4th of July Celebrations

4th of July (since having kids) has always been a holiday I disliked.  The reason?  My kids HATE fireworks.  They cry, sit inside with headphones and really don't enjoy any part of it.  This year, for the 4th, Scott, the kids and I headed to the lake Friday afternoon.  We swam and had a great time Friday.  Saturday, we woke up to rain and a lot of it.  It was supposed to rain all weekend.  We decided to head home and get things done instead of stay.  

On Saturday, we dropped our kids off at Nanny and Papa H's house and headed shopping for everything we needed to finish part of our basement.  Three carts full.

Sunday we went to a 4th of July party and Uncle Mark and Aunt Beth's house.  The kids, as always, had a great time with their cousins.  Thank goodness the rained stopped for a fun evening!

The best part of this 4th??  My kids tried (and loved) sparklers and even say out during the amazing firework show Mark put on!  It was so fun!!!

The next day, we had our neighborhood fun 5th of July.  :)  Kona Ice truck came to our driveway and the kids watched small fireworks and even did a Chinese lantern.  What a great night! 

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!!

June Activites

June came and went too fast.  Here are a few of the things we were up to!

The kids both went to the dentist.  Ireland has never minded the dentist.  Cohan, well, he's a different story.  He usually has to be taken away and screams the whole time.  This time, I had a plan.  I took both kids to my dentist to watch me get my teeth cleaned.  Then, we let Ireland go first.  Cohan got to watch and even help.  He LOVED it.  When it was his turn, he was ready and there were NO TEARS!!!  This made our trip to the dentist way less embarrassing than normal.

Sent this picture to Daddy.  

Thank goodness for amazing people that help kids get over fears.  

Ireland got a hair trim.  3 1/2 inches off.  When I say that, it sounds like a lot.  But truthfully, he hair is so thin and just needed to be evened out.  It looks adorable.  Her only request was that it still fit in a "ballerina bun" for dance class.  

We had rode the carousel at the mall one rainy morning.  

Many afternoons, after the pool, this is what my kids looked like...

Our garden has been awesome!!  We have gotten TONS of produce.  We planted, strawberries (darn bunnies keep eating those), watermelon (that are getting big), cucumbers, zucchini, basil, cherry tomatoes, big tomatoes, green peppers, jalapenos, brussel sprouts and broccoli.   The kids and I had no clue what we were doing.  We packed everything way too close together.  But, we've gotten LOTS of produce and learned so much.  Scott will be building us another raised garden for next year.  

Our flower pots and beds look really good this year too!

We went and saw Finding Dory.

The kids made a Bucket List of things they wanted to do.  

We are almost done with it now!!

We swim.  A.  Lot.

We are not ready for summer to be close to being over!