Forth of July

 Happy Forth of July!  We started out the day with our town parade.  We got a great parking spot in the shade, such a blessing.  The kids were pretty good waiting for the parade to start.  Some people next to us shared some snaps fireworks and that helped keep them busy.  The parade was pretty good, the kids got quite a bit of candy.  We ate our lunch there and then drove over to the booths in the center of town.  It was so hot!! The kids were all flushed and sweaty.  The kids took a few turns on the bouncy houses and then we called it quits.  We were just all too hot.

The girls liked waving the flags they got in the parade.  We got quite a few comments on the girls' outfits and 'twin' comments in general.  You can't be shy when you have twins.  I did their hair the night before so I wouldn't have to do it in the morning.  It stayed in pretty well, just got a bit frizzy.

j/k

We took it easy in the afternoon and then went over to a friends house for hot dogs.  She had invited her neighbors and a few other friends as well.  The kids had fun playing.  Damon took a fall and skinned up both knees and his hand.  He was very brave about it, but walked stiff legged for the rest of the day.  

A funny side story:  I took the girls for a walk around the block and Jenna walked up to a complete stranger, a girl about 15 years old and said "hug," and walked up to her and gave her a hug.  I wonder if she thought it was one of her cousins or something. It was just kind of weird, she is usually not the friendly or social one. 

j/k

We went back to our house to light our fireworks.  The boys liked these fountains and the tanks.

 The shirts we made.

 The girls trying to get out the snaps - they liked those.

 The boys liked trying to light the used up tanks on fire with their sparklers.

After our fireworks we got ready to go to the town fireworks.  We haven't taken our kids in years.  I guess we just didn't want to deal with tired kids and crying from loud noises from babies.  So I was very excited when everyone did so well.  We were on a golf course with some friends and the kids just ran around and had fun.  It was windy and cold, but they kept warm by running.  The fireworks were fun, not nearly as good as Logan's but Frederick is a pretty small town.  Kaylee loved them.  She would clap and ooh and name the colors as they went off.  Jenna wasn't as impressed, she just kept climbing over Doug.  She doesn't hold still as well as Kaylee.  We had to wait for about 10 minutes to get out of traffic, but even that long was a bit frustrating since we only had to go 1 mile to get home.

It was a great 4th of July, I am so grateful for my family and the fun things we have been able to do lately.  I am grateful for those who have served and who are serving now for our country.  I am so grateful that I live in USA.  I know I take it for granted, but it is good to be reminded of our blessings on days like this.

 We did have one incident with our fireworks this year.  Kaylee grabbed a sparkler and burned her hand pretty good.  We only let her hold one for a second, but she was too quick.  I felt really bad.  The blister has popped now and it is hard to keep it clean.  The band-aids don't stay on very well on her palm.

 This is an older owie, but I figured we could document it.  She fell and bruised her fingernail some how and the whole nail separated from her skin.  I had to scrape out a sliver from under her nail the other day.  It didn't even bother her.  I just hope it grows in ok.  You can't see it very well, but her ring fingernail is just discolored.  Poor girl, at least her knees are just about healed now.  She trips so often that she always has scabs on her knees.