4th of July!

Our 4th of July started out with an AWESOME birthday gift for our oldest.  He had his 1st ever birthday party in May, so this was icing on the cake for him!  July 4th is the coolest birthday to ever have, don't you agree!?  I will write a post later this week about his surprise, but let's just say, the sky was the limit!  :o)

After a morning of fun with our children, my parents and grandmother (and waves of morning sickness), we returned home for lunch and a few hours to recuperate and let the baby (and me!) take a nap.  Later that afternoon, we headed to our lifelong family friend's backyard BBQ.  I was really excited to see everyone and the kids had a marvelous time in the pool!  It's so wonderful to have 3 true swimmers...I was able to hold actual conversations!  Another family friend of ours actually had a 4th of July birthday, too, so my mom brought a cake and we celebrated together with our oldest.  After the BBQ we decided to head to watch the local fireworks.  Because of budget cuts, the 2 that we usually watch didn't happen, so I had a creative idea to beat the crowds at the BIG one...park across the street at Walgreens and watch from the front!  It turned out perfect, even though the entire neighborhood was mobbed.  All 4 kids loved it and there were no meltdowns when the noise started!  After the show, we were the very first car out and made it home in 5 minutes! 

Thao was NO fear of the slide or diving board!

 Woohoo!

 And our daughter got in the action!

 With 2 of my babies :)

 Friends having fun!

 She kept jumping off the diving board!  So proud!!

 So did Thao!  He is a speedy guy.

 Back jump!

 Happy birthday to Minh and Patti!!!

Just got set up for the fireworks!  We literally parked, walked over and sat down.  Easy Peasy!

 Beautiful!  God bless America!!

 A little loud at first.