Man, life got busy! I've had all of these grandiose plans of things I've wanted to write about, AND THEN the lovely 4-month growth spurt hit, and I've found myself doing little more than spending my entire evenings with two extremely famished little babies -- I say it often, and with rolled eyes, but there is a very good reason God made babies cute.
But, alas, here I am!
And, speaking of busy, we are coming off of one of our busiest, and most fun, weekends of the year! Seriously, outside of Christmas, I think it's my favorite holiday to celebrate.
I LOVE holidays. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I think it probably has to do with the fact that I'm a "quality time gal." I love spending dedicated time with the ones I love most, and holidays seem to be an excuse to do just that. I love making memories as a family, and creating traditions that our kids will hopefully treasure as they get older.
The Fourth of July is a time where we squeeze in about as many things as we can every year, and I absolutely love it!
I wasn't exactly sure how this year was going to work out. I mean, fireworks plus loud parades, paired with 4-month-old twins, a 22-month-old, 4-year-old and 6-year-old ... what could possibly go wrong?!
Saturday
Our holiday began by heading over to celebrate with great friends of ours. For the past seven years we have been celebrating the Fourth with them. The party has shifted a bit -- all of us pre-kids, to now all of us with kids (some of us more than others!). And, it's been so fun to watch our kids now play together ... this year was filled with huge bounce houses, slip-and-slide (I think the dads may have enjoyed this even more than the kids), glow-in-the-dark necklaces, hot dogs, yummy deserts, and lots of laughs!
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| There are few things greater than watching your kids become friends with your friends' kids. |
The closest I can get to describing the whole afternoon and evening is: pretty darn close to perfect! At one point, I even turned to Joey and said, "I think this is the first outing we've been on where it's actually been enjoyable and relaxing." That's not to say we haven't enjoyed anything in the past four months, but it was the first time where I felt like I could take a deep breath while out in public. The twins were happy and content in a way they really hadn't been before (and they had plenty of people wanting to hold them), Emma and Finley had a blast playing with their friends, and Beckett kept busy just by being outside (and even tested out the slip-and-slide with daddy). Joey and I were able to catch up with our friends and have a little adult time amidst all of the kiddos. It was great, and the best way to kick off our red, white, and blue festivities.
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| Annual moms + kiddos photo. |
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| Annual dads + kiddos photo. |
Sunday evening, we ventured to our local mall for what we were planning to be just a picnic next to the pond where they were having live music. My mom invited us all out there -- she was packing the picnic and we were packing the kids. ;) There were fireworks scheduled once it got dark, but given the late night the night before, we were in no way prepared to stick around for that.
Buuttttt, once again, our angelic children surprised us! We spent over five hours eating, dancing, laying, walking, listening, laughing, and enjoying the outdoors and one another. Emma, Finley and Beckett even had their first Tropical Sno -- man did that take mommy back to high school!
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| Mommy and Sutton |
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| Gigi/Campbelle (left)/Sutton (right) |
We were having so much fun that we decided to stick around for fireworks. Unsure of how the twins or Beckett would do, we were prepared to have to run out of there if a full-blown screaming session developed among our youngest little trio.
However, Beckett could not have loved them more. The entire time he had the biggest smile on his face, and couldn't whip his head around fast enough to see the fireworks coming from all directions. I watched his face more than I watched any of the fireworks.
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| Beckett & Gigi watching the fireworks. |
Oh, and the twins? I'll gladly show you what they were doing ...
Best. Babies. Ever.
Monday
Fourth of July Eve, our little patriotic duo, Emma and Finley, walked (for the second year in a row) alongside our church's float with my parents in the West Des Moines Parade. I was in the same parade when I was little, and I love watching my girls be in it with their Papa and Gigi (and more importantly, E & F love it, too!).
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| Beckett watching the parade with Uncle Mikey. |
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| Finnie handing mommy a postcard. |
Tuesday
Fourth of July morning is likely my favorite part of the entire Independence Day celebration. Since Joey and I have been married, we have gone to the Earlham Parade with my grandparents. My grandpa is from Earlham, and it's been really special to build this tradition, and spend a little time in a place that is special to him. My grandma passed away a couple of years ago, but we have continued the tradition with my grandpa, along with my parents, brother and sister-in-law, and this year, my cousin and her husband.
We had a breakfast picnic prior to the parade, complete with my mom's amazing homemade cinnamon rolls. Seriously. The. Best.
The kids had a great time waving to the firetrucks, tractors and cars as they passed by -- Beckett even figured out that the cuter the wave, the better his odds of getting some candy were. He's a smart (and adorable) little cookie already!
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| Nothing makes me feel quite as accomplished as a mom than when we get a semi-successful family photo. |
What more could they possibly squeeze in, you may ask?
How about our first family outing to the pool?
Yes, post-parade we decided to join my family at the pool, where the twins donned their itsy bitsy teeny wheeny little swimsuits for the first time. They laid in the shade, all of us taking turns with them, while the other three swam their little hearts out. Clearly, as you can see from the photos below, the twins needed to kick back and relax a bit more ...
Miss Emma Jo finally tried out the water slide we'd been pressuring her to try, and I think she went on it no less than 50 times during our time there. Finley on the other hand, tried it once and cried for a solid 10 minutes afterwards. She later told me she was "never going on it again in her entire life." Soooo, she's got that going for her.
Post-swimming, we headed home for the rest of the night, and all went to bed early ... skipping out on fireworks on the actual Fourth of July. But, we earned that right with all of our busyness, right?? ;)
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| A rare snuggle sesh with mommy, post ALL of the festivities. |
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What are you favorite holiday traditions?
Anything we need to add to our Fourth of July plans next year?
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