24th of July

As I've mentioned before, Pioneer Day is a big day deal in our town. This year I helped with it since I'm in the Primary presidency at church. The only thing worse than watching parades is being in them, but it was fun to be with my kiddos. 

Our theme was sunshine, so the kids all dressed in white t-shirts (no idea why) and sunglasses. 

Calvin and Autumn looking adorable and waiting patiently for our chance to climb on the float:

Cute Calvin:

Adorable Autumn:

Thanks to the helium shortage, we couldn't find anywhere that would rent us a tank big enough to fill our fun balloon. We ended up using a bike pump and propping it on a chair. Not so cool, but hey, who knew that one of our modern problems would be our inability to fly balloons?

Then we had the usual party at our house. The biggest hit this time around was the sidewalk chalk:

Four sky divers jumped from a plane right above us. Not sure if you can see all four specks:

More chalk:

Lots of conversation:

Darling little Ruby:

McKenna and Autumn got into a chalk fight. They thought they were HILARIOUS:

Dirty Hands:

After dinner we had a few minutes of rain. But then it cleared up and we still had the shade from the clouds and this perfect double rainbow:

 The boys playing ladder ball:

Fun on the trampoline:

Best friends hangin' together:

Chalk covered boy:

We brought out glow sticks and the kids had a blast decorating themselves and dancing in the dark. The music from the city party was blaring, and we had an awesome dance-off. 

I don't know if I've mentioned that the reason we have a party every year is because our house is right next to the park where the city does their amazing firework show. We have front row seats, in the privacy of our own yard.  This year's fireworks were some of the best I've ever seen. Loved them.

Ready for the show:

Not sure what our Mario friends were up to today, but after the kids were in bed, this is what I found on the stairs: 

 

7/24

Creeper

Carrie lurking behind the backup camera of my car. She's so cute. In a Smeagol sort of way.

7/25

Will Read for Zombies

Calvin has been earning Plants vs Zombies figures for reading books. He gets one for every three books he reads by himself to me or Andy. He's blasted through two sets of Bob Books, dozens of Dr. Suesses, and a few Sandra Boyntons. He's doing amazing.

He loves this ottoman because it has squares on it like the sections of the zombie game. He loves setting up the figures and playing for hours. This boy has an amazing imagination. Sure, I'm slightly nervous that my four year old is obsessed with zombies, but hey, he can read and he's creative. That's gotta count for something, right?

 7/26

TV Yoga

Autumn practicing the plank while watching tv. That's how we roll around here.

7/27

Fourth of July

Today we decided to stay home and lie low, so we had a fancy party with a metal folding table and a plastic pool.

The kids thought that the colored Kool-aid ice cubes were the best thing ever.

Good food.

Calvin is obsessed with pulling out the seeds. Even if it's seedless watermelon.

 Autumn having a flower moment.

And then the stuffed animals came to the party.

After a relaxing day at home, our neighbors came by and invited us to come watch fireworks with them. We went to their house and half a dozen families that we love were there. The kids played with sparklers, LED balloons, and their friends. We had popsicles at 10pm. It was the perfect way to end the day.