We have had a pretty awesome summer so far this year and the weather looked to be just as awesome for the 4th of July. Stay-cationing is much more fun when it’s a nice day to be outside!
I was so proud of myself for getting all three of the kids to wear red, white & blue. Obviously, Natalie didn’t have much choice in her outfit, but the boys were happy to wear their soccer shirts and colorful shorts. I even got mom to take a photo of the kids and I in our holiday best, but I probably should have thought to make them put on their sunglasses - it was super bright outside!
I still give myself an “A” for effort!
But back to the start of the day, which always calls for breakfast-in-pajamas on a holiday morning. (Or most weekend mornings if we are being honest). The boys were super excited that I found some of their old books and wanted to read them to Natalie!
Natalie was enthralled with the reading even more than the books themselves. These were another “take them with you!” gift from Allie when we stayed with her a few years ago. They have fun textures on every page which are great for little kids, less so for her kids at the moment. ;)
Finally dressed to impress! :)
And it was so awesome outside, I even got smart and pulled their soccer nets out. They aren’t getting soccer lessons this summer, but they can still play against each other!
Thomas is usually the one scoring the goals, but Henry is by far the better one at celebrating his goals! =D
Eliza also came outside to hang out with us. She was smartly staying a safe distance from the soccer ball, but she wanted to be kinda in the action. Also, she needs a haircut so bad - she is a shag monster!
Since it was predicted to be so beautiful out, we invited over company - and I think this was the twin’s first outing! Kathryn and I were on the same page with the clothing colors for the holiday. :)
Henry was showing off their sandbox to Ben. It got a little moose damage over the winter, but overall is hanging in there quite well. Ben was probably trying to figure out where to build one for his boys. Or he was jealous of all of their cool toys in there. It’s hard to say for sure…
Look, I got a photo of Aunt Jo! =D
(And Aunt Heather, but she doesn’t usually hide from the camera.)
Aunt Jo actually sent these giant bubble things as a Christmas present for the boys and I hadn’t ever gotten around to blowing them up. I tasked the aunts with blowing them up and they clearly had a lot of help/supervision…
We made them wear their bicycle helmets to do the sumo wrestling bit. Safety first!
I couldn’t find Henry’s helmet, but luckily my kids have giant heads and mine fits him when it’s cinched down.
I asked Thomas to hold my camera for a minute because Matt challenged me to a sumo fight. We managed two hits before we realized we are too old to be slamming into each other. Also, it was probably a wise idea to make the kids wear helmets…
And Thomas took this photo without me realizing it. His camera skills are improving!
The boys went back at it and all was fine until I heard *a lot* of yelling from outside. I guess Henry got tired of being pushed around and found a smarter way to fight back. Ha!
No fireworks for us this time of year - it’s just too sunny even at midnight! But I wanted the boys to have something fun and bought them these red, white & blue glowsticks. They clearly loved them!
Hope everyone else had as beautiful a 4th of July as we enjoyed up here! :)