The Fourth

I must first admit I was a little depressed this weekend. It was my 10 year high school reunion and because of insane plane ticket prices I had to miss it and I could just picture the wonderful time they were all having without me and there were so many people I would have loved seeing but...you know how it goes when the money is short and the distance is far. So rather than have a pity party for myself I will highlight the very great things that happened this weekend instead.

James and Natalie (Bryan's brother and his wife) are moving to Cleveland which we are very excited about and they stopped for a bit on their way. We had a great time for the bit they were here and can't wait for the more frequent visits ahead.
Bryan was on call for a great deal of the weekend (boo) but we did get to go to a parade when he was post call. He was tired but pulled himself together for the sanity of his wife and of course for the pure joy it brought the kiddos.
We were a little late because of when Bryan was able to leave the hospital and found this fantastic shaded spot right at the beginning of the parade. So the floats were super antsy to give away their candy. The girls had heaping bags of nasty parade candy by the time we were done. I was totally encouraging the girls to be aggressive and get their fair share only to find bubble gum, tootsie rolls and jawbreakers. Though we did get a full sized skittle package.
Julia showing off the spoils of her hard effort. That effort meaning trying to look cute while holding out your bag. It was difficult for anyone to resist those two girls.
Two happy girls. Audrey had tootsie roll slobber dribbled down the front of her cute white shirt,of course.
Later that night we had a BBQ on the deck.
We had to celebrate this special girl and her big B-day. I can't believe they are moving tomorrow! Oh the humanity! What did I do to deserve this? At least they aren't moving very far and I KNOW I will see them in the near future.
We had yummy food, went swimming and lit off sparklers.
Bryan and I are terrible parents and apparently I enjoy documenting our shortcomings. Audrey is TERRIFIED of the sparklers and so of course I took a picture of it.
Run away!
I don't think it's any fun to do sparklers unless you are in your swimming suit.
Or unless you've got a crazy Landon to share it with. Why are you people moving again!?
Bryan went all out this year and made a tripod sparkler. I am from Evanston the capitol of fireworks and I must say, "pretty lame Conehead." But I give you and A for effort using the resources available to you.
I dressed up the girls for church in patriotic colors because how often does the 4th actually land on a Sunday? Not too often. We have to thank Grandma and Amanda for the adorable bows in Audrey's hair and for the...
super cute flip flops. Audrey's had bows on them once upon a time but they didn't make it. Still cute though. Thanks for the thoughtful gift.