pregnant AGAIN and definitely with multiple fetuses and definitely puking A LOT- exercise never happened and my weight was still well above my pre-Hudson-pregnancy weight. (Hellllohhhh run-on sentence!)

And now, as I have mentioned I am the heaviest I’ve ever been and am literally holding back tears at the site of myself in pictures. (I guess THIS is out the window!)

So, I am giving myself a generous timeline in which to get this under control. Only because I am losing the weight of two pregnancies and THREE babies. That said- in December 2010 I will attack my closet and either get to relive past fashion glories, while cleaning out a few duds and making room for MORE awesome stuff- or I will be coming to terms with the fact that I am indeed a new, larger size that will require a longer period of time to reign in then most of my clothes will remain fashionable, hence, I will have to get rid of lots.

Either way- I’m OK with it.

As long as I can get to where I was this summer- still 5-10 pounds over PHP (That’s pre-Hudson-pregnancy) I’d be OK.

Some battles aren’t worth that much fight. And really, 10 pounds isn’t life shattering. So, I am hoping for the best and preparing for the worst in regards to my weight/shape in 2010.

Wish me luck. And I’d also like to make my belly button go back in in 2010. Just a thought.

Thanksgiving is literally the best holiday in terms of copious amounts of food that is bad for you and I plan to take FULL advantage of that!

I am stoked!

What are everyone’s holiday plans? Favorite foods? Any recipes I should know about?