A Fantastic Fourth - Part Two (the FOURTH!)

After a stormy start to our weekend (in a good way), we claimed the privilege of celebrating Independence Day in our own colorful way.

There were t-shirts to wear, toes to be painted, swimming to be had, dinner and desserts to be shared and fireworks to be witnessed!

Bethany and James model their newly-decorated t-shirts:

And, for some reason, their criteria for posing for pictures all together was being allowed to use random unused vacuum attachments and...blocks...as musical instruments.

(Do you like Ben's shirt? I hurridly painted it myself that morning when I realized that we had yet to do so)

Happy faces!

Now, it was Saturday. And Saturday means a treat.

I adopted this idea from my good friend, Ali - - we have a chart on which we document our fruit and vegetable consumption throughout the week. Every serving gets a star. If we all get five stars every day of the week, then on Saturday, the kids get to choose a special treat. Whatever they choose, they get.

We've been doing it for about five weeks now and we've yet to miss a Saturday treat! Good job, kiddos!

I knew we would be having dessert later at my parents' house but the kids had already been adament about the fact that they wanted to choose to have a donut as a treat this week, so I went ahead and obliged. Really, they average five to eight servings a day and they do pretty darn well. So, their systems can handle a little extra on a holiday weekend, wouldn't you say?

Mmm...

mmmm....

mmm!

Also, Bethany got a special treat and we polished her toe nails in a spicy red with some blue rhinestones that she chose.

I figure red polish on a 4 yrd old is acceptable on the Fourth.

Probably only the Fourth.

It was something fun to do together. :)

After the afternoon was well on its way, we headed over to my parents' house to spend time with family and let the holiday unfold.

The pool beckoned us, and we gladly took a dip.

The kids had so much fun. They had lots and lots of grownups to hold them, play with them and catch them when they jumped in!

Also, comfort them when they get nervous.

And applaud them when they get brave.

Chase and tickle them...

and be silly with them!

(my new favorite picture of Monica and Ben)

After a swim and dinner, dessert called our name. We had birthday cake to celebrate the June birthdays that had been missed due to previously mentioned strep throat (or whatever combination of horrible things it was...), Jello salad, and cherry pie. We did NOT have a homemade made-from-scratch cherry pie as was planned because after t-shirt and toenail painting, rain dancing, tantrum avoiding and all the other things that encompass our days, I decided it was not the year for such things...even though the organic produce aisle at Fry's had inspired me otherwise.

Let's put a pin in it for next year.

But dessert was good without my over-achieving homemade cherry pie anyway . . .

The kids take a gander at the goods.

Everyone laughs at Bethany blowing out Andrew and Monica's birthday candles.

Since some were still burning, Andrew "conducts and experiment" using a plastic cup to remove the candle's oxygen supply.

This was easier than blowing them out apparently.

We were unsure how our evening would go. We usually stick pretty close to normal routines, even on holidays . . . so we figured we may not make it to fireworks time. But, everyone stayed pretty happy, JC stayed pretty involved with the wii, and we all enjoyed visiting into the evening. Right as we were thinking about calling it a night, the fireworks started at Mesquite High, right by their house.

So, we wandered outside to watch.

It's been years since fireworks were anything to me but something annoying and ridiculous my neighbors do late at night. But, I've got to say . . . I really enjoyed these. :)

And, the kids had never seen any, so it was quite magical for them.

James gives Monica his reaction after witnessing some.

Bethany watches in traditional little-girl fashion - - atop Daddy's shoulders.

And Ben and Grandma share in the (sleepy) fun!

Soon after these pictures were taken, James fell asleep standing up. We went home.

What a fun day of celebrating!

What a fun weekend!

Let's do it again.

I'll meet you in July of next year.