Firefly Party 2011!

It's that time of year again!

Time for the kids to play wildly on the Big Scary Slide

Time for Trey to take his first ride on the Big Boy Swing

And time to take advantage of the Competition being out of the picture.

Will you take this binky and be mine forever?

A bold move, but it seems to have been well-received!

We thought Kayli caught the first firefly of the evening--before the sun even set.  Turns out, it was just a weird looking, yellow bug.

Her s'more was the real deal, however.

Did I mention it was somewhere around 114 degrees with the heat index?  We were ALL dripping with sweat.

It's a good thing we're all such good friends!

Finally!  A beautiful sunset and the fun commenced!

Let's get me some lightning bugs, Mama!

The kids actually soaked themselves in a water spigot--Kayli is not that sweaty!  And the hunt was on!

Kayli was pretty good at catching them all by herself, but Bryce and Daddy made a good team, too.

I want a bug...

So, I set out to catch one of my own.  I swear, they've gotten faster this year!

Blake was really proud of this photo.  I was just pretending to go for one because he really wanted an action shot and then that little bug lit up right as he snapped it!

Eventually, I did catch one.  And I was so excited, I strained every muscle in my neck to make that smile.

Spoon Feeding

Look who's a big boy!

The other morning Trey communicated that he'd like to try feeding himself.

Does it taste better if it comes from my own spoon?

Gimme a sec...

Hi, Mom.  This is just another step down the path of growing up, becoming independent, and breaking your heart.  Look into my baby blues and lose yourself.

Actually, I'm not sure I'm really ready for all that either.

Oh, and you might have noticed his big boy band aid, too.  Bryce gave him an overzealous hug right by the doggie door.  And it didn't end well.

But he looks really cute with his Star Wars band aid, don't you think?

Summer Swims

Up until a few weeks ago, we'd hardly been swimming all summer.

Fortunately, we've been swimming a ton the last few weeks.

Which means this little guy got to go for his first swim.  But not in his pajama shirt.  I can't remember now why he was wearing it in this picture.  Back to the first swim though--he LOVED it.  Love loved it.  The only problem was, he kept trying to just walk off.  Which always resulted in him falling face first into the water, coming up choking, hugging me, and then trying again.

At least he's persistent.

We also broke out the slip n' slide for a morning of fun with our friends.

Oh, slip n' slide fun!

This is my favorite picture.  Kayli is having a blast and I just love the look on Bryce's face.

Yay Summer!

Fourth, Freedom, Friends, Fizz, & Fireworks!

Even though we are a good three weeks past the Fourth of July, I am still pumped to share our patriotic festivities with you!

We started the morning off with a church breakfast in the park.

Followed by the bike parade.  Bonus points if you can successfully locate both of my children in this picture.  No bonus points for unsuccessfully locating them, though...

Later in the day we joined some friends for a barbecue, naturally.

The guys played some Frisbee.  They also attempted playing wiffle ball on the toddler set, but had to give that up after hitting the ball in the tree no less than three times.  It's a good thing one of the guys is a really good tree climber.

We girls stuck to the athleticism of Bocce Ball.

Yeah, that's my game face.

Then off to another friend's for the fireworks!!!

These boys were pretty excited.

This is one of our little friends.  I think he is so darling.

So, the night before, we drove 20 minutes to buy some supposedly great fireworks.  Blake was pretty pumped.  This tank looked really promising.  And apparently, really threatening--judging by the way he high tailed it out of there.

This is what it looked like seconds later.

Yeah, our fireworks were pretty much the highlight of the evening for everyone present.

Pause for cute baby time!

These two were born around the same time as Trey.  They sat in this chair so sweetly while their mamas took pictures of them.  So, I decided to add Trey to the mix.

Would you look at that new kid?  Come on, Baby.  Let's get outta here.

Trey drowns his sorrows in his thumb sucking.

Little Miss E decided she couldn't handle the tension between her two beaus and took off.

So, I set Trey next to his buddy.

Little Buddy wanted none of that.

I will share my chair with a pretty girl, but not you!

This is how I cope with the stress of two boys fighting over me, too.  Cookies.  Make.  Everything.  Better.

Who lets their kids light fireworks?

Apparently, we do.

Poor baby had some residual ear pain from the whole Adenoid Removal thing.

Did I mention the yummy treats everyone brought?  Apparently, Kayli was over heard telling Bryce, "Mommy said we can have as many cookies as we want!"

That sounds just like something I would say, doesn't it?

I'm actually taking a month off of sweets, so I had to focus every ounce of willpower I possess to keep myself away from the cute patriotic brownie/cake my friend made.  It was seriously rough.

Then we ladies all decided to shoot off some Roman Candles at the same time.  And I'm doing my famous "foot lift" as I do whenever attempting something athletic.  Because fireworks are very athletic.

There was a lot of this going on.

Duuuuude.

Sips.

That was great.

More firework lighting done by the kids who are allowed to eat as many cookies as they want!  Run!

Run!

Run for your life!

So, yeah.  We had a really great Fourth of July.  Mostly, because we have awesome friends.

Duuude.