We had a fabulous 4th of July weekend. The weather was gorgeous and we had just the right amount of activities planned. Thursday morning, we started getting in the spirit with a Pinterest inspired activity. I taped together bendable straws and they dipped them in paint and made “fireworks.”
Friday morning we got all the crazies dressed in their red, white, and blue and then it was off the parade.
It was much cooler than last year and we found a shady spot, so that made it much more enjoyable. The parade is nothing to write home about, but the kids enjoyed the fire trucks, the few horses, and the few large inflatables.
Love her little skirt and headband:
Owen was a little bored except when they threw out some candy:
I love how smiley this little guy is becoming. I don’t know what to do with a boy who smiles!
We didn’t have any other plans so we spent the day just hanging out and enjoying having William home. Saturday morning, we enjoyed another gorgeous day and took a long family walk. We got everyone (including Owen) to take decent naps as we knew it’d be a long night.
After naps, we packed everyone up and headed to Tuscola where Owen’s best buddy Sam and his family live. We ate an awesome dinner and the boys had a blast playing with each other. We also finally got a picture of Miles and Jack – maybe future bff’s?
At about 8 we drove over to Tuscola’s park area – it had a pool, park, baseball fields, etc. We really could not have asked for a better experience. Our vans are literally 5 feet away (in case of babies waking up or Ellie getting scared). We were one of maybe 6 families on this whole field. The kids played with their glow sticks while it got dark. I brought things to make snack necklaces (a piece of yarn with things like fruit loops, butter cookies, pretzels, etc to string on). That went over like a lead balloon. They just ate the snacks.
I was pretty nervous about how Ellie and Miles would do. But it was awesome. Ellie covered her ears for the first half, but then forgot about it and seemed fine. Miles literally slept the whole time, and the whole way home too! The show was great for a small town and the perfect length. And getting out of the park only took about 15 minutes. So much smoother than I think it would have gone at Memorial with the huge crowds. I definitely think we’re going to make this a yearly tradition with the Bubbs! Happy 4th of July everyone!
Inside lots of the eggs were pictures of bigger gifts that wouldn’t fit. They got so spoiled with sidewalk chalk, playdoh, and lots of other goodies!
No pictures of our afternoon, but we broke tradition and ate dinner together on Saturday! It made it so much easier on our schedule because we didn’t have to get home late on Sunday evening.
My gorgeous little girl.
Getting these two crazies to look at the camera is next to impossible these days!
Aww, a rare sweet hug.
And it’s time to run.
The best shot we could get of our (almost) family of 5.
And an adorable picture of my brother and sister-in-law Kara!
Even though we missed Casey and Jenna, it was a great little weekend with our awesome family.
The Easter bunny waved a welcome at everyone.
The kiddos got their cute bags ready. 
And then they were off. Luckily we were on the not crowded side and they got quite a few eggs before they got rushed with more kids.
Then we opened all the eggs and returned them (so they could reuse them next year) and went to collect the few prizes they earned.
All in all, a really great event. Especially for the first one ever at church!
We had 2 grasshoppers that seemed to enjoy our pumpkins on the front porch.
We also learned about our bones made Mr. Skeleton. I cut, he glued. :)
We enjoyed the warmer than normal October weather a few days before Halloween.
After 
We walked across the street to Prairie Fields to participate in their little parade around the neighborhood.
It was a little drizzly, but the downpours we’d had all day stopped before we left and didn’t start again until we got home. Perfect! Owen totally got it this year and Ellie had no fear walking up, holding out her basket and saying “trick or treat.”
They got quite a loot for how many houses we made it to. I’m looking forward to helping them eat it. :) Ellie had quite the fun time and was pretty tuckered out at the end of the evening!
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