Firework Time!

We only bought a little bit of fireworks this year, and did most of them out in Oakley, but I did remember we had a few boxes of sparklers leftover from last year! After our pool party, we did a few snap pops and some small ground fireworks! We waited til after milkshakes to pull out the sparklers!

 Grant said this was the best firework-watching spot!!

 Wyatt wanted to try and light a few fireworks, so he lit this bumblebee one all by himself! He ran off saying, "I just lit my very first firework!!!!" He was quite proud!

 Grant was just trying to light anything on fire with his punk.

 Finally, it was dark enough to do some sparklers! We had about 2 dozen or so and they breezed through them so quickly! But what fun they had!!!

 It's just not the 4th of July without fireworks!!!

Some neighbors across the way lit up some pretty big ones, so we were able to watch those. Otherwise, we couldn't really see any big shows from our house. The boys were too tired to stay up anyway! Maybe some year, we will go watch an actual show. But this year, this one was just perfect!!

Half-Price Shakes After 8

One thing we had on the agenda for the 4th of July was loading up in to PawPaw's pick up and heading to get half-price shakes after 8 at Sonic! Even Millie came along for the ride!!

Morse Village Bike Parade

Our neighborhood has a 4th of July Bike Parade each year! It's so fun to get the bikes all decorated and our clothes as well!! The kids all take off on a mad sprint while the grown ups get a few houses down and the kids are already back for another loop!! Lots of kids, lots of bikes, lots of RED WHITE and BLUE!!! Good times and happy memories!!

This year Mason and Luke got to join us! We met some new neighbors and and had a wonderful morning!

Happy 4th of July!

 Thank you God for our country!! God Bless America!

 Three years in a row!!

Cousin Camp 2016

My mother-in-law went all out this year when she thought of Cousin Camp!! Since its an Olypmic year, she thought was better theme than Cousin Camp- Olympic Style!!! Complete with different events outside- long jump, javelin, shot put, obstacle course, triathlon, balance beam, and ring toss! And inside with a science olympiad with at least 10 different experiments! Oh how much fun the kids had!! Truly the best Cousin Camp yet!! With an 8-year old, two 6-year olds, a 5.5 year old, a 3.5 year-old and a 2 year-old, its not easy finding activities they all like to do! But between every event, they all loved something!! 

I could tell Barb had been working for months to get ready for the big day!! No detail was overlooked!! It really was the best cousin camp yet!

We all had our USA colors ready to go!! The kids got their USA shirts on and it was time for the opening ceremonies to begin!

They each entered with a torch and "lit" the main torch altogether, while the Olympic song played in the background.

Let the games begin!!!!

 I was the photographer for the day, but I don't have the pictures on my computer! Plus I took about 250 so there is no way I could ever decide which pictures to post on here, so we will leave it with these few! 

The "bubble in a bubble" science experiment was by far everyones favorite!!!!

 Of course, we did our annual Drive-In movie! This year's movie was perfectly themed- Rio!!

 Oh, and since Grant's turn for assistant camp director was last year, and he still really wanted a part- Grandma told him to put together a few magic tricks for the kids. The favorite was the "now you see him, now you don't'' trick!! 

 Grandma always makes the cousins a photo book of cousin camp so I know the boys will get to relive their cousin camp memories through that, thank goodness!! It was such a memorable day for all these cousins!!! Great job, Grandma Barb!!!

June Photos

Heading sitting tv watching? ~ Mommy Wyatt hanging ~ Fairy Garden improving

Sunset swimming ~ Flag waving ~ Sunsetting

Wyatt caging ~ Three headed monster swimming ~ Puppy cuddling

Slip Sliding Fun!!

Some of our best friends moved right next door to some of our other best friends, who happen to live across the street from us! So many friends within walking distance is just AWESOME!! Our kiddos started kindergarten together-Grant, Jalen, and Luca- and now the second-go-around of kindergarteners are starting together too- Wyatt, Rex, and Marietta! Makes for lots of fun friend-filled summer afternoons!!!

Angela bought a slip n slide to enjoy when they had some friends stay with them for the 4th of July, but all the kids thought they should test it out beforehand, ya know- just to make sure it works! I'd say they broke it in pretty darn well!!!

Its so awesome to have best friends as neighbors!!!!!

June Millie Update

Our little Millie baby is growing up!! Luckily she's still small enough we can scoop her up and snuggle her whenever we want to! She had her first grooming appointment, where she got her face trimmed and her nails clipped. Baths still take 2-3 people to wrangle her. She will sleep anywhere, but likes sleeping on things, like blankets, towels, piles of clothes. She LOVES sleeping on the AC vent in the living room and the blue tile down at Mimi and PawPaw's. She likes eating bugs and rabbit poop outside. She loves her brothers and just wants to play play play!

Wood Building with Daddy

Grant had been begging to get into Levi's stash of wood scraps to do some building! It was finally decent enough outside and we had a free weekend morning, so these fellas pulled out the wood and the power tools and got busy. Levi told them they could build whatever they wanted. My boys, being two very different creatures, went about this concept very differently! Grant dove in, just cutting and hammering and just going with it. Wyatt had to sit back and ponder what to make, how to make it. It was almost too open-ended for him that he was overwhelmed!! Once he got his idea, he went with it, but it definitely was harder for him than it was for Grant. Wyatt definitely had a picture in his head of what he wanted to build but had NO idea how to make that a reality! Grant didn't have a picture in his head, so he just built for the sake of building! But each fella came out with a very personal creation of their very own!!! And maybe a small affection for power tools!

Wyatt built a shelf for the Lego room to hold his creations, and Grant built...um...I think its a plane?