Happy 4th of July!

Our 4th started off with a yummy breakfast of Bluberry and regular waffles colored red, white, and blue!

The kids loved making their own creations to eat with the strawberries and whipped cream!

Morgan got the most creative making a flag! I had the thought as I was pouring waffle batter to make big blueberry waffles and make the red and white waffles in our waffle stick pan so I could make little flags for everyone, but decided I didn't want to dirty both waffle irons! LOL Morgan and I must have been on the same wave length that morning.

We decided against going to the city celebration this year and instead did our own barbeque. The kids were kind of bummed out because they wanted to be a part of the bike parade at the park. John came up with the idea that the kids could put on their own bike parade for Grandma and Grandpa. John spent the afternoon helping the kids decorate their bikes. They had a lot of fun and were so excited to suprise their Grandparents. They hid their bikes by the shed so that Grandma and Grandpa wouldn't see them when they came for dinner.

On the 3rd, I showed Morgan my sister's blog where she had done her daughter's hair for the 4th of July. (See it here) Morgan decided that she also wanted her hair to be festive. She asked if I would put curlers in her hair and add ribbon. She has a red flower that she doesn't get to wear that often (she doesn't own many red outfits) so we added it as well. It turned out very cute! Great idea, sis!
For the last few years we have bought flag shirts for the family and then take a picture. This is this year's. Aren't we cute??
Ian decorated a little box and then handed out "Happy 4th of July!" stars to everyone as they arrived. It was cute. He did a good job drawing fireworks! :) He's turning into quite the artist. (on a side note, his little "Evil Incorporated" character he drew is pretty stinkin' awesome!)
Grandma brought the kids some snap poppers to play with. The kids love those things. :)
While dinner was finishing cooking, the kids got on thier bikes and started their parade! Everyone was cheering as they rode around the yard a few times. I think Grandma got a huge kick out of it! :) It was great and got the reaction they wanted. The kids were all smiles!


We had a tasty BBQ dinner with way too much food! We had steak, hot dogs, chicken and brats, corn on the cob, blackberry dessert, grapes, deviled eggs, potatoe salad, green salad (with fresh peas from the neighbor's garden, and radishes from ours.) chips and soda. Ms. Durrant (a good friend and Ian's 4th grade teacher) brought a yummy lemonade/ice cream dessert. It was all soooo good!

I love this picture of Micah eating his corn. :)
After dinner and dessert we went out to the gun range to watch the city fireworks. They really dragged them out this year. It took them an hour and a half to shoot off what they could have fit into a half hour. I did see some new versions that I don't remember seeing before this year. We had a good time visiting though, and the kids had fun. We only lost two of them (Micah and Zander)to sleep before it was over!
All in all it was a good day. Everyone went to bed tired and happy!