Happy Fireworks Day

We had a great 4th of July this year. The kids told me (about a dozen times) that it was the best 4th of July ever. The morning started with a neighborhood parade, with Laine riding a flag-waving bicicle and Eve marching with some All-American cheerleader pom-poms. Little James was supposed to march with his revolutionary war style hat and drum, but at the last minute he decided he didn't want to carry those so he got to be the little red, white and blue baseball player instead.

After the long march all the way around the block, there was a potluck neighborhood breakfast featuring chocolate milk, donuts, breads, and some yummy breakfast casseroles (gotta learn how to make those). Then it was time for games with all the little kids rushing to haul water in leaky cups from one bucket to another in a big wet relay race.

We went home after the neighborhood festivities to have a little more fun of our own. Some smoke bombs, pop-its, and growing glow-snakes got the kids all fired up for more pyrotechnics later in the day. Some quiet time relaxing, eating lunch, and watching a few cartoons fixed up our fatigue from the parade. Grandpa made some awesome home-made ice cream and some babyback ribs (gotta learn how to make those). We had Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Bradley over for dinner.

After dinner, when the sun finally went down, Uncle Josh and Aunt Sarah came over with cousins Jacob and Andrew who helped us light up a great little firework show. Uncle Paul and I clustered up some ground bloom flowers, the kids loved waving their sparklers, and the sparkshowers provided some oohs and aahs, mostly from Grandma.

I'm not sure what's up with Eve and the bike helmet, I think she just was jealous cause her cousins had hats so she grabbed the nearest thing that would fit on her head.

In other news lately, the girls are both loving soccer and Laine earned her first Certificate of Achievement in Kung Fu (for a 6 strike combo, watch out). Laine also has a serious crush on her school friend named David who happens to take Kung Fu with her, he seems like a nice boy so maybe I won't have to scare him away yet. James continues to be the cutest two-year-old on record, Eve still sings about how lovely she is, and I'm trooping along with work and parenting. Feel free to nominate me for Father of the Year.