Fourth of July weekend

I'm back in a blogging funk!

So many pictures, and so far behind posting them.

Coming soon: girls weekend (from June), Barrett's wacky water class, Barrett's first movie theater movie

We had a great Fourth of July weekend with family and friends.

Justin was on-call for the holiday weekend, so we just stayed in Winfield.

Saturday night, we went out to grandma and grandpa's for some water balloon tossing and desserts.

I didn't get too many pictures. 

Sunday afternoon we met Barrett's friends (Norah Kate, Lydia and Kennedy) and their mommies at the pool. Sorry, no pictures ;( We had to clear the pool only about 45 minutes after we got there because a storm was headed in. 

Sunday night, we went to dinner at Montana Mike's and then took Barrett to the fireworks stand. He was SO excited to pick out fireworks. Then we went to Gigi and Papa to shoot them off! Since the storm had come through around 4:30pm, it really cooled things off. It was the perfect evening to be outside. Barrett's favorite was the smoke balls and sparklers.

On Monday it was HOT again, so we swam and had a cook out with Gigi and Papa. I was sad (as always) not having my brothers here. Hopefully next Fourth we can be together. Monday evening we celebrated at the Wolf's house with a BBQ and some small fireworks for the kids. 

Some pictures from that evening...

(I only had my Bloggie camera, so they're not the best)

Yes, they both did a lot of this...covering their ears! EVEN when it was just smoke balls ;)

After dinner, we headed to the fairgrounds/Pecan Grove, to watch the Winfield fireworks show! For years and years and years, Megan's parents and many of their friends have gathered to watch the fireworks together. They also always bring along homemade ice cream and desserts. They set it all up in the back of the suburban and we dig in! Barrett seems to enjoy this tradition already. 

They fired off some really LOUD cannons or something in the grandstands prior to the fireworks show starting, and it scared the living daylights out of Barrett. He's usually not afraid of the fireworks, but this made him burst into tears...every. single. time! and they fired them off three separate times! The second time he was in the middle of eating a cupcake, and the cupcake flew out of his hands and upside down into the grass in front of his chair. After that, he sat on Daddy's lap! Baby Cal on the other hand (seen sleeping in his carseat in the photo above), slept through ALL three super loud cannon firing rounds! 

It was a great Fourth of July!!!

f*i*r*e*c*r*a*c*k*e*r

The Fourth of July used to be my favorite holiday! 

All though my childhood, and into college, we spent the entire weekend at Grand Lake with family.
Decorating the golf cart with streamers, balloons and American flags, for the annual golf cart parade my grandparent's lake community put on. Waking up and getting right into your suit, then living in it all day long. No makeup. No need to do your hair.  Lots of home-cooked meals and treats. And, of course, watching fireworks from the dock. They would be everywhere...for miles and miles along every shoreline we could see. They were so beautiful reflecting off the lake water.

This year was different, but we tried to make the best of it. Justin was on-call for work, so we didn't go anywhere. Both of my brothers are in another state, so there was no big family celebration. On Saturday night, we had dinner at Justin's sisters. It rained off and on the whole day, so we set up our tables in the garage, and would sneak out to shoot fireworks whenever the rain would break.

On Sunday (the 4th), we hung out around the house. I cleaned, Justin golfed, and Barrett napped. NOT exciting Fourth events! Later that evening, we headed to a BBQ at Kane and Audra's. They were wonderful hosts, and it brightened my spirits a little to enjoy the evening with my friends. We had steaks and a whole bunch of other dishes. Barrett's favorite was the rice-crispy treat with sprinkles, in and ice cream cone! Thanks to Lydia's Grandma Connie!

Barrett's not used to having BOY playmates at bfe celebrations. He had fun playing with Aiden.

After dinner, the kids headed outside to POP some firecrackers!! Barrett was only 18 months old last year, and he wasn't really into it. BUT this year, he loved it!! The snappers were his favorite, since he could do them all on his own. He liked to watch Kylie and Emily do smoke bombs, and he even helped Daddy with a Roman Candle. Mommy was not a fan of that!! I'm a big fuddy-dud! I like to watch, but don't really want anything to do with lighting.

Here is the 4th of July craft we made last week for the kids.

We had high hopes for a great photo of all of them with their little star wands, but it's never as easy as it sounds. We finally got them all seated at the same time, holding their wands...but then they were all two feet apart. We told them to act like they liked each other. It didn't work. Oh well, still very cute!

After we left The Hittle house, we headed in town to watch the community firework show. Looking for a good spot in the Pecan Grove, we spotted Megan, Brent and Norah Kate. We sat our chairs up next to them, just in time for the show. Barrett sat on my lap and was mesmerized the entire time. We were really close to them (the only way I really like to watch fireworks), so they were right over our heads and loud. I was surprised that Barrett never flinched. He was actually a jabber-box the whole time. "Mommy, see that one"... "Mommy, that one big"..."Daddy, that me favorite." It was so much fun to see his excitement!! Norah Kate wasn't as big a fan. She was so cute, with her hands over her ears. She was sitting down the row on her daddy's lap, and every once in a while, we'd look over to see her hiding under a blanket.

The only (fuzzy) pic of me and my boy! I didn't think to hand the camera over til the end of the night.