Friday, July 1, 2011

An early celebration

My family spends the fourth at the river so we headed over tonight for a cookout and some “fireworks.” Mother Nature is being a bit of a problem lately, so our outside time was limited (100 degrees at 6 p.m. is no good for anyone) but it was fun nonetheless. Zander was a sweaty mess after one trip up and down my parents’ street on his bike.

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We hung out indoors and my dad got some much needed bonding time with the boys. They LOVE their Papa and are so sad when they have to leave him. He’s pretty smitten with them too given he’s spent his life surrounded by girls.

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Speaking of girls – this is such a typical picture of life at my house.

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And of course, everyone had to get their baby Ben fix. They were all amazed at how alert he is now. He’s getting so big and so vocal. My mom figures Ashley must sound like me because he was cooing away at her.

family4Then we braved the heat for some “fireworks.” Living in Iowa really limits our legal Fourth of July fun, but the boys didn’t mind. They loved playing with the sparklers and watching the “worms” grow. Ben even participated in the fun.

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family12And even though sparklers are prettier in the dark, my kids had fun with the fire sticks while the sun was still shining. We just don’t do late nights at this house. It makes for some seriously bad mornings if we try.

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