4th of July holds a very close second next to Christmas as my favorite holiday of the year.
love, love, love.
A smile is pretty much frozen on my face just thinking about the last two days of fun.
Since the 4th fell on a Sunday this year, our church chose to hold its annual picnic on Saturday the 3rd…which I actually loved because it made the celebration twice as long!
The annual gunny sack race.
(photo courtesty of Jamie)
Uber competitve.
And don’t think I’m kidding.
Because apparently it’s totally cool in the rule book to carry your kids *like* a sack of potatoes…
I give myself points for being a good sport and joining in on the racing too.
Mental note: quit eating oreo flurrys…STAT.
And the event Andy waits for all year:
The water balloon toss.
The man is serious about this one.
And don’t think I’m kidding.
Cuz I’m totally not.
(source)
His partner Sean is also super serious about it.
(source)
Sadly they came in second place.
Again.
Second year in a row.
It’s okay Andy.
Just shake it off.
Next year.
It’s on.
(source)
And what 4th of July picnic (on the 3rd) would be complete without a human pyramid???
See Andy at the base under a tower of tumbling kids?
(source)
All the while the girls lounged on a blanket in the shade in pretty patriotic dresses…
that were given to me at their baby shower!
Pefect fit!
But after a while, the festivities proved to be a bit much for LuLu…because her signature ear-pulling, finger sucking I’m tired pose made it’s debut…
But not so tired that we couldn’t blow a kiss to mama first…
So we packed up our brood and headed home in our ultra-cool wagon.
It’s okay to be jealous.
I’d be jealous of my wagon too.
Joy was hosting 4th of July this year and sent an email out telling us to bring bikes and scooters…funny enough I had just had the realization a couple of days before that Henry didn’t even *have* a bike yet…which was painfull apparent after Lindsey blogged about Silas losing his training wheels…oops.
Bad parents.
So we popped by Wal Mart that morning and bought Henry his very first bike.
After all, he had birthday money to spend! :)
And helmet.
Safety first you know.
And in true little boy fashion, he was literally pedaling down the sidewalk in 6 seconds’ time.
With a giant smile.
And tears in his mama’s eyes.
One, two, three stages of development.
All three in different places.
Each made perfectly and each happy as a clam.
This face. Oh how I just want to squish her!
Lu is modeling her new shirt. I love this color on her! Not everyone can pull off Celadon!
We have dogs for the express purpose of serving as stools for tired babies.
It’s a good gig.
And no one…and I mean no.one…is a bigger fan of her big brother than Miss LuLu.
She just clapped and cheered her brother on as he pedaled furiously around the cul-de-sac.
Sweetest friendship ever.
Finally it was time to head to the party.
I was asked to bring a side dish.
But I’m a rebel.
Watch out.
Salted Caramel Cupcakes on a three tier jadite stand.
Perfection.
I’m now on a hunt for a stand like this.
My life will not be complete until I have one in my posession.
Not kidding.
Saying grace before a fabulously 4th of July BBQ with an amazing view of God’s creation in the background.
I could just *live* on Joy’s back porch.
Parties with friends means lots of extra arms for holding babies…
and Esther offering to babysit…which apparently includes looks of death if Lucy isn’t behaving…and sharing her special blanket with Jill…HUGE.
Parties mean all food rules out the window and eating rice crispy treats bigger than your mouth can open…
and of course no 4th is complete without handing a 3 year old exploding fire.
We’re all about safety.
Speaking of parties…
Let’s have a LINKY PARTY!
Link up YOUR 4th of July post!
(oh, and don’t forget to do your patriotic duty and vote!)
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who could compete with THAT?? i left for our party sans camera. you can read all about it below. grab tissues… how sad is 4th of july sans camera??
loved your post. your kids are flippin eye candy.
looks like you had a blast!
.-= purejoy´s last blog ..sans camera =-.
Beautiful pictures! It looks like you had a fantastic weekend. The gunny sack race is one of my faves too :) Our in laws didn’t have a block party this year so we didn’t get to compete, but hopefully next year! Thanks for the linky party too :)
.-= Andrea Howe´s last blog ..Firecracker- Firecracker- Boom- Boom- Boom =-.
I was just telling people at the pool party I went to yesterday that this is definitely my 2nd fav holiday too.
Henrys soo big! & the girls are adorable.
I don’t have 4th of July post up yet, but seriously that was a very happy post and I loved it! We went on a family bike ride today, and the whole way I was marveling at how quickly we went from toddler bikes and training wheels to 6 and 7 year old girls cruising on 2 wheelers down park bike paths. Luckily I still have 2 littles to live out the first bike moments with again in a couple of years! Happy Independence!
.-= Mari´s last blog ..El Salvador Part 2 =-.
Wow ~ that looks like so much fun…busy but fun! Your pics are fabulous and adorable!! I love your girls eyes! ;) we actually laid fairly low… puppy’s first 4th… we weren’t sure what he would do! We had a couple friends over to play cards… and just laughed instead! Daddy took the kids out for “some” fireworks while I snuggled puppy… who didn’t like them at all! Then we watched a big fireworks show on tv (so sad! ha ha) =) We have a big fireworks show happening after a local fair in two weeks.. so I don’t feel too sorry for our kids! ha ha! ;)
.-= Just Jenn´s last blog ..Celebrate =-.
The picnic looks like so much fun. What great photos!
.-= Christa´s last blog ..Celebrating the Fourth- July 2010 =-.