Lathamites

4th of July

Great 4th of July this year! I grew up surrounded by my extended family and every holiday we would have a ballgame in the morning, then swimming and BBQ in the afternoon. Those memories are some of the sweetest for me, and it's been hard not being able to do the same thing with my girls. Seriously, can I just have a pool in my backyard so I can do this?? So I was bound and determined to make this holiday a fun one, even though I was 4 days from delivering a baby :) Project: Success!!

We started out by heading over to the man made reservoir/lake thing a few blocks over. They had a "beach", which consisted of about a 4 foot stretch of shore. But, hey, it was SAND! It was actually a pretty cloudy and windy day, but we didn't let that get us down. The Jacksons and Grays joined up and we just had fun relaxing and visiting while the kids played. We headed home after a few hours to get ready for the late afternoon BBQ with Dave's family at our house. Yummy BBQ food and good laughs and games, all together. It was great.

But the best part??? FIREWORKS!! They made some previously illegal fireworks legal this year, and they did not disappoint! NEIGHBORHOOD OF FIRE! We brought our chairs and blankets and popcorn out. A bunch of us in the neighborhood contributed money and one person picked everything up. But we weren't the only ones doing it. So we had groups all around us in different neighborhoods setting off amazing fireworks for a loooooooong time. We went to the Stadium of Fire fireworks the previous Saturday and were literally sitting underneath them, and that was pretty awesome, but I have to say, our neighborhood of fire was pretty comparable. Don't get me wrong, Stadium of Fire is insane, but to be so involved in the process in our neighborhood just added to the joy of it.

Great times!!

Just messing around

Dave was playing around with the camera and took some pictures of the girls being silly. I love when they get along :)

Emma's Birthday

Emma turned 7 and wanted a superhero party! And I've decided that the girls can have "bigger" parties until they're 8 (just to keep things fair), then nothing until 12 and 16. It's hard work to throw a party, and even harder when you've got neighborhood friends, church friends and school friends and can't even include friends from beyond that scope b/c it gets to be too many people! But she had a blast. And who am I kidding? I do the planning and execution of decor, snacks, goody bags, cake, etc, and Dave runs the party! He's great with the kids and thinks of the funnest things. He had them all picking their own superhero powers and ninja moves. I just love that man.

superhero bingo

concentrating hard on superhero bingo :)

pin the "S" on the superhero

Dave showing them how to do a ninja move to capture all the hidden ninjas outside

off to catch all the ninjas!

Grandpa L. made this cute card using pictures he had taken of Emma before. This card has definitely gone into her treasure box!

This is a random picture of the end of year dance show. Emma is right in the middle of the picture, front row, middle person, wearing a pink visor. Yes, she is a head shorter than the two girls next to her. I was teased as a kid for being so little, and now she asks me why everyone teases her. She says all the kids tell her that she's not big enough to be in 1st grade (now 2nd grade), and that frustrates her. But I just tell her that she's perfect the way she is!

Bree's preschool graduation...

...even though she still has another year :) It was a cute little program and I love that she looks over at us and smiles and waves during the "show". What a doll. She makes us laugh so hard. Take note of her expression in a lot of the pictures-it's like a "GOSH. I have to do this in front of these people" type of eye roll expression. That expression means she's embarrassed but she'll do it anyway.