Happy July 4th!

A lazy morning and then some family fun at the pool...

Adam and Holly's 4th of July Party

We were invited to Adam, Holly, Katie and Tyler's party on Saturday. I was expecting a normal cook-out type party, but it was so much more! Holly had planned out so many fun things for the kids. There was a paper airplane contest, a water balloon toss and a pinata! And whether they won or not, every kid got a prize. It was a super, duper party... not just a normal one.

We took this picture as we were about to leave. Lucas and Ellen were worn out from all of the fun...

Here is a picture of Lucas and Katie, his favorite girl : ) Just like Lucas usually does at parties, he stuck to her (the host) like glue. I think they had a great time. Lucas really likes Katie, and did a couple of sweet things yesterday. First, as we were getting ready to leave our house for the party, he put on his converse high tops. I bought these for him to wear for his school pictures, so he thinks they are his "nice shoes" and he has said that he hates them. But he wore them yesterday for some reason... my guess is he wanted to wear his nice shoes to Katie's party! Next is when they had just broken the pinata. Lucas came up to me and said he wanted me to help him find some more candy for Katie because she only got two pieces. THEN, at the end of the night all of the kids were playing in this big blown up ball in the back yard. It was getting rough, so Jeff went to regulate. He later told me that one of the little boys was running and jumping on the ball and Lucas was protecting Katie by hovering over her and kicking the little boy away as he jumped on them. Sweet little guy...

At one point during the party my girl wanted go out the front door to see the water. I didn't know what she was talking about, but later figured out that she thought the street was the water. It DID have sort of a blue tint that time of day.

Here is the turkey after a lot of playing!

Holly (and Adam?) planned so many fun things. First, there was a paper airplane contest!

And there was also a big tub of bubble solution... see Lucas's big bubble?

Tyler, perhaps a future scientist, was discovering what would happen if he placed his balloon on top of the air condition unit. Ellen was trying to figure out what Tyrus (that is what she called him) was doing...

Then, of course, there were yummy hot dogs...

Oh, here is the lady on the front porch again. This time she wanted to pet the (ceramic) bunny.

And here she is looking at the street, asking me if she could go get in the water...

"I want to go get in that water, Mommy!"

By the way, what happened to my baby? This looks like a little girl!!!

Another picture that looks like a girl and not a baby!

Lucas was trying to pump and swing as high as Katie. Check out his shoes...

The next fun event was a water balloon toss. Lucas had a 6yr old partner, but he got upset about something and left right as it was starting, so I had to jump in and be Lucas's partner... and we WON! Lucas was so proud and happy to get a prize. Jeff and I think he's so cute with things like this... he gets really competitive and serious. Here he is telling someone that I was his partner.

About to throw it to me...

Holly, handing out balloons and prizes...

Jeff and some of the guys playing Corn Hole...

After the games, Holly let all of the other kids pick a prize too. So thoughtful and thorough!

And then there was dessert. We were asked to bring a dessert of a side, so there were about 5 desserts... and all had strawberries! I guess you have to use RED berries for a 4th of July dessert : )

And, finally, the pinata! Adam and Holly were so organized with this too. They lined up all of the kids from youngest to oldest and let them all have a turn. Ellen got to go first... she is also very serious : )

My lady and me watching the pinata event...

Lucas's turn to hit...

Here is Ellen after the pinata was broken. And a water balloon had just popped all over her shirt. She looks tired, doesn't she?

But she wasn't! Still a little more energy for some swinging : ) She kept telling me she wanted me to do "under dog"... some sort of high push thing that Holly made up last time we were there that she remembered.

And the last picture of the night... what a great party!

Holiday Weekend Saturday

We got the wknd off to a good start by meeting our friends, Kelly, Brandon, Lincoln and Baby Oscar at the pool this morning. Lucas practiced his new move, the pencil jump, from the diving board while Ellen tried out every floating device in the pool. And, of course, there was a little snack after lunch : )

My Hair

The other day, after I had just gotten dressed for the day, Ellen went into a semi-flip-out mode in the kitchen. She was looking at me and hitting her head and saying, "down, down" over and over again. After a few minutes we figured out that she wanted me take the ponytail holder out of my hair and wear it down! Since then, she had told me every day how to wear my hair! Only once had she told me to put it up when I had it down. She pulled some of the hair on top of her straight up and told me to "put IT up." This morning I was cleaning before we went to the pool, so I just had to have my hair out of my face, and I knew I was going swimming so saw no need to wear it down. She must have told me 10 times - I mean screamed at me - to wear it down. At one point she finally said, "Wear your hair down Mommy! I like it that way. It's my favorite." Not sure why she has such a strong opinion, except that she just likes the way her mommy looks with her hair down. I probably do look better, but it's asking a lot for me to wear it down every day, little lady!

Scenes from today...

I went to work today while our nanny, Jessica, played with the kids at home. I arrived home to see two happy turkeys splashing in this little pool. It was a great day for them to splash in the water all morning and be lazy inside all afternoon...

Dinner

So my attempt at less meat and dairy and more fruits and veggies is becoming even more challenging. Why? Because my kids love meat and cheese. Lucas especially enjoys hamburgers, and a recent new love, steak tacos. We don't want to totally deprive him of something he likes so much, so we usually just enjoy these things when we go out to eat. Last night we needed a quick and easy meal at home, and had some veggie burgers in the fridge, so "burgers" it was. We'd been at the table about 20 min. Lucas had eaten his "ranch with salad" and his pasta, but hadn't touched his burger. When Jeff asked him why he said, "Because Mommy doesn't make good burgers. Mommy, you need to practice your burgers! These don't taste the same." Sigh...

Art Station

We've had this easel for a year and a half and it has mostly been decoration in our playroom. If the kids ever asked to paint, which was rare, I would divert them because it was too much trouble to set it all up and clean up afterwards. This wknd I started a project of making each one of them a growth chart. I needed a place to paint and figured if I was going to set something up for me that I could just set up a permanent station. So we did! And it's so fun! I didn't know that Ellen loved to paint so much. We are learning as we go... we started out with four colors, but now have four of the same messy, mixed together color : )

(this was actually pre-art station work at our kitchen table)