schickHouse

And Our 5th

I noticed that having the holiday on a weekend provided lots more (spread out) opportunities for festivities. The big event of the afternoon was Cy's haircut.

Mama wanted it to grow longish over the summer and get all blonde by the pool, but... Mama doesn't quite know how to "deal" with it.

Mama DOES know how to buzz it. How handsome!

In the evening we headed over to Grammy & PopPop's for a pizza picnic with the Blairs. I wanted to get

a few baby belly pictures. Isn't this just too adorable? Thanks, Elle Mae!

Angela looks like she's listening to the baby, but I think she wants to fit under the belly. Mama is ready for baby!

Can you see Elle Mae's big cheeser under that helmet? She really like riding the 4-wheeler like Cyrus.

Of course, we had some sparkler fun.

Uncle Kyle tried to get Dad to read the safety instructions to no avail. ("Do not hold in hand.")

And then proceeded to send this little airplane to the roof! Some of us thought it was of the "tank"

variety. It was actually MUCH more exciting than that. LOL.

And Angela was still not a big fan of the fireworks. She & Mama fell asleep inside before the

show was over.

Our 4th (Post-Nap)

After naptime, Steve served up an amazing supper... steaks and hot dogs on the grill, baked potatoes in the oven, corn, biscuits, and strawberries with cool whip for dessert. I'm not sure I could count the number of times between supper and dusk that we were asked, "When can we do the fireworks?!" I remember that time taking forever when I was little, too.

Angela was pretty much ok with this variety.

But most of the rest of the time you could see her like this...

... or this...

... or even this. Just not a big fan of the popping, crackling, and flashing.

Elle Mae was way more into it than Angela.

But she did appreciate the warnings for "loud noises: hold your ears."

Cyrus was loving all of it. At the end he wondered why we didn't have more since today was "the big fireworks day."

He was fascinated by the white marks he could make on the driveway...

...which led to finding out all about chemical burns and how much they hurt. Bummer.

Shelby Jane called it "red, white, & blue day."

Happy Independence Day!!!

Our 4th (Pre-Nap)

We had a wonderfully peaceful, relaxing Independence at home, just us six, with Mama anxiously awaiting family member seven.

Swimming was our big activity during the day.

Shelby & Cyrus love to play this game with Daddy.

Daddy showed us the amazing creatures he found while trimming back the pines.

Baby robins! And now we watch mama robin bring food to the babies while we swim.

Cooled off with some ice pops.

The sleepiness was beginning to show. (She's not QUITE asleep here, just resting.)

Our 3rd

On Friday evening we headed to the pizza shop to watch the fireworks across the street. The crowd was incredible. And to our pleasant surprise, there was a big-time turnout of our family including us, McCords, Grammy Slice, Derrs, Marty, Jonny, and later the Fizers. Angela wanted me to hold her ears most of the time. Then I looked down about halfway through, and she was holding her eyes shut, too. I convinced her to take a peek, and I think by the end she was even enjoying them. Oh, and it was the coldest Independence Day weekend I can ever remember. We even needed jackets and blankets during the fireworks!

Happy Independence Day!

check out the visual dictionary of independence at this great new site i stumbled upon. sorry i can't get the link to work. go to www.visuwords.com