Our 4th of July

We had a great 4th of July weekend!

On July 3rd, we let the kids do sparklers when it got dark!

Krissy was too scared to hold a sparkler, but liked to watch them from afar.

Allie in her pjs and "high heels"

Charlie was interested in the sparklers too!

July 4th was so fun.  I made pancakes for breakfast.  I tried to make them red and blue but they ended up pink and blue.  Still festive though...

That's a big bite for a little girl!

I cut Austin's into star shapes but we ended up leaving all the others as circles!

I bought this shelf while thrifting a couple months ago.  It's sat in our garage and I decided to paint it after breakfast.  I distressed the wood a bit once it was dry.  I'm still working on what to put on it.  I'm looking for a cute green artificial plant to add to it. 

We rented a red box and ate popcorn before lunch.  We got Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  We all enjoyed it! 

I wore my new navy and red strawberry scarf.  It was from JoAnns!

I made the girls red and white hair bows during nap time.  

We had a busy evening planned - church then family night at Kevin's work.  They were providing dinner and entertainment, not to mention a great view of the fireworks. 

Krissy was dancing to "shake your booty"

The kids got to play in bounce houses after we had some dinner.

Waiting for fireworks to start

Almost time for the fireworks!

The fireworks were great and no one seemed scared.  We were far enough away that they weren't too loud.

One last funny memory, kevin and I usually guess who will be asleep by the time we get home and we both predicted Austin would be out first, and the other three would stay awake until we got home.  We got it backwards!  The first three crashed and Austin jabbered the whole way home!

Adorable Austin

This is one of my favorite pics of Austin I've taken lately :)  Allie got this panda hat about 4 years ago and we keep it in our dress up drawer.  The older kids put it on Austin and he loved all the attention he got.

Austin @ 18 months:
I love his messy hair.
I love his plump little body.
I love how he smiles when I figure out what he's trying to say.
I love how he's always holding on to my legs.
I love how he hugs and pats your back at the same time.
I love that he's not scared of baths anymore.
I love how he still rocks himself to sleep.
I love how he says: "sushi go" (it's a game), "shoooo" (shoe), "sock on", "beebee" (baby), Tarley (Charlie), "want one" (to everything one of his siblings gets), "ewww yuck".
I love his floppy hand wave hi & bye.
I love seeing him wear his brother's old clothes.
I love how he naps 3+ hours everyday.

My baby is growing up too fast!

TuTu Shower

I helped throw a shower on Sunday.  I didn't really know the mom-to-be, but I got to know her mom while we worked on the shower :)  We had lots of funny connections and she was so sweet.  The theme was tutus and she wanted it shades of pink and girly!  I spent the majority of my time making decorations.  She did ask me to make my strawberry brownies and chococlate covered pretzels.  The grandma-to-be (that put on the shower) took care of games, prizes, thank you's (and also getting the location and sending out invites).  We both helped decorate along with my mom, an aunt, and friend of the mom-to-be. 

Everything turned out very pink and lovely!  Here's a little looksie into the shower!

Tuexdo Brownies topped with white chocolate instead of milk chocolate!

She ordered the cake from Piece of Cake

Cupcakes were from Piece of Cake too.

Grandma-to-be made this adorable diaper cake

Our little sign in/welcome table.

Food table before it was loaded down with salad and pizza!

This is a vintage baby buggy I bought about 20 years ago.  My friend Stephanie made the little baby blanket for Krissy when she was born.  Worked perfect for the shower! :)

My mom painted the sticks for the stick bouquet and we added little whimsical pompom balls from Hobby Lobby!

Most of my hours spent working on shower decorations were spent making pom poms!  I loved how the little garland turned out!

A client of the mom-to-be made these little adorable sheep!

Our sign in turned out adorable!  

I realized I failed to take pictures of the tables!  They were decorated with fresh carnations and babys breath or a silver lantern!  They were hot pink with a lace runner down the middle!  They were so pretty.  Can't believe I didn't get a pic!  This was the best I had in all my pics....

Sexton's Maternity Pics

My friend Stephanie asked me if I'd snap a few pictures of her and her husband before they deliver their first baby this month.  I was thrilled to!  Picture taking is one of my favorite hobbies!  Here's some of my favorites :)

Weekly Happenings: June 27-July 3

I am so happy to see the month of July!  I will get to meet two very special babies this month, my sis is moving back home, and we have our calendar packed full of fun celebrations, things to do, and friends to see!

One of my favorite parts of the week happened last night!  Our friends Candice and Casey came to town and we got to visit with them, have dinner with them, and then go get snow cones together.  The only pictures I have are the dozen or so the kids secretly snapped while we chatted here at home!  Since I value that friendship, I won't post any of the candid pics, but it definitely was a highlight from the week!

Allie wanted to hold Cutie Pie this week. We haven't held the chickens much since they moved into the coop, so they are pretty skiddish around people.  Cutie is always the first to come to people but still is a little uncomfortable getting picked up.  She always does really well though.

After Hayden saw Allie hold a chicken, he couldn't be shown up by a girl, so he went and chased them until he rounded one up!

Charlie is adorable. I love his personality.  I love his quirky behaviors.  I love all his weird poses.  I'm hoping to get a good picture of him doing his kangaroo pose soon!

I made my sisters cinnamon roll recipe this week. I doubled it (since the original recipe makes 6) and we ended up with a tasty breakfast!  I'm anxious to make them again! (The pic below is the cut up version for one of the kids! I forgot to take a picture of it before it was chopped to pieces!)  

Krissy woke up while I was working on the rolls and wanted to help (by playing in the flour).

I also baked up some 4th of July sugar cookies with Krissy!

Kevin has a week off that started yesterday so I'm looking forward to getting a lot checked off our summer fun list this week!  Hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend!