4th of JULY

I love the 4th of July it's one of my very favorite holidays to celebrate!  We moved into our home nine years ago the week before the fourth and every year we have had the family over to celebrate.   The girls are always so excited and look forward to the games, water balloon fights and fireworks.

Kayla was talking nonstop the day before about how she couldn't wait for the fourth.  She was so excited for the party.  This year a few hours before everyone came over I put on a movie for them to watch and it helped entertain them while I got ready and did some last minute prep.  It was nice not having to answer "how much longer til everyone gets here?" every 10 minutes!

My parents were the first to arrive so they luckily got their picture taken with the girls before the camera got put down for most of the day.

A basket full of goodies for the kids to enjoy

Ready for the water balloon toss

Kayla wanted to win this year because this year she wanted to win one of the prizes.   I have never purchased a prize for the kids but I figured since the girls are getting bigger their chances of winning are better so it's only fair that they have a prize to choose from as well. 

She picked her daddy as her partner and she was ecstatic when they won!!!

She picked the blue bouncy ball that she had been eyeing all day!

My niece Josie and my mom ready for some fun

Cousins taking a break from the heat to play in the house

Water balloon fight time, Jonas was ready to get his cousin right away!

Brooklyn enjoying some pop-its all on her own

"It makes a bigger bang if you jump and throw it"

The fourth of July is also our sweet pups birthday.  She got lots of extra treats for her 12th birthday.

Our friends Eric, Amanda and their son Landon stopped by to say hi for a bit.  They have been busy with their sons baseball schedule that we hadn't seen them in months so we were happy to celebrate some of the day with them.  Amanda wasn't in the picture below, she opted out of the shot that Eric, hubby, my brother, and I took.

At one point I walked outside to find these three completely soaked.   Apparently they were filling up water balloons and then spraying each other.  They had so much fun and were dry in no time!

After dinner we did the sack race, my brother and his family had to leave so we were missing a few for the race and we all agreed the games should all be done before dinner from now on.  It's better to being able to relax after eating so much food

Off they go,

My father in law and hubby after their leap for the finish line.

The next three photos made me laugh so hard when I saw them.   Brooklyn for some reason thought that she had won you can see her excitement and the minute we told her no she did not win and then followed by her tears.  

Poor girl but those pictures capture her perfectly!   She was fine after I told her she could pick the Land of the Free pillow from the prizes anyway and then dessert was served and all was right with her world again.

Fourth of July would not be the same without our Family Fireball shots.  Kayla got to be our photographer this year

The sun was setting so the girls wanted to light some of the sparklers.

Brooklyn refuses to hold them so daddy does it for her and she can safely enjoy them from her comfort zone.

My mom and I 

Firework time came quickly this year and we gathered all the glow sticks and Brooklyn got her babies in their car and she pushed them down the street to a school we go to to watch the fireworks from.

Kayla was quite the chatterbox throughout the show and I knew that meant she was having a great time!

After the firework show the family trickled out and the day was over.  Every year it goes by so fast and we always wish it would've lasted a little bit longer but luckily we all get to celebrate again next year!