Old Fashioned Forth of July

I have to say, Sterling does the 4th of July right! This year the boys and I got to ride in the parade and Jeremy's family was here. And, as has become the tradition, our friends Nate & Joy were here. It was a great weekend!

Jacob was beyond excited about this new development (which I have a feeling is going to become another tradition!). We had such a fun time riding in the "modified" manure spreader with Carrie, Kate, & James!! Thanks Greg for letting us ride along!

They were trying to be patient as we waited for the parade to start. 

After the parade, one of the families with horses let the boys sit in the saddle. This was Bryce's first time on a horse and his smile was a mile wide!!!

He likes horses, but he'd much rather be driving a tractor! ;)

But this one...he prefers horses! He was not happy when I said it was time to go!

This year we had very comfortable, non-crowded seats for the fireworks...Jeremy's house! Papa & Binga took the kids up on the porch roof to watch. 

They really have a good view of the fireworks! We couldn't have had nicer weather for the holiday. Thanks, everyone, for helping make this a fun couple of days-family and friends helping with meals, the chamber and volunteers for all the work put in on all the activities, and Carrie & Greg for the parade ride!! 

Anna's 5th Birthday...on the 4th!

We had Anna's party on the 4th of July weekend again this year. It works out well with all the fun stuff going on around town. This year, Anna wanted a butterfly cake. I made way too much cake, so Binga also made her a lady bug cake!

Not my finest example of cake decorating, but Anna loved it:) The "recipe" called for candy sticks as the "body" but I couldn't find any. And yes, Aaron was the first to point out just what the Twix looked like.

Time for presents! Aunt Cara & Uncle Terry gave her TOM & JERRY!!! The kids love Tom & Jerry.

And Aunt Cara made her a beautiful blue butterfly dress.

Papa & Binga got her a keyboard! Can you tell she's excited?

And she finally got her big girl bike!!

What a beautiful birthday girl!

The sidewalk in front of our house is the worst possible sidewalk to learn to ride a bike! It's uneven and bumpy. And of course, after I gave her a pep talk about how the training wheels would keep her bike from tipping over, etc etc etc. And then what happens? HER BIKE TIPS OVER!!

So Jacob took a spin and then she was ready to try again.

These two love watching harvest videos. Seth and Aaron dream up big plans for a custom cutting crew :)

Early Saturday morning, these guys (my brother Jamie, Doug and Aaron) ran the 5K. None of them (or me) slept well that night so since I was up at that ridiculous hour I took them to the starting line.

I'm not sure how many people ran, but it was a lot.
We did get to see the parade in some rain, but most of the other festivities, including the fireworks, were canceled because of the rain. :(

4th of July

We had Anna's 5th birthday party over the 4th of July. It was a rainy weekend, which means most of the amazing festivities our great little town puts on were cancelled :( But that also meant that the big boys got to play with fireworks. :)

Hudson wasn't a fan of the noise, so he borrowed the ever-present blue headphones and had a great time!

Seriously, shouldn't there be some kind of training required before they're allowed to light these off with kids around?!

Most of the party pictures are on my camera, but I think the highlight of the weekend was the bunk beds!! We're borrowing them from Aunt Cara & Uncle Terry (THANK YOU!!!!!!!) and Papa & Binga brought some mattresses down (THANK YOU!!!!!). There's still not room for a crib in there, but there is a lot more room for them to play.

We were so glad that the parade didn't get cancelled! It was a bit misty, but there was a huge turnout and one of the biggest parades I've seen so far. The kids loved it!

The kids hauled a TON of candy in from the parade!

Guess what he sees coming?

I thought he was going to run out and jump on with the guy!

And this time?

An antique car!

Oh my...it keeps getting more exciting!

A firetruck!!!!!

We had a great weekend. Thanks to all the family that came out to celebrate our beautiful, loving, special "little" girl.

July 4th

Sterling has a great 4th of July celebration all weekend long. This year's parade was the biggest I've seen in the 7 years we've lived here. The sirens got a little loud, but it was fun! It was pretty hot too :( Not as bad as it could have been, though.

Waving at the paradees (is that a word??)

The tradition of bagpipers. Sterling has Scottish heritage.

The color guard. Those guys had to be so incredibly hot!

She tried to stay in the shade (we had a couple umbrellas), but once the parade started, she was intent on watching and getting candy!

Mia, Kaedyn and Anna waiting for the parade to start.

Elise (and Jeremy) watching the parade.

Still waiting, in a different position!

(Elise, Kaedyn, Anna, Mia)

First thing Saturday morning, Aaron & our friend Kreg ran the 5K. They did great!!

Anna running to meet Papa and Mia!

We sat REALLY close at the lake for the fireworks. It was pretty loud, even for me! Anna really liked them, just not the noise. So she sat like this the whole time!

Jacob HATED them! (he's crawling up Binga's neck behind Anna)

Finally the 4th

Fair warning: there are a LOT of pictures in this post!!! :) We were at my parents' for the 4th of July, along with my brother & his family. We had a lot of fun. We drove a few blocks and watched the fireworks--Anna wasn't scared of them this year, but Jacob didn't really like them. He finally fell asleep about 1/2 way through them. They were really good. There was also a carnival nearby for the weekend, so we went to that one afternoon. Anna had a lot of fun (so did her Daddy & uncle!). She rode a few rides, but of course as I get my camera out to take pictures, the batteries go dead!! And Jamie's camera batteries were dead too (what are the chances??). Luckily, we weren't far from the house and Dad had to go back to get a chair for Mom, so he brought back some batteries. Anna and Aaron went down one of those giant slides. Oh how I wish I had a camera for that one!!! They went pretty fast and Anna face was the look of sheer terror until they got to the bottom--then she grinned really big! ha. Aaron said he was afraid he wasn't going to stop when they got to the end-that's how fast they were going! After Anna was finished (there was also a playground there, so when she tired of the rides, her and Papa played), the big kids rode some rides. It's been so long since I've done that. It was fun!

She liked the sparklers best (who wouldn't?!)

Papa found her this cool light sword.

She said "I'm not gonna cwy, I'm jus gonna cober my eaws!"

Jacob, on the other hand, hated them. He was also stuffy from teething and tired, so I don't blame him for crying!!

"Ohhhhh! Ahhhhh! Dat one's spaaakly like my shoes!!" :) (she was wearing the sparkly red Dorothy shoes)

THE CARNIVAL :)

Daddy & Uncle Jamie playing.

She loved this ride b/c she could honk the horns!

Jacob finally crashed

And again. I think he fell asleep at lunch and supper on the same day. He was really tired.

He's discovered the fridge!!! He LOVES playing in it (and gets quite mad when you shut the door!)

Watching for Papa to get him...
SCREEEAAAAM!!!! He's coming!!!
Hahahahaha...gotcha! Oh my goodness, it was hilarious to watch this. Jacob loved it and would just squeal and jump and bounce when Papa would start after him. Too cute :)

Yum yum yum! Iowa sweet corn! Jacob loves it almost as much as Anna does!

Family portrait on the deck :)

And the following are what we TRIED to get of the 3 kids together. Jacob did NOT want to sit still! Anna was just a little mother trying to corral him and get Hudson to look at the camera :)

And when we got home at 10:45pm Sunday, Jacob was WIDE AWAKE...

And Anna was out cold...

I FINALLY got a new stove!!! Yippeeeeeee :)