Celebrations

It has been a lovely week. The birthday festivities started Sunday with family dinner at my brothers house. Always a good time. Thad has been telling me for several weeks that he was going to be out of town the 2nd & 3rd of this month on a work trip, so I thought that Sunday was going to be it as far as birthday fun went. Monday morning Thad got up and left like he was going to catch his flight, but came home 20 minutes later with flowers and cake and told me to get dressed so we could go shopping. Not clothes shopping of course, that's just not fun right now. But he wrangled the kids in the stores while we went to World Market, and Home Goods, and BBB looking for things I've been wanting around the house. Then that afternoon he stayed home with Sammy while I took Andi to dance and finished putting in the wood floors! They are beautiful! Perfect birthday surprise. Although I do think it funny that he made up a pretend trip so that him taking a day off to hang out with me would be more dramatic ;)
The 4th was pretty low key and we had a great time. We started the day a little early with a pancake breakfast at church. Then we grabbed our things and headed over for a lunch time BBQ at Thads Grandparents. The kids put on quite a show on the diving board this time. We've been working on diving with Andi for a while now, but it just wasn't working. Then yesterday all of a sudden she's doing front and back flips off the board. Here she is mid front flip.

And the back flip is more of a back dive, but she finishes it under water.

This is the face Sammy makes every time he jumps in.

And his favorite way to jump in the pool.

Sammy discovered Grandma's veggie dip this party and ate a ton of what he kept calling carrots & salsa.

Then we headed home and everyone took naps so they would be able to enjoy the fireworks later that night. The show we usually watch was cancelled last year, so we made due with stopping by a stand and making our own fun. Our little street came alive about 8:30. We bought a ton of glow sticks, and our kids ran around passing them out to the other kids on the block, and we kinda took turns lighting our fireworks to make the show last longer. This is what happens when Thad says smile, and keep your eyes open.Nice.

Sparkler fun.

We also got some new friends for the pond over the weekend. Thad has been wanting some Koi and found a great deal on craigslist, so Saturday he brought these big guys home.

Proud of his catch of the day.

We are now on the three week countdown, and I'm crossing my fingers Peter comes sooner than later.