Finally 4th of JUly pictures

I know its been awhile since I have gotten a post up.  I feel like I have been running ragged for the last little while.  Last week K was working hard down at a huge jobsite and so we were thankful for the holiday to be in the middle of the week so he could have a break!(And help me!) So for the last couple of years, well since we have had kids anyway, we have been going to a parade/breakfast at our good friends place.  Their neighborhood has a little parade for kids to watch and be in.  Maybe in a few years we will be in the parade.  But they get together with the neighbor on the corner and they cook a big breakfast and have tons of chairs on the street.  It's funny because in past years its always a challenge to get there between 8-830 for breakfast because my kids wake up around 8am.  Well I was saying to Jo a few days before I thought we would have it easy this year because both kids had been getting up between 6-630 with the sun.  Not on the 4th though! So we were running a bit more behind than usual and I snapped this one from the front seat. 

 We brought donuts and my sweet eatin little boy took FOR-EVER to eat this chocolate donut.  And he wanted nothing else.  Too much going on I suppose.

 Grace in her cute lil 4th outfit! I got her hair trimmed so those bangs on the side slip out first.

 Aaron checking everything out, someone probably telling him to get a piece of candy.

 Vern, our good friend kickin back and relaxing.

 Sweet Sarah munching on her hand as usual.  I was so bummed that as soon as I pulled her out of her car seat, I had to change a blowout.  So she hung out with out her little jean shorts. (Jo relayed a story of how she was holding Sarah next to a 3yr old little boy and he quietly asked his mom why Sarah didn't have any pants on. )

 Snuggly baby girl.

 Aaron got knocked over accidentally by some big kids so he had Vern to make him feel better.  Then everything got a lot better when Vern's neighbor started bringing over his animals for Aaron to pet.  He was so gentle and loved the bunny and the duck.  (He has a bunny he sleeps with too.)

After the parade we got some lunch and headed home for some naps and relaxing.  Then K's mom hung out with us and we all went to dinner before she took off for a Beach Boy's concert.  We got some ice cream and some little fireworks before we headed home to play outside for a little bit before it got dark.  It doesn't get really dark until about 10pm.  So we bathed and jammered the kids and then went outside at about 9:30 for them to do sparklers and little ground fireworks.  In Utah lots of people drive to WY to buy big expensive aerial fireworks and then shoot them off in the neighborhoods.  Grace was FREAKING out and the loud bang and the fireworks she could see in our neighborhood.  Even though people have been setting them off for days prior (and still) she is normally asleep.  So fireworks were kind of a bust.  Aaron thought they were kinda cool, but he cues in to Grace a lot and if she is sad, he will often cry to.  In fact she will get into trouble for being mean to him and he will commiserate cry with her!
On Friday I was super busy cleaning and running around, and wish I had gotten my new 'toy' on Thursday.  I ordered a FitBit Ultra for an early birthday present to myself.  It's a super charged pedometer.  It counts your steps, and flights of stairs climbed and tells you how many calories you have burned, and if you log what food you are eating on their website, when you 'sync' up with the website it will tell you how many calories you have left if you want to lose weight or whatever.  It is WAY cool and I am already addicted to it.  They also have badges you can earn and forums.  Today I ran up and down our stairs 10 times so I could get a 10 floors badge.  We have 13 steps to the basement.  I am excited to see how this helps me lose the baby weight.  I have been really discouraged because I have been gaining and losing the same 2-3 pounds and can't seem to get anytime to jump on the treadmill.  So I am enjoying seeing the daily progress and update and what I need to get in my 10,000 steps.
So a quick update about the kiddos.  Sarah is such a good baby! She doesn't really like morning naps and typically takes a long nap in the afternoon, 2-4 hours depending on when she starts.  She catnaps in the morning, but also I am busy in the morning, either on the go or doing house chores, so it's hard for me to make specifically spend a lot of time putting her down.  Last night she slept GREAT again.  She fell asleep about 8:30ish and woke around 3:15.  The bummer was that Aaron woke up at 2:20 crying and his night light was off.  So he settled down real easy but I kept expecting Sarah to wake up and want to nurse,so it took me awhile to get back to sleep.  Friday and Saturday night before she had woken up every 2 hours to nurse so I was glad she didn't do that, and then she slept from 3:30 to 7:45 this morning.  She LOVES sucking on her hand and I am afraid she is going to be a thumb sucker and she hates taking a paci and doesn't really like taking a bottle either.  She is SO active. Always kicking and looking around and smiling, following me everywhere with her eyes.  You can see it that she is thinking.  She is so active though she has given herself a blister on the tops of each of her pinky toes! I assume from just kicking so much, poor thing.  They are getting healed up and they don't seem to bother her too much.  She has really started to enjoy her swing and exersaucer more now that she can interact with the toys on them.  There is a rattle attached to the mirror on the swing and she will roll it around and around.  Grace and Aaron never cared for that at all.  And tonight she hung out in her exersaucer for awhile after we cleaned up from dinner. 
Grace has learned to really pedal her tricycle and I took a really long video but it won't upload.  Last night and tonight she rode it while we all took a family walk down and back up the street.  She is also learning to write more and more of her letters.  She has G, H, E, A and O down.  We are working on getting G a little bit neater and then R.  So she can write her name. 
Aaron is talking a lot and he is beginning to become aware of when he goes potty in his diaper, which is a great step, eventually leading to potty training.  Although not anytime soon. 
I switched the kids rooms all around so they are officially sleeping in the other rooms and have all their clothes and toys in their rooms.  Just some decorating of the girls room and pictures soon to follow.  Well time to get off the computer and hit the rack!
Night!