A Fun 4th!

Occupying our time with lots and lots of donut holes before the parade started
Our annual 4th of July picture in our matching shirts.


All American Kids!Logan was a little upset when the parade ended.Enjoying some fireworksOur day started out early. We were in the car by 8am, ready to pick up some friends and head to the parade. Jason had picked up dozens of donut holes for the kids to eat while we waited until the parade started. The kids loved the parade. The boys especially liked the tractors, fire trucks, police cars, sirens, golf cart, well, anything with wheels. Hannah had her own likes, but she remembers that Spiderman gave her a Sonic mint. I was excited because we got to have our annual picture in our 4th of July shirts taken. Jason, well, he is not so thrilled about that tradition, but we have come to a compromise. In years past, we have all had matching shirts and I had requested that we wear them all day long, which included the picnic in the afternoon with his co-workers/bosses. He used to get made fun of the following Monday morning by his co-workers. So, I gave in. I only ask that we wear them to the parade then he is free to change, which he does rather quickly. It works out well now, except for all of our friends that know the story and met us at the parade. They still gave him a hard time and I must admit it was funny.

That afternoon we had a little BBQ at our house. Hannah was excited because the Palmer family came into town to visit their family and they were able to spend some time with us that day. Finally a little girl for Hannah to play with. They played dress up, played in the play house, and just acted like little girls. It was fun to see them play together. Their family brought the slip-n-slide, which was a big hit with my children. Such a hit that on Monday when we went to the store, they begged and begged for a slide like Grace and Brady have. Thanks Palmers, I guess we need a slip-n-slide now! After some good food, we packed up the 8 kids and headed out for fireworks. Most of the kids liked them. We were surprised that Luke rather play in all the vehicles versus watch the fireworks. We could not tell if he was too scared or just not interested. Hannah and Logan stared in amazement. It was a great fun day!

If you came to our house.....

Okay, so I realize that this post will take some time to think about, but I challenge you to do it when you have a chance. It allows you to really evaluate what it feels like to walk into your own home...from an outsiders view. I saw this idea on a sweet high school friend, Sarah's, blog. She made her house sound so friendly and warm...if only we lived in the same state I am sure our kids would have a great time! So, take the challenge and if you can, post what your house would look like if we stopped by in the comments section.

IF YOU CAME TO OUR HOUSE...

You would see...
lots of pictures of our kids and our family. I love pictures, probably because my mom was a fanatic about pictures when I was growing up. You would also see lots of toys because we LOVE toys too. If we knew you were coming, you would probably smell the cleaners that were used during the wee hours of the morning before your arrival. Yes, I clean all hours of the night if I know you are coming the next day. It is the only time where the kids are not pulling out things as I clean or it is the only time I know they are not going to bust their head on a freshly mopped floor. It is compulsion that my husband is not too fond of, but I figure as long as I am not complaining the whole next day about being tired, then it works! Now, if you drop in unexpectedly, you enter at your own risk. We try to keep all the toys in the playroom, but they apparently have legs, yes which belong to my 3 kids, and they wonder out.

We'd probably feed you...
a dessert. I love, love, love to bake. I might also try a new recipe on you, but it will probably be one with chocolate of some form.

We'd undoubtedly ask if you would read....
the newest library books that we have checked out. The kids love books and of course think that every one want to read their newest one.

We'd want to play this music for you....
usually we have the radio on during the day, but if you show up, we will turn it off. We realize that with 3 preschool kids, we already have enough noise in the background.

We'd want to tell you the latest about....
our recent trip to Sea World. If we went and played or did something fun that day, you would most certainly hear about it too. Hannah would tell you about getting ready for Kindergarten while Logan would tell you about some type of tractor. Luke would chime in about another tractor. Jason and I might tell you about the progress on our bathroom!

We'd probably suggest a game of....
well, we would not suggest any games because we really don't have much time to play them. Now, the kids, on the other hand, would bombard you with every game in the game closet if they can. They might start with Hi-Ho-Cherry-O, or the Dora Memory Game then of course they would end with the Elephant game where you catch the butterflies.

We might show off...
the progress on the bathroom. Hannah might show you something she has drawn or a craft she has made. Logan and Luke might start to bring out lots and lots of John Deere stuff!

We might get on the computer and show you....
Hannah's webkinz. She has just started to enjoy playing webkinz or pbskids.org

If it was a long enough visit, we might watch....
some of the Planet Earth series. The kids love watching the "animal movie", however we have to monitor and make sure that they are not watching anything that might scare them. Yes, we are pretty strict about what they see right now. No need to add additional fears about animals eating each other or something! If there is not enough time for that, we might show you the new Word World DVD. They love "building words" and I love that it does actually try to teach them.

What would a visit to your house be like? If you have some time, post it in the comments section, if not, at least give it some thought. Our hope is when people walk into our home that they feel welcomed. We want them to know that we care about the people who walk in and that our house is always open to them. We want their kids to love being here, at least that is my excuse to have a playroom full of toys!! Mostly we want them to feel wanted. Our desire is for our house to be a memorable place, somewhere that in the future when we have preteens/teens running around their friends will want to hang out here. Have a great weekend!

Catching Up

Enjoying some popsicles with our neighbors

Our sweet neighbor let them fill the sand box with water!

Luke and his little buddy

Hannah standing in the sand box now filled with lots and lots of water!

Playing in the neighbors pool, muddy and all!

Feeding the ducks again

Taking a ride to the park

At the park feeding ducks again

Oops, Luke got a little carried away being crazy by the water and fell in

Hannah holding a baby bird...another casulity of our dog

<>

Luke holding the injuried bird

Logan holding the bird too

Everyone wanted to help take care of the bird...and no, we did not keep it!

Luke checking out the snakes at the musuem

Luke and Logan at the petting zoo

Hannah feeding the animals at the petting zoo

So I realize again that I am really behind. Summer is already flying by. Before I know it , my sweet little girl will be gone to school. We are making the most of our summer and suprise, suprise, they are keeping us really busy. Sorry about the mass post of pictures. I will do my best to post in a more timely fashion in the future. For now I will leave you with this one last picture....we drove their vechiles to the park and they had a blast. It was a hilarous sight to see them coming down the side walk. They actually do really well not running into each other considering their ages! Now, they want to drive them all over. Have a great day!