Saturday, July 4, 2009

July 4th festivities

We had a very busy but super fun 4th of July. I apologize in advance, there are MANY pictures in this post ... So many fun and special moments today.

Started out by getting the kids dressed in ... you guessed it - red, white & blue! Even Baa & Cupcake got decked out with red and blue ribbons. :)


Audrey spent about an hour out in the yard with Chad playing wiffle ball. She is actually really good. Must get that from Chad (who would be more than thrilled to have her enjoy baseball as much as he does!) :) I love this picture of her making contact with the ball (and concentrating quite hard on the task at hand).


Getting ready to whale another one across the yard. In a skort, I might add.


My parents and brother came over to have an early birthday celebration for Chad, and of course to celebrate our country's birthday too. We had a fun time hanging out on the deck, playing with the kids, and eating good food.

Audrey with Mom-Mom.


Chad with his birthday cake. And Audrey. We put a sparkler on top instead of ALL those candles!


After dinner, we headed over to the Martz's house for our 4th annual "4th of July dessert/fireworks" party. This year Audrey had the idea of decorating bikes and having a bike parade. And as usual, Audrey has a way of pulling off her bright ideas ...

Emma, Audrey & Kaitlyn getting ready to GO!

All the kids lined up on their bikes. {Sigh} I CANNOT believe how old all these kids are now. Weren't they all just born yesterday??


After copious amounts of cookies, ice cream sundaes, water ice, pie & rice krispie treats were consumed, the kids did sparklers. Chad gave them instructions on how to be careful with them, this is why the girls are holding the sparklers out so gingerly. They almost seemed afraid of them at first!


Blue lips are always evidence of some really good blue raspberry water ice from Petrucci's ...


For some reason, Carter decided that Kelly's brother was the perfect target for him to throw the ball at ... over and over again. He was a good sport and made Carter laugh hysterically.


Blurry shot here ... but this is Chad setting up the "fireworks display" ... he has become the unofficial fireworks guy on the block. Today Audrey went with him to help pick out all the fireworks. However, once the fireworks started she was petrified that he was going to get hurt ... I kept reassuring her that he was being careful, but it was the theme of the evening.

For Carter this was his first time watching fireworks. He loved it!


A little sampling of the fireworks!


Happy Birthday America! :) Although it's not a perfect place (and truly what place is?), I am so thankful to live in this great country!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Love the bike parade idea!