Showing posts with label 4th of July. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 4th of July. Show all posts

Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy Birthday America!

 Once again, we were honored to celebrate our nation's birthday at the neighborhood 4th of July parade. I'm happy to add this is the 32nd annual parade, and we have had the pleasure of attending three of these. Check out 2008 and 2010 here. Unfortunately we missed 2009 because of the rain.





 Blake ran a Firecracker 5k this morning, placing first in his age category!





 Lemonade and cookies after the parade, in the hosts backyard.





 After the morning parade, we had a little lunch at home, I took the boys to see Cars 2, Mason somehow fell asleep during the movie, dropped him off after to play at Sabrina's, and took Braden to buy fireworks. Blake has admitted that he is not a huge fan of fireworks, which I completely understand. Unfortunately our kids are fascinated by them. We were thankful for a dinner invite from the Arbuckles, a repeat of what we did last year, and Mark was our official pyromaniac.

You would think this broccoli was sprinkled with sugar the way Mason devoured it. He kept asking for more!!!!

 I'm not quite sure how to interpret this expression, but it made me laugh.....


 Last year Braden received this cap gun as a gift at his birthday party. He sees it as a firework on its own, and once he used up all his caps, Mason wouldn't put it down.



 Run for your life!

 Mason shooting poor Mark.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Grateful for Freedom

In church the topic of discussion was gratitude. I know I have many things in my life to be grateful for, but what stuck with me the most was the effort we can make to turn a negative into a positive. So all day I found myself applying this. It was not hard to be grateful for my friend Karen who not only let me take Mason swimming in her pool after dinner, but also sent me home with these beautiful Stargazer Lilies.


I am grateful to have crying, whining children, because it also means I have children and the smiles and laughter, too!

I am grateful for this mindful 6 year old who will actually smile on command, but also LOVES to give a goofy face any time the chance presents itself!



I am grateful for the surprise lunch at Applebee's after church, where Mason wanted to climb over the booth and under the table, spill his lemonade, color for 10 seconds at a time, play with the blinds in the window and try to handle the dead fly he found, because I have an adoring, thoughtful husband who wanted to give his family a special treat.

I am grateful for floors to mop, dishes and laundry to do, and toys to pick up, because it means we have a home.

I am grateful to hear "Mamma" 100 times a day and for Mason to cling to me 20 of the 24 hours in a day, following me from room to room saying "hold, hold, hold" and 20 questions from Braden wondering where his toys are....because it means I am a Mom and I am loved unconditionally by these two!

Popsicle treat after nap

Poor Mason is cutting teeth which means he's cranky, with a slight fever and runny nose (right into the popsicle) without the help of Tylenol. At our last Dentist visit she said he has 16 of his 20 baby teeth and could feel two right under the surface.



Bunny! Amazingly, this bunny has survived our back yard! He has plenty to eat in the garden, but any time he makes an appearance the boys charge with all their might. Fortunately for him (and them) he usually makes it under the lattice on our deck every time! I'm not sure what they would think if they ever caught him!

As we approach our 10 year anniversary, I've learned many things about Blake, one being 4th of July is not his favorite holiday. I took Braden and Will to get a few "low key" fireworks. Combined with what the Arbuckle's had already purchased, this was our hard earned dollars that set fire to.

Braden had two "big" items, this plane and one heavy hitter that actually shot pretty high!

Our pyrotechnic specialist....Mark. They had us over for steak & shrimp, and kindly offered up their patio for the display. Of course the majority was smoke bombs and snake poop (as the boys call it).

Blake didn't have to be in charge of dinner or the fireworks, and I snuck in this shot of him actually relaxing! I was sooooooooo happy he could!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

4th of July






Here are some pictures from our 4th of July. We went to a neighborhood parade of the kiddo's riding their bikes, wagons, tricycles etc. in the morning. This lady has been coordinating it for 29 years. She serves lemonade and cookies in her backyard, afterwards, and we sing Happy Birthday to America and recite the Pledge of Allegience. Very Norman Rockwell. Then a pool party, then fireworks at some friends! Amazingly, Mason slept through the entire round of fireworks.