Fourth of July Antics

The Fourth is always so much fun for our family! Some years we have a party with our neighbors, other years we just play and party with family.  And some years it's a little of both!

This year started out with a pick up soccer game with our friends!  Cubby stayed at home with Britta and did a little food prep while I took the four other kiddos out to play.

Future Team USA :-).

 Next up was some swimming!!  This year we were invited to our friend's, the Olsons, parent's house.  (We've gone there before on the Fourth--always a fun time!)

Soooo why is Cubby giving us a duct-taped thumbs up?  Well, let me tell you.  As we were finishing up soccer, I called Cubby and let him know we were going to stop and buy a few fireworks (we never buy many--they're dangerous and a waste of money.  Still, they're fun, so we buy just a few.)  Anyhow, I called and asked how home was.  His reply, "I think it's fine.  Your mom's there with Britta.  I'm at Urgentcare right now."  {What??!}  I guess when he was slicing tomatoes, he also sliced a pretty deep gash in his thumb with our uber-sharp Wustoff knives.  Yikes.

So, technically he wasn't supposed to get his stitches/bandages wet.  But, it was hot and we were at a swimming pool!  So, I told him to wrap it in plastic and duct tape.  Done.  Boom.  No water entered that wound!

Juliana loved the bouncy-house slide they had.

 After swimming we came back home for some grilling and good times with our family!  Grandma and Grandpa, Great-Grandma, and Auntie Erin came by too.

 After dinner, it was time for our little pyrotechnics show!  The girls all thought it was loud.  Christian was all about it.

 Pretty Ju Ju.  So patriotic.

All in all, it was a beautiful and fun Fourth!  We are so blessed to live in a country where we can live and worship freely.  God bless America!

4th of July!

 Happy 4th of July!  We had a great holiday!  So much of my life these days hinges on the weather and the Fourth was absolutely GORGEOUS.  Just after lunch we headed over to Papio Bay for some swim time (no pictures were taken, but fun was had :-)).  Then we came home for naps--well, Juliana took a nap.  Everyone else just had "quiet time" (if such a thing could exist).

After naps, we headed over to my mom's for dinner and some lawn games--so nice not to have to cook/clean/organize/host!

 Grandma gave everyone sunglasses--and, once Kari saw that Juliana wanted her picture taken, she decided that getting hers taken wasn't as awful as she'd thought :-).

Emily loves her ice cream sundaes!

The girls perfected their croquet game.

Auntie Erin took pictures.

After my mom's, we all headed over to the ball park to watch some baseball!  True Americana, for sure.  We had never done this before in previous years bc we'd either been celebrating with neighbors (most of whom were out of town this year), or, when Emily was younger she was too afraid of fireworks.  But, it turned out to be such a beautiful night and the kids all LOVED it!  (Emily said the fireworks were awesome!)

Christian and his cotton candy.

Gma and Kari

Kyle and me!

Pretty Juliana

The game! 

Kari, our champion at sleeping anywhere, through anything, fell asleep RIGHT before the fireworks began...and slept through the ENTIRE show.  Which, we were right below!  It was impressive (both the show and Kari's ability to sleep through it all.)

Em and Daddy :-)

Happy 4th of July!

Fun-Filled Fourth!

Oh my goodness, where has July gone?  I can't believe I have yet to post on our Fourth of July!  Well, it was a great day!  Probably the coolest 4th we've ever had temperature-wise (which translates into warm enough to swim, but with no humidity, it was cool enough to enjoy being outside for some fun times with our friends and neighbors!

Emily even let me do her hair all patriotic!

The day started out with Cubby and the kiddos riding bikes.  Sorry for the bad pictures, they were off of my phone.  

After lunch we went over to swim at my friend's Andrea's mother's home for some swimming.

Can you spot Christian??

 Kari had so much fun, she fell asleep a midst a HUGE "tank war" of fireworks and smoke bombs.  We set her up on a big floaty in the shade :-).

And then came our fun evening!  This year, my sweet friend, Mandi, offered to play hostess that evening.  What a blessing it was NOT to have to prepare everything and just bring a side to share!

The kids all spread out picnic-style for their dinner...

Juliana climbed into a chair to chill out....

And the grown ups got to sit back and relax!

Juliana kept us busy though--riding the Wonder Horse (I had one of these when I was little!)

And then she moved on to the swings with her friend, Ben :-).

After dinner, we moved on to fireworks (mostly sparklers and smoke bombs for the kids...the grown ups helped with a few other noise makers :-)).

Campbell and Kari--such angelic faces for two sweet girls!  (Notice the piles of snap-its at their feet.  These girls went through 10 boxes of snaps all.by.themselves.)

Here are my good friends and neighbors--Stephanie, Bridget, and Mandi.  What would I do without them?!

Here's Christian with the parachute he retrieved!

Check out the looks on these girls' faces!  There was a big "BOOM!" and I caught their reaction!

And here are Emily and Ella and their sparklers!

 Happy Fourth of July...at last!