4th of July Rundown...

Sorry, this is going to be REALLY picture heavy.

The day before the 4th, we had a little parade with the kids and marched to patriotic music. They loved it! And now because of Stars and Stripes Forever they know what a piccolo is. Do you see Rylee trying to play hers in the background? I'm not sure if eating it is the correct way, but she had the general idea. :)

Then just before bed we painted Ryee and Lana's nails. Lovely, don't you think!?

After we painted their nails it was time for bed. Rylee had the hardest time going to sleep though. Bill laughed and said I have succeeded in making the kids love the 4th like I do. They don't have that much trouble getting to sleep on Christmas Eve. I LOVE it!!!

Our day started when the kids woke up to the house looking like this:

They were so excited to wake up to this. Hayden woke up and noticed everything and started saying, "What's this? What's this?" I took him over to the table and showed him his new outfit for the 4th and his visor that he had made. He was so excited that he had to get dressed RIGHT THEN. The poor kid barely had his eyes open, but still wanted to get dressed. It was a good thing he wanted to get dressed because we all needed to hurry and get ready to go to the parade.
Here is Rylee at the parade, all dressed in her patriotic gear:


The girls are always so excited to "take their hats off when the flag goes by" so I just had to take this picture. So cute!


Lana, Rylee, and Hayden watching the parade. If you look, you can see my mom and dad in the background and Bill with Kate on his shoulders. Do you like Hayden's stylin' visor?

My dad with Kate. The kids always love it when my parents come with us to the parade, and the extra hands are always nice!

Our family just after the parade.

My parents with all of the kids! I love this picture!

After the parade, we came home and started filling up the swimming pools. We weren't sure if we should because it was really cloudy that morning (perfect for the parade) and looked like it was going to rain. but we decided to chance it! It ended up beautiful that afternoon!

We had some friends come over that evening for dinner and fun. Check out the food! I even made a flag out of jell-o, thanks to the mold that Bill got me for my birthday last year. It rocks!

The adults enjoyed eating while we watched the kids eat/run around/beg to play in the water!

PINATA TIME!!! The kids were cold after swimming, so we gave them a quick bath and got them in PJ's. Then it was time for the pinata while we waited for it to get dark.



Notice Amara's daddy bracing her so she didn't fall off the stool. He had to really duck though to avoid a good hard whack to the head.

Corbin whacked it hard enough to knock off one of the cones on the side of the pinata.

The cones made great patriotic party hats! This one's for you, Alesha!!!:)

Rylee trying with all she had to bust that thing wide open.

Tayah had the most amazing facial expressions while she hit the pinata. I don't think I have ever seen a kid pull so many different faces. I love it! (And ya gotta love Lana jumping in the back!)

Bill helping Kate with the pinata. She was hilarious. She just kept laughing and laughing at the pinata. I didn't know they were so darned funny!

After the pinata was done, it still wasn't dark outside, so we came in to play a little Rock Band. Alesha, Bill, and I opted out of the singing. But Rylee was eager to try it. (See...I always knew that teaching my kids Bon Jovi would come in handy someday!) She was really into singing Livin' On A Prayer.


How cute do these two look?! I loved watching the two of them. You know, Alesha, they are close enough in age....I'm just sayin'!

Bill trying to play the drums with Hayden being a big helper!


Check out Alesha on the guitar. I told her she looks awesome with a guitar. She totally should have been a rocker!;)

Jared had us all very entertained with his vocals. He really got into it! It was so fun to have fun with friends and do something we normally don't do.

We hope you all had a fantastic holiday! We are so grateful to live in this country and for all of our freedoms. Thank you to all who helped make our holiday a wonderful one!!!