The Fourth of July

Here's to the fourth. The celebration of our freedom and independence. A nation first and foremost founded on biblical truth and faith in God. Sadly, something our nation is so far away from now, and I pray one day could turn towards again. We had an amazing Sunday service allowing us to reflect on our beginnings before the festivities hit on Wednesday.

Leighton and her BFF. Two cutest girls on the block. Micah jumped in there and gave us the best grins. To bad he is half naked.

We always celebrate my sisters birthdays (July 8th, two girls born on the same day 7 years apart) on the 4th. Unfortunately Melissa lives too far to join us, so we just celebrated Meg. Great delicious cake, courtesy of Julie. {she makes them as an adoption fundraiser--if you live in my area use her, you won't be sorry. :) }

 

I made the yummy patriotic strawberries. And thanks to pinterest there wasn't any white chocolate to be found in the area, well except the last bag of white chocolate chips I finally found at Target.

I also made (in honor of someone's 21st birthday) a white sparkling wine. {Moscato wine + Fresca + fruit: use what every ratio floats your boat. 1/2 wine 1/2 soda, 2/3 wine, 1/3 soda---can't go wrong just depends on how strong you want it, try this you won't be sorry. :)}

Then of course it was time to take some cute outfit photos of the kids. Well, we tried...

The festivities!

1. chasing parachutes

2. MW throwing snappers.

4. enjoying watching fireworks
5. doing sparklers.
6. thanks to pinterest we tried the red plastic cup to "protect" Lo's hand from the sparkler. It worked great and made her feel a little "safer" about holding a sparkler.

Water balloon fight. The kids, even the big ones, loved it.

Poor Micah was so sad when the water balloons were all gone. He kept signing and saying "more, more." So we hooked up the sprinkler, threat level downgraded.

After some sprinkler fun, a piece or two of cake and few daytime fireworks I put Micah to bed. I wasn't sure how he would do since Mayberry sounds like a war zone and quiet possibly could put our nation's capitol's display to shame. HA! But he went right to sleep and didn't make a peep all night. WOW! He was a little scared of the fireworks while he was up though, but overall did well. Leighton was loving it.
At one point we took a little walk to pass the time, but then the sky started lighting up with fireworks. Leighton got all excited and demanded we turn around and get home. "We're missing the fourth of July!!" She kept saying. So funny.

My sister and I have an annual sparkler dance. We have been listening to that "call me maybe" song way.too.much. and may or may not have a routine to it...

The evening ended with this gorgeous moon. Of course we don't have a great zoom yet, so this will have to do. It was brilliant and huge.

What? The 4th is over?!

Until Next Year!

Happy Fourth Of July!

Summer Style

Well I finally broke down and got Lo's hair bobbed. I was about to go insane with her long stringy, tangly hair. She cried every.single.day about brushing it, so she and I decided to cut it.

Here is her last pony.

.

During. We had Sheryl, Chad's hair dresser since he was 3 do the honors.

After. Adorbs.

Lo absolutely loves it, as does everyone who sees it. And best of all no more tears over a brushing!

And of course MW thought he needed a spin in the chair. Micah is probably due for a real cut himself. :)

Piano

I have wanted a piano in our home forever, especially now that Lo is getting older and I can encourage an interest in playing. :) {And of course one day Micah, who I have been told by countless people has perfect piano hands. :)} I tried to get my mom to give me hers, but there were "fights" with my littlest sister over it. :) Thankfully, Chad is an only child and his mom and aunt said we could have hers. THANK YOU!!!

When we got home from gymnastics she was very excited to see her "new" piano.

Both kids really enjoy playing pounding out their songs.

Of course momma may be enjoying it way more than they are. I love playing every night and brushing up on my dusty piano skills. Thank you so much Grandma Rachel and Aunt Ellen for giving up your piano to us. You have made us all so happy. I just love love love having the piano here. Have I said that yet?!