4th of July!!!!!

I have to start with a disclaimer...this is going to be the LONGEST post in history. Tons and tons of pictures and lots of different things to talk about. So, bare with me!!!!

We started the 4th of July by heading to downtown Hillsboro for the annual parade. Jason set out our chairs with Jack at 6:30 in the morning. He was lucky to get the spot we got...I guess some people start putting chairs out for this parade several days prior. The kids were so excited to get to the parade, we left our house over an hour before the parade started.Waiting for the parade. See the big cups in their laps? I thought they would hold all the candy they got during the parade, but we had to keep dumping their candy into the backpack we brought. You should see it....they got more candy at the parade than they had at Halloween.

What a cute picture of Papa and Jack.


Family shot. We are still waiting for the parade to start.
Lauren is dancing in the middle of the street. She was as happy as I have ever seen her. It was so cute!!!
Still before the parade...a family brought a bubble machine that Jack and Lauren helped themselves to. It really helped pass the time as they played in the bubbles for 15 min.

To our surprise, the parade started right on time...maybe a few min. early. Here are the kids eating caramel corn right before it started.
Waving at the people in the parade.
Lauren and Daddy.

We ran into the Aartsen's down there, and they sat by us, so we got to see their brand new baby Finn. What a cute baby...so little still. (Erik is sitting next to Jason and Lisie is sitting behind them.)


Jack was totally into the parade. He would clap and scream, "Happy 4th of July!" as everyone passed by. He quickly learned the louder he screamed the more candy was thrown this way. Good thinking, Jack!!!
Lauren also LOVED the parade. She would wave and say "Hi!" to everyone as well. I think her favorite part was seeing the horses pass by. See her waving to the horse (she was so excited, she was waving with both hands)...the lady was waving back at her. What a great moment!
CANDY!!!!

Of course, Papa wouldn't let a piece be missed. See him pointing to another one?
Classic pictures here. Standing and waving, and below, clapping to the marching band. The kids seemed to be at the perfect age for the parade. It was hot, but they did so well and didn't complain once. We won't miss this parade next year!

Jason is going to KILL me for posting this! After the parade and naps, we played outside with all the water toys. I even got in on the fun and did the slip and slide and the splash bomb with Jack. Then, Jack asked Jason to do them too, and he couldn't say no. So, here is Jason doing the splash bomb in our backyard. Please note the difference between the splashes. You might not initially notice Jack following Jason in.....

After the water fun, we went to pick out our fireworks...they are SO expensive. I couldn't believe how much money we spent at the firework stand. Then we had dinner and Jack would ask every 10 min. "Mommy, when is it going to get dark?" And at 6:30, he said, "Mommy, I think it is kinda getting dark out there now." So, we stalled as long as we could and went outside at 8:15 to do the pop-its and snakes.

Ready in their chairs


Jack took a pic of our fireworks....
Stepping on pop-its

They were too cute waiting to watch the fireworks. Lauren looks so excited.

Jack is looking ready for the fireworks....
Our neighbors went to Washington to get some fireworks. They were so cool AND this guy had to take them away from them....BOO! We were disappointed not to see anymore go off. Then they came over to our place to make sure we were legal... oh please.... at least, Jack was happy with his sticker and picture with the fire marshall.
I wasn't sure how Lauren would do with the fireworks...I thought they might scare her, so I bought the kids these glow sticks. Lauren wasn't scared of the fireworks and would watch them, but her favorite things were the glowsticks. I didn't know Lauren knew her colors, but my dad would ask her to give him a certain color glowstick and every time and color she would get it right. I was impressed!

Watching the fireworks show.
Jack thought he was pretty cool sitting in the back of our car.

Double sparklers....

The kids FINALLY went to bed at 10PM! They did so great the entire day. No whining or anything. I was proud of them, especially because we try to adhere to our schedule of having them down by 8:00 each night. Jack cracks me up, though. The little man doesn't need much sleep. He went to sleep at 10:15 and was in my room at 6:15 ready to go for the day. I thought he might make it until 7:00, but no, he was ready to go bright and early. =)

Just one more thing....it has now been officially one year since our big scare with Lauren. She was hospitalized July 5th '08, and I have been thinking so much about what a tough time that was for all of us. I can't believe how strong she is now...such a perfect little girl who is healthy!!!! She still has high blood pressure and is on daily meds to combat that, but that doesn't get in the way of her development or her being an active little toddler. She has another round of tests in Sept. to tell us how well her kidney is functioning etc. I know how close we were to having a completely different outcome to this whole ordeal and feel SO lucky and blessed to have a happy little girl!!!!