Finally... 4th of July 2011

Well gang, here they are the most adorable kid pictures from the 4th of July. Last year we started a tradition of joining our friends Vern and Jo at their house for a kids parade and breakfast party. They join in with their neighbors whose house is actually on the street where the parade is and they cook pancakes and eggs and bacon and egg strata and quiche, fruit and orange juice and all sorts of yummy delicious food everyone brings. I was so excited to get to dress the kids in their matching 4th outfits that my mom got them (Thanks Mom!) and they were just so cute. I was pleased because Grace's dress was a 24 month, but it was a different brand and it actually was a perfect length. Some of her 2T dresses are getting a wee bit too short.

Such a big girl holding her brother!

Aaron kicking back with daddy and eating all the watermelon and sausage off of daddy's plate.

My sweet girl and me.

Cute pirate float. Anybody can be in the parade and maybe in a couple of years we will be. Or maybe Grace will be in it with Vern and Jo, they used to do it with their granddaughters who are practically teenagers now. But for now I am enjoying Grace enjoying the parade.

Grabbing some candy, you gotta get it quick!

Bringing her stash back to her home base.

Trying to get a picture of my handsome hubby and me.

Jo and Aaron, who seconds before had been fascinated with the tree branch.

Ok so I only posted on picture here. But I was sitting on our 'long' couch. Which by long I mean maybe 6 feet. We have a couch and a love seat up stairs, and I was laying on the couch. Aaron had crawled over and pulled himself up down by my feet and I started taking pictures of him. After a few minutes he had walked along the couch all the way over to my arms! This was the only one that came out good during that time.

Later that day after naps we headed out to a park where they have the Western Stampede Rodeo and a small carnival. Grace was super excited and we got a parking spot inside the parking lot. Which we later regretted. lol We had to eat some fair food and get some tickets for Grace to ride. She loved this little ride, it went around in a circle, but she thought she was cool riding it all by herself.

The Carousel of course for both Aaron and Grace.

And then lastly Grace and I rode the Ferris Wheel before my camera battery died. She loved it, although she would freak me out when she wanted to be by the little gate to look down and say hi to Daddy and Grandma.

After the ferris wheel we had some potty and treat breaks and then found a spot on the grass to spread out our blanket to wait for the fireworks. I think we had to wait an hour and half but the kids did real well. We brought their pajamas because since it doesn't get dark here till after nine the fireworks don't start until 10pm. We changed them up and then just hung out until the fireworks started. Aaron actually fell asleep while they were going off and then woke back up for the finale. Grace doesn't like loud noises so she was freaking out a little bit. After the show we headed back to the truck with everyone else at the park and then had to wait in the parking lot for about 30 minutes before we were able to get out. Lesson learned-leave fireworks show early. All in all it was a fun and busy day.
Today just flew right by and I am not sure what I really did today. Aaron was up at 7 and I was just zonked out. Last night he woke up at 130 and then 430 and then 7. We didn't go to bed until midnight I think. I think he may be going through a growth spurt because the kid ate a ton of food at lunch and dinner tonight! I worked out on the treadmill while Aaron napped. He napped for 2 hours and that was great, then I packed up a picnic lunch for us to take to the park. I figured some play time outside would tire him out for a long afternoon nap as well. Hmm not so much. At lunch he had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich some cheddar cheese hunks I cut up, and a bunch of Pirate Booty (which is like a puffy cheeto). Plus a ton of water. Then for dinner he had a some baby food green beans, part of a bread stick and then a ton of peaches. And I don't mean baby food peaches. Daddy opened up one of the can of peaches we canned last year and he put about 5 peach halves in a bowl for him to have and share a little bit with the kids. Aaron was just slurping them down so fast! He is a maniac! He turns 9 months on Wednesday and his 9 month check up is on Friday so we will see where he is at.

I did manage to sleep for about 45 minutes today in fact we all napped during nap time. But I need to do better getting to sleep earlier. Then I had a headache when I woke up, but I think that was because I hadn't drank enough water and I sweated a ton out when I was running today. And then I brought a big thing of water to the park with us, but the lid cup was warped and the lid wouldn't screw on properly. So I dumped some of it out on the way to our spot under the tree and then I handed it to Grace to hold and she dropped it and spilled the rest. So I threw that cup away.

We watered the garden and the lawn this evening after dinner and K and I were talking about saving up to re landscape our lawns next year. We have had such issues with the sprinklers in the back yard and are currently trying to regrow some grass in a bunch of spots. K has fixed and replaced a bunch of sprinkler heads (he is so handy like that, just love that about him) but he thinks that because there are like 10 sprinklers on one line and like 2 or 3 on the other line. That the one line is not providing enough water pressure to get the right amount of grass watered. So we talked about maybe doing some landscaping in the front that wouldn't need to be watered and then maybe where the garden is on the side of the house fence that off and put a pool over there and a drip system in for the garden. Right now its just talk but our poor lawn is so sad and we want the kids to be able to play outside all the time. So we will see.

Well I gotta get to bed earlier and rest my body.

Night!