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!

When They Were Little...

Looking through old, beloved photographs is such a bittersweet thing, isn't it? Time marches forward, despite protest or sheer will, and it is relentless. While it makes me a little sad, it makes me so grateful that I tried to capture our moments. These are some pictures from summers past that make me smile, no other reason to post them than that. Some may be repeats, but, my blog my rules. ;)

An Interview with 10.5 Year Old Isabelle + Our Backyard Portrait Session

What made you smile the most in fourth grade?

The last day of school

What made you most nervous?

Math

What one thing did you look forward to the most?

Reading Group

What are you looking forward to next year, in the fifth grade? (!!!)

FACTS (modern home-economics class)

If you could spend the whole day doing whatever you wanted, what would you do? (It can be more than one thing.)

Reading, writing, swimming in the pool, spending the day helping out little kids...or something like that  (Seriously? Okay.)

If you could have lunch with anybody in the whole world, alive or deceased, who would it be?

Kate and Claire (friends)

What's your favorite color?

Pink

What's your favorite outfit?

The long dress that you made me, that you tie on the shoulders

What do you wish I would let you wear?

Mini-skirt, I guess (after probing for a few minutes)

What do you think Daddy would say if a boy asked you to be his girlfriend?

NOPE

What would I say?

NO

What super power do you wish you had?

I'm kind of thinking of the powers Elsa has, like ice power things. Oh, water powers!

Which season makes you feel the happiest?

Spring

What thing do you like best about yourself?

I was a pretty fast learner when I took piano [lessons]

What one quality do you look for in a good friend?

Kindness

What one thing that has happened made you feel the most special?

When our family does something fun all together

What's your favorite memory?

**And this is where she got overwhelmed and got mad at me and refused to answer. Go figure.**

Ten and a half years old. I can hardly believe it. She made me a girl Mom, and I loved her from the very first moment I ever laid eyes on her, a blurry image on my computer screen. And we just knew. She was meant for us and we for her.

Isabelle's SURPRISE Half Birthday Fiesta Bash

Planning and executing a surprise party is not for the faint of heart.

Especially a weather-dependent one living in an area like New England, where unpredictability is pretty much the norm.

But we did it, our half-birthday girl was completely surprised and had so much fun, and I lived to tell about it. Win win. :)

The entire week leading up to the big day, I stalked the weather report, as if that's going to change anything, and every few hours, the forecast would be entirely different. From thunderstorms to just cloudy, back to showers, then partially sunny...it was crazy! There were heavy downpours that morning, but I had a Plan B in case we couldn't go swimming, so I was determined to make the most of it. BUT the sun popped out around noon, and the rest of the day was glorious. Just absolutely beautiful.

A little backstory on the whole half birthday fiesta... since we have two December birthdays, we celebrate one in the beginning of December and celebrate Isabelle's later in January. It works for us. Well, this year, everyone and their uncle kept getting sick. Like really sick. This (school) year has gone down as the absolute worst in terms of fevers, coughs, colds, infections, and general illness. I blinked and March was here, and we had not celebrated our birthday girl. That's when I decided to throw her a pool party in June. Poor thing, she never asked about her party after it kept getting putting off- she must've thought we just weren't going to do it. :(

Decorations were simple but festive. I made just a couple flower poms, but most were from the dollar store in a package of two. Perfect. The rest was simply crepe paper streamers and balloons. It was so fun and colorful! I had arranged for Isabelle to hang out with my Mom that morning so I could decorate and finish the cake, and honestly, I did not get everything done. I ran out of time! And it was so, so sticky hot, which totally zaps my productivity. The cupcake cakes weren't how I wanted them; the rest of the streamers never got hung; I forgot to put out some of the food... and in the end, it didn't matter one bit. Everyone had such a good time, and I think anyone in a three-mile radius would agree, as they could probably hear the squeals and screams. Ten (and a half) year old girls are L-O-U-D, ha ha!

Here are some pictures of the day:

As she turned the corner and her friends yelled, "Surprise!" - love that grin!

Someone was feeling a bit left out that HE wasn't swimming.

 But Mimi and Grampy got some smiles...

And I know I've said it a million times, but the way Levi makes my Dad feel like a kid again is just the best thing in the world to watch.

Aw, look who's finally in the water! Big brother to the rescue!

In the middle of getting their dinner ready, I looked out at this scene and my heart nearly burst.  Laughter and love and friendship and fun. It really doesn't get any better than that.

There may have been some additional silliness for the blowing out of candles ;)

Lastly, we held the party from 3-6pm, so I bought some individual ready made pizza crusts (I think they came in a package o three) for the girls for dinner- we added the sauce and let them choose their toppings. Of course, when it was time to eat said pizza, they were all munching away on bags of chips and cookies- all the snacks I'd put out by the pool that I thought they'd eat when they first got out there. Oops. ha ha 

I also had apple juice, which no one touched, and Honest lemonade pouches, which clearly were the fave. So simple!

The only thing I'd really wanted to accomplish was taking Isabelle's portraits with the giant "10" balloons, and I was out of town all day Sunday (U2 concert...more about that later!), and then it has rained off and on since then, and now they are deflated enough to look kind of pitiful. So I don't know if I'll use them, but they were so ridiculously priced that I just may make it work. ;)

All in all, a wonderful celebration for our big girl!

Happy 10...and a half...my darling girl!