4th of July Weekend/Week

I've always loved celebrating the 4th of July, and this year was no exception.

The weather was so beautiful, lots of blue skies and sunshine but not a whole lot of thick humidity or crazy-hot heat. Such a treat!

Here are my two youngest firecrackers sporting their Independence Day attire. I wasn't feeling well the day I whipped up Isabelle's dress and it ended up being eight sizes too big in the underarm area, poor girl. Thankfully it was a pretty easy fix.

We hosted my side of the family this year and my shopping buddy and I had to sneak out for a few last minute items the morning of the party.

Party mood :)

I blinked and this one will be heading off to college soon. I can't even.

I didn't get one picture of the table with food on it, but you know how crazy things get when you're hosting and trying to get everything ready. But this is how the room was set up and I think it looks cute. I had some paper lanterns hanging from a string on the other side.

Poke Cake & Cookie Fruit Tart...our 4th staples right there! 

We also had Rice Krispies Squares with red, white and blue sprinkles - those were gobbled up in a flash. :)

 You can find the recipe HERE

Most afternoons and evenings this week, you'll find us outside, and it really is the best. Just hanging out, throwing a football, playing frisbee or track ball, and swimming. Lots and lots of swimming.

At one of the parks around town. Such a beautiful day!

 I love this picture. He had just spotted Isabelle and Jonah waving from up high on a structure and got so excited.

Three out of four of the older ones are total bookworms, but I haven't cracked open a book in a looong time. Until this week, and it's a really good one so far, too!

We visited a neighboring town for their 4th festivities, and someone had his first taste of a popsicle.

 Maybe he thought Isabelle was going to try to take it away from him, ha ha ha

We were waiting in line for face painting, and standing around on the pavement under the sun made you sizzle a bit. There was a sprayer cool-down tent nearby and the breeze would carry the spray to us and it was the best feeling in the world. Look at those sweaty fly-aways! Love!

 Mr.Cool

Well anyways, there was one lady painting faces, and it was obvious she was a professional, and the stereotypical artsy type flitting to and fro, and there were at least four girls and one boy ahead of us, and I just couldn't stand there any longer. I felt terrible. (Over the weekend, I'd had to get medication for two rather awful infections, ladies I'm sure you can guess, and it was obvious I was going to need another dose because things started to fall apart real quick while waiting in the heat. Ugh. It.Was.Awful.) I felt so bad for Isabelle, so Daddy gave her a little manicure when we got home to make up for it.

We thought Levi should get to see sparklers before he went to bed, and there was no way I was keeping him up for the fireworks. So we lit some on the back deck, and just like I thought, he wanted to eat them. ha ha

 I love sparkler sparks! They're so neat!
The fireworks were okay, but it was just a bad night. Or rather, it became a bad night. Sigh. Parenting is hard. But we survived, we persevered, and we tried to make things better.

And I'm throwing in this photo because how can I not? Yes, he has totally been living in this romper since July 1st, and that's fine by me because he looks so darn cute in it! I assure you it is now waiting to be washed...so that he can sport it all next week. ;)

Baby bear went and turned fifteen whole months old on me, so I'm going to do a special little post for that later. It makes me cry how quickly the days are going by. I'm just trying to make the most of every single moment I'm given, but boy, I sure wish I could bottle up that giggle and sweet smile of his!