a sparkling fourth of july!

this 4th of july was full of new experiences for our kids! it was caroline's first time to enjoy fireworks, and it was ethan's first time to hold sparklers! just like last year, we celebrated the 4th with dinner at church, along with some patriotic praise & worship. we then headed down to the marina with our friends and family to get ready for the big show! ethan was a big boy this year and sat with his friends on the back of andy & cindy's truck. he was so excited about it, so i couldn't make him sit with us... we were right down the row of chairs from him, but i really missed sharing the fireworks with him! (just a glimpse of the reality of him growing up, huh!?) my mom said she felt the same way and finally went over to the truck to watch the finale with him! she couldn't stand it! :) caroline loved the fireworks and only took her eyes off of them to let me know she needed a popcorn refill. brian got some great shots of the fireworks again this year... but the wind was blowing in our direction, causing the smoke to block the perfect view of the show. the finale ended up being a lot of smoke! but despite the smoke, i think these still turned out pretty well. good job, honey! :)



i don't know what caroline enjoyed more...
the fireworks or the all-you-can-eat popcorn!
thanks, aunt kristie, for the hot air popcorn!
ethan with his buddies, joseph & avery,
on the truck with andy & cindy (joseph's grandparents)
here's caroline, savannah, and karina just loungin' after the fireworks show
for one second, i thought i was gonna get a picture
of all 3 girls sitting in their cute little chairs... almost!

afterwards, we hung around awhile instead of sitting in traffic, and cindy let the kids go to town with sparklers. i did not in a million years expect ethan to want to hold one. even avery, who i consider fearless, was apprehensive of the sparklers at first. after a few minutes, the kiddos all loved them. brian taught them how to make a circle with the fire, and he got some really neat shots. the kids got a big kick out of looking at the pictures of the circles they made!

ethan began enjoying the sparklers with me right beside him...
but before i knew it, he was happy to do it all by himself!

karina was such a big girl with the sparklers!
once aaron convinced avery that the sparklers were safe,
avery had so much fun!we have the cutest video
of avery spinning HUGE circles with these things!

ethan and natalie spinning away!
our sweet friends, jonathan & tammy w/ natalie, joseph, & claire...
thanks for organizing our spot at the marina! it was a "blast"- haha!

happy fourth of july from our family to yours. may we never forget the blessing of the independence of our nation, which was founded in dependence on our God.