Our 4th!

You know what is one of my favorite things in the world? Going back and rereading all of my old birthday/holiday/anniversary posts every year. I just feel so danged happy and blessed and thankful and glad- not just for the wonderful life that I have and all of the people in it- but that I have had this space; a home to place our memories, pictures, and stories to look back on and enjoy again and again and again.

It’s the reason why I started A + Life 6 years ago and times like now, really remind me of that! It’s the best.

So anyway- our fourth of July.

My parents had been here visiting all the way up to the morning of the 4th. so it was back to just our family unit for the day of.

Someone was pretty excited about his first 4th of July and all of the red, white, and blue he got to rock. And rock it, he did.

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll mention it again- that our neighborhood does this huge 4th of July celebration. They do a big festive bike parade to a special park where they give speeches, sing songs, raise the flag, retire the old one, and have a big cookout with all of the neighbors. It’s awesome.

This year, instead of riding their bikes, Abigail and Mabel opted to decorate and ride their power wheel in style during the parade. It’s always terrifying watching your small children operate one of these things, particularly in a crowd, but Abigail handled it masterfully.

After the parade and picnic, Abigail spent the afternoon at the pool with her friends- the babies and I took naps, and Jim worked on projects around our house!

We finished our night shooting fireworks off in our yard and watching all of the fireworks going off around us. And since we live in Missouri, there are always TONS!

A few days after the most confusing week of all time (thanks to a Wednesday 4th of July) we drove up to Kansas City to spend the weekend at Jim’s parents. His little sister just had a baby, so we needed to meet the little guy and my Mother In Law had plans for Jim to help his Dad take down and rebuild the tree house in their backyard!

 

The weather was crazy, insanely beautiful and perfect. The tree house was built. More fireworks were lit. Tons of food was consumed.

It was the best.

Until next year!