summer rewind: 4th of july

yes, i am still attempting to squeeeeeeze in our summer happenings! i will catch up! i will!

the 4th of july this year did not go like anyone had planned… at least not in our town. there's usually a morning parade, cookouts/get-togethers throughout the day, the fireworks that night. well. that was the plan until the rain just wouldn't stop. it started raining earlier in the week, and it just. kept. raining. by the afternoon of the 4th, it was difficult to even drive through town. what is normally a 20 minute drive to my in-laws took us 90 minutes because we had to stop and wait for family to come pick us up in vehicles that could better handle the high waters in the road. the parade and fireworks were definitely cancelled, but we continued with our cook-out and afternoon with the family. (plus the big kids had stayed at nana & pappy's, so we had to bring them home sometime!)

here are all the cousins! the girls are matching in their "red white and sweet" shirts.


the kids found things to do inside during the rain, which isn't that hard to do at fun nana and pappy's house!



love this of the cousin twins doing their sticker dolly dressing books together.


and hallie just wandered around being a little firecracker. :)


the weather cleared up a little by the time the sun went down, so we were able to at least do some sparklers and poppers outside.





amelia took the job of popper-girl very seriously!



nana is fun! rain or shine!







hallie had a little fun with a glow stick… i can guarantee you that pappy is saying, "don't put that in your mouth!"

"oh! that's what you're supposed to do with it!"


so our independence day celebration was a little different this year. the only fireworks we enjoyed were via tv and facebook, but we still had a wonderful day with family!

summer rewind: ethan turns 8!

ethan turned 8 during our crazy busy summer, and we celebrated with a fun family bowling night! first, here are some pictures of ethan's birthday morning, july 2nd. i never get tired of the birthday muffin. :)



the sisters were a little excited to celebrate their brother!


and now for the birthday muffin, round 2!


i love surprising the kids with their presents.


some little things for our history lover…



and those are legos. it's not a birthday without legos!


the kids were excited to play corn hole in the foyer after breakfast! (i drew the line there… no shooting that bow inside!)


i think this was hallie's birthday morning debut… she has slept thru the rest of them till now.

my mom came over at lunchtime and sent ethan on a scavenger hunt…


she left clues all over the house…




and they took him to the utility room behind our house, where gram had hidden this basketball goal!


ethan was incredibly surprised!


lovvvve this sweet moment with ethan and his gram!


after a haircut, swim lessons, and a rainy afternoon, we all met up at the bowling alley. before all the bowling excitement, the birthday boy had some candles to blow out and some presents to open. gram did a fabulous job on the cake, as usual.


love these cousins!


i cannot believe ethan is 8… don't i say that every year!?


so thankful for 8 years with this birthday boy!!!




time for presents! ethan is blessed with family who loves him and knows what he loves. :)





let's get on with the party! we did a little guys vs. girls competition, though it wasn't exactly even since half of the girls were 6 and under!!

the kids had so much fun, and with the bumpers and ball roller thing, their fun was a little easier to come by! (i didn't get as many of ethan because he was playing with the guys.)














ok, so the adults had a little fun, too. :)



this one's blurry 'cause i was jumping up and down with kristie!


brian tried to spin the ball all crazy thru the whole game. he got like 20 points.





here's the final scoreboard, 'cause i know you were dying to see how the girls beat the guys!


ok, i was wrong. brian got a whopping 38.

if you average the scores (which you have to do, since we had more people on our girls' team), the girls win by a wide wide margin. so maybe havin' those bumpers on our side worked to our advantage. :)

we are so thankful that our family could come out and celebrate ethan's birthday… we are so blessed by all these precious people!!!








(uncle jeff must've been hiding from the camera… he's sneaky like that!)

we love our birthday boy!!! we are so thankful that God chose us to train and instruct this little boy who is growing up before our very eyes. we are humbled by his love for learning and his desire to do what is right. only by the grace of God can we lead him to be the man of God that we pray he will be one day. happy birthday, ethan!!