Fourth of July

Today was a great day to celebrate the 4th of July. Originally we were wanting to spend the day in Washington DC, for Brandon's cousin's wedding, but that didn't work out. I am so glad that we were able to stay home and enjoy the day with my side of the family. It's not very often that we are able to get together with my parents and brother and sister in law, but today we did! After church we (the five of us) went to McDonald's for lunch at the boys request. When we were loading the boys up in the car Brandon and I noticed a fireworks stand across the street, and both had the idea of getting little fireworks. Sparklers, roman candles, nothing too fancy, and hopefully nothing that would scare the boys. We hit the jack pot! Since it was the day of the 4th, everything was buy one get three free, and all the bigger stuff was marked down super cheap. We ended up spending $20 for three bags of fireworks, plus they gave us an extra bag full of stuff that they thought the boys would enjoy. Brandon and I are not big fireworks people. We like to watch them, but don't like to waste the money on buying them. In the almost five years we've been married, we have NEVER bought fireworks. So today was a big deal!


After nap time, we headed over to my parents house for dinner and to hang out with the family. My mom made a feast. My dad was in a mood to grill so we had BBQ chicken, BBQ sausage, BBQ pork chops and he wanted to make ribs, but my mom talked him out of it. We had corn on the cob, beans, chips, dips, fruit and veggie trays, and lots more. We were stuffed, but Brandon was ready to start setting some of the fun stuff off. We took the boys out back and let them play with the poppers. You know, the ones that you throw on the ground. We started out with letting them do one at a time, but they were taking hand fulls and throwing them down. Brandon lit some smoke bombs, and a few firecrackers, but had to put an end to them due to screaming Greyson.


We came in and impatiently hung out until it was "dark enough'' to go out and shoot the Roman candles and fountains. The boys ate on popsicles and colored with sidewalk chalk and more poppers. They were having a blast. Where my parents live is kinda bizarre. It's a subdivision in the country. They live in the front, where everyone has about a half acre and in the back is larger plots of land. In the back of the subdivision is where the people go all out on fire works. Some of these people had to spend close to a thousand bucks on fireworks. It was insane! The boys were a little skiddish at first, but once they knew that they weren't going to get hit by them, they took turns snuggling up with each of us. As we were getting everything cleaned up outside, Lincoln and Daniel were chasing each other, when Daniel tripped on the concrete leaving a nasty looking imprint on his forehead. After an icepack and a few hugs and kisses he was all better, but ready to go home.

As soon as we got home, we were able to enjoy our neighbors light show. The guy that lives behind us was shooting the big fireworks off in the back yard so it lit up the entire sky above our house. It kinda ( REALLY) terrified the boys so we put them down to bed, and went out on the deck and enjoyed a few minutes alone!


I am so grateful to be an American. I think that many days we take it for granted how lucky we are to live in such a great place. I am so thankful for our soldiers who fight daily to help keep us free and for their families who sacrafice so much. I couldn't imagine living any other place.

More pics here!