Independence Day

We had a fantastic 4th of July this year--one of my very favorites! We got started a few days before with this art project for Seth's school:

 I was a little stressed about how this project was going to go down, but they both did great! And no huge messes to clean up!

And here they are, wearing their creations for 4th of July (one day Seth is going to regret the stupid faces he pulls for pictures):

Then it was off to the party! Despite the heat and humidity (which is even more awesome when you're pregnant), we had a fantastic time: 

Catherine was on the trampoline as much as possible.

She only left when the big kids came and would pop back in as soon as they left.

Seth had a great time on the slip and slide

(minus the one time he tried to run up the slide and fell on his back)

Catherine discovered the waterballoon stash and disposed of quite a few.

She was not pleased when Daddy threw a waterballoon at her, however.

Thanks to the antics of some older kids, Seth decided he would pull out our wagon and ride it down the hill. Of course he consistently rode down backwards, and thus had no steering, but he made it down several times without  breaking any bones (to my surprise).

Catherine likes the heat and humidity about as much as I do.

For the first year, Seth wanted to be right by the fireworks.

Jon & I were shocked.

We were having so much fun that we ended up staying much later than planned. 

Luckily Catherine was entertained by jumping on the couch and watching Sprout in the family room.

Seth wasn't sure about the whole sparkler thing.

He was very, very careful while holding it.

Catherine did one sparkler and decided sparklers weren't her thing.

We ended up staying until 9:30, which is crazy late for us and our kids--we were having so much fun we didn't notice the time! It was a fantastic 4th of July with so many great friends. We're hoping we can do it again next year!

(My favorite part of the night? The grand firework finale, which involved a teenage boy holding a lit firework in each hand while singing "The Star Spangled Banner")

We waited to use the poppers until we had more room for throwing. The kids had a great time popping them all over our steps. We even attracted a hoard of neighbor kids who wanted in on the action. 

Happy Fourth!