Fourth of July fun!

So a few days before the fourth Leiella informed us all that July 4th was Teresa's birthday. She was all excited about it and because Teresa seems so real to her, and she truly loves this doll I thought I'd go along with it. :) So the morning of the fourth I made the usually birthday pancakes for Teresa, who apparently was turning four. 

Then Leiella and I stopped at a craft store, on our way to the grocery store, and bought Teresa a couple new outfits. :) When we got home Leiella wrapped them up and waited for the perfect time to surprise Teresa with her birthday gift. It was cute.

All dressed up in a new dress! :) Happy 4th birthday Teresa!

In the afternoon we headed to a good friends house to celebrate. The kids had a blast!

We took off before dark to head back home. We didn't want to go to the fireworks show everyone else was going to because we just don't like the crowds. Plus Ryder really doesn't like being on the roads late on holidays because people often have a little too much to drink, don't realize it, and drive. Thanksgiving is suppose to be the worst holiday for that! Booze and turkey makes for tired dangerous drivers. Any ways home we went...

Daisy in the dark.

We are pretty lucky because the neighbors at the end of the street put on an amazing and really big fireworks show. I absolutely hate spending money on fireworks, just feels like blowing money up in the sky, ha ha! So it's nice that the kids can still experience a fun show without dealing with huge crowds or buy them ourselves. :) We started out by siting on the side of the road across from our house.

But I got the idea of sitting in this field with a straight view down our road. We took blankets and drinks and lots of bug spray. ;)  

Beautiful views behind us, fireworks in front of us. Perfect. Don't know why we've never done this in years past!

There were of course a lot of mosquitos, it's just that time of year. Blanket forts come in handy for that. ;)

Having a blast!

Seriously adorable.

Love this crew! No one else I'd rather spend time with on this planet. :)

Silly one eyed photo bomb. 

I love that this kid truly likes the fireworks now. When he was little he would just cling to me in terror! For years. But the last few he's really seemed to enjoy himself. :)

She definitely enjoyed the show. ;) There were some really big fireworks!

Fourth of July snuggles!!!

It was another wonderful holiday spent with the ones I love. We stayed up way late and for once we all actually slept in until about 8 am. Never use to happen, no matter how late we stayed up some little one was going to be awake around 6 am at the latest. It's nice to go into this phase of older little kids. ;)