The Fourth

 We had planned to go out of town for the Fourth of July, but at the last minute things were too crazy and we decided to ditch out plans for a three day weekend at home.  Although I am sad for the time we missed with extended family, I am so thankful for the time we had with our little family.  Since we jumped right into 'life' with work, church, friends, and house responsibilities when we got back to Oregon, time with just the four of us has been very precious.  We went for long bike rides, slept in, had big breakfasts, worked in the garden, picked and ate cherries from our trees until our stomach's hurt, and played together...a lot.  For sure the best part of the weekend was having Jordan all to ourselves for 72 straight hours.

 

The second best part is sharing holidays with our hysterical and cute kids.  We set up a slip and slide for the first time.  Silas quickly got the hang of it and was seriously into his big time slides and slips and soaks all afternoon.  Jewel would watch him, run (well, by run I mean waddle with arms pumping) to the start of the slip and slide, call for Daddy, and wait for him to lay her on her stomach and launch her down the slide into the water.  Sadly for all of you, I was way too entertained by all of this to catch it on video...sorry.

 

On Sunday we went to our local firework stand to get some fun little tanks, sparklers, poppers and smoke bombs for the kids to watch.  Totally worth every last penny.  Silas was super protector of his little sister, and she was so excited by our little show her entire body would shake as she watched.  She also snapped most of her poppers between her fingers, which was totally shocking to the rest of us and we were all too scared to try it to see if it was hurting her.  She seemed to be totally enjoying herself.  And yes, we even let her hold the sparklers, which could be incriminating ourselves as parents, but she loved it so, so much!!

Over the top cuteness.  Seriously.

 
On the actual Fourth of July, we picked up my newest sister in law, Everett's precious wife, Daniela (he was out of town for the weekend).  We all went out to eat, explored downtown for a while, and ended up at the Federal Court House with several of Jordan's co-workers to watch the fireworks show over the river.  Aside from the fact that due to Oregon summer times, the show didn't start until after 10pm, it was a ton of fun.  We fully enjoyed hogging Daniela (Silas shared on the way home that he would like to take the train downtown and pick Daniela up for the next time they hang out), and she spoils my kids with love and treats (it is so fun to have an aunt close by!).  It was a fabulous weekend together and it makes me so thankful for my family.

You'll just have to bear with me on the multiple videos...I know, it's excessive...I can't stop myself.