4th of July!

We had a fun, and super BUSY, 4th of July this year.  It was Griffin's first so we had to go all out.  :)

We started out at the annual parade.

The kids had decorated their bikes and scooters and were so excited.

Maddie and Emma got to hold the flag during the National Anthem.

Look at all these blessings!!

Such sweet girls!  It's so fun to watch them all grow up together!

After, we went to a friend's house for a yummy lunch and a TON of swimming!

We finished up the day at the Platt's, with dinner, more swimming, and fireworks!

I spent the next day doing load after load of laundry.  Ha!  It was worth it.  :)

Happy 4th of July!

We hope you all had a great 4th of July!  We participated in the annual bike/scooter/wagon parade and had so much fun.

Emma, Malia, Maddie, and Ainsley (scroll down to see how they've changed over the years!) always look so cute in their red, white, and blue.

Grayson got to ride in the wagon with Landon!

Maddie and Emma rode their bikes and did so well!

I know, I know.  Another hair picture.  But really, it's crazy long!

How cute did these two boys look?!

Ahhhh, I love them!

And just for fun...

July 2010

July 2011

July 2012

I love fun holiday traditions!

4th of July!!

We had a great 4th of July celebration this year! In fact, it might have been the best one yet, since Grayson was here to celebrate with us!

We started the day off with a parade.

This is Malia, Emma, Ainsley and Maddie the morning of the parade THIS year...

And just for fun, this was them LAST year. :)

Back to this year though, Grayson was thoroughly excited with the festivities.

He showed his happiness by sleeping through the whole parade. Ha!

Everyone decorates their mode of transportation, and this year, Maddie and Emma rode together in a wagon. They loved it and had so much fun tossing out candy to the spectators (ie: neighbors). :)

Grayson rode in the stroller with Landon and Darrenn pushed them. :)

All four of us!

And, since Maddie and Emma so frequently wear matching clothes, it's only right for the brothers to match, too. :)

Landon and Grayson rocked their plaid outfits and matching hats! These little guys are exactly 13 months apart in age but I'm just hoping that they grow up to be great friends.

Later in the day, we hung out with friends, swam, BBQed and watched the fireworks.

We hope you had a great 4th of July, too!

4th of July!!

I'm going to try and play catch up here.

Between the 4th of July and Maddie's birthday party, I have close to 500 pictures.

Insanity, huh?

Let's start with the 4th of July. :)

Maddie and Owen share a laugh before the morning parade.

Maddie was, clearly, thrilled to ride her decorated bike around.

Mike was equally thrilled to push a bike (because about 2 minutes into the parade, Maddie said her legs were, "just too tired to pedal.") and carry a toddler. Ha!

You're a good sport, Mike.

Maddie, Ainsley, Emma and Malia share some morning treats after the parade.

Aren't they all adorable?!

Maddie and me. :)

And, our little family (with Lori peeking out back there; Hi Lori!).

We also had a barbeque at Nana and Poppa's house and then another fun party at our friends' house. We stayed late for fireworks (or, stayed up all night, as Maddie declared) and just had a blast.

What an awesome day!

Some fantastic Tot School pictures!

I'm so happy!

Remember how I said I didn't take any pictures of today's Tot School?

Well...

I have fabulous friends that did! Thanks girls (especially Julie and Kristen, who are the photographers here)!

Have I mentioned that when we do Tot School we also do a circle time?

It's really fun.

We all sit on a rug outside and sing songs, dance and make a craft together.

I also made each tot their own name tag (they're sentence strips from the Dollar Tree!).

I printed out pictures of each friend, glued it on and laminated them.

We use them for every circle time when we do our good morning song.

Wait, first of all, can we pause and realize how well all these 2 and 3 year olds are sitting and listening?! Aren't they amazing?!

So, I scatter all the name tags in the middle and after we sing the verse of the song with their name in it, they have to find their strip.

And today, we made our own firecrackers!

I duct taped two clear plastic cups together, filling each one with dried and dyed rainbow rice.

They decorated them with foam stickers (Dollar Tree!) and then...

Get ready for it...

We danced and sang to, "If You're Happy and You Know It." :)

After circle time broke up, the kiddos had a choice between two crafts.

They painted flags and did a dot stamping page.

They could also go inside with their mamas to work on trays.

Which, by the way

is fairly amazing.

We keep all the trays set up in the family room and even though it gets a little crowded, these kids work so diligently.

Clearly, they're geniuses, right?! :)

Thanks again girls for the pictures. You made my day!

Group Tot School: 4th of July!

Today, we had a really awesome Tot School with our friends.

Seriously, it was so much fun (but really, when you have 15 two and three year olds, it just has to be fun!).

We learned about the 4th of July and celebrated through games, activities and crafts.

I didn't take a single picture, but I'm hoping that a friend did and I could post and share. :)

Here are our trays (not the greatest pics, but I snapped them last minute!).

Tonging and sorting red, white and blue pompoms by size

Using the tweezers to sort pompoms in a pattern.

This egg tray is from the Dollar Tree and I just used some office dot stickers in each well.

Sorting tiny objects by color.

I liked this one because you know my fascination with tiny objects. :) Plus, it's always a good vocabulary builder to talk about those little items.

Tonging marbles into the paint palate

The goal was to do it in an AB pattern.

This one was super popular.

The kiddos had to hammer golf tees into the styrofoam block and then...

balance a marble on top.

This was one of Maddie's earliest activities (she started doing it, without the hammer, at about 15 months) and she still enjoys doing it!

Pouring red, white and blue buttons between pitchers (another fave).

The play dough tray was the ultimate, grand supreme (grand supreme... Does anyone watch Toddlers and Tiaras? It's a total guilty pleasure but the highest pageant title is grand supreme and the sizes of those crowns always make me laugh) favorite.

Anyway, the kids loved this. In the basket, I put star-shaped cookie cutters, a rolling pin, flag toothpicks and dough stamp letters for U-S-A.

This one didn't have a whole lot of relevance, but the point was to match the Unifix cubes on the dots and then connect the cubes.

I made these months (a year, maybe?) ago but Maddie has never really liked them.

She still doesn't.

But, the point is to clip the clothespin next to the picture that is different.

See?

I just used stickers to make them and then laminated for durability.

Another use for the Dollar Tree box/crate thing:

Tic-Tac-Toe!

How fun to play with a friend!

Tonging tiny red, white and blue beads into the star-shaped ice cube mold (love you, Ikea!).

This was another one of Maddie's first activities (I think at 14 months), but when Shannon mentioned it recently, I thought we'd try it again.

I was amazed at how popular it was!

It's just a coffee can with a slit cut it in the top. The little ones dropped poker chips through the lid. They make a very satisfying plunk when they hit the bottom.

And finally, a simple spooning activity with red, white and blue pony beads (and a spoon from Baskin Robbins; Ha!).

It really was a great day and looking around the crowded room, full of kids diligently working (well, my daughter was in a sour mood and could frequently be heard melting down) made my heart swell. How fortunate we are to have such a fabulous group of friends to share these activities with!!