4th of July Pictures and a few Finley Bday pictures

The family sat around the night of the 4th of July while Mat set off a few fireworks. Above is everyone waiting for the show to begin. The fireworks were just small ones, but the kids loved them. They clapped and had a great time. They were the right size for this young crew - nothing loud or scary.


Finley got her first sparkler this year. She wasn't sure what to make of it. But she did hold a few of them and even walked around a bit!

"M" did some sparklers as well. Here is Uncle Mat helping her get it started. She wasn't sure of it at first, but she did hold it the whole time.


This is Cainan's first sparkler. He really wasn't sure, but I was impressed that he didn't cry or run screaming from it. That is big progress. He didn't move much, though!


Earlier in the day, we went to our local ice cream place. Finley wanted ice cream for her birthday. Since she can't eat cake, this is always a good option. Everyone enjoyed refreshing ice cream cones.

Here is "M" and Arlington having some ice cream. Arlington chose bubble gum ice cream. She loves it, but Mat and I tasted it, and it tastes like Pepto Bismol. It is really awful. She is watching "M" here test the cone. We are unsure if "M" has ever had a cone before - she didn't seem to realize at first it was food. She and I talked about eating it, and she looked at me like I was crazy. I had to eat some to show her it was food. Then she dug in!


Cainan sported some USA wear courtesy of his grandparents.


We had a cookout for 4th of July. Since we got an 8 seater patio table, we all fit around it! It was perfect. We cooked hamburgers and hotdogs and had a great time.


Here is Arlington sporting her USA wear. Oh, and of course, a princess crown. No outfit is complete without a crown.


"M" is sporting her 4th of July wear while she is swinging in the yard. She loved the swings, and by the end of the weekend, was even going pretty high.


She let her cousin Arlington push her a lot. Those two really love each other. It is very sweet to see. I was close to my cousins growing up, and I hope the same for my kids. One night this weekend, when I went in to check on the girls, "M" and Arlington were snuggled up in the same bed. It was so cute. I wish I could have taken their picture, but I didn't want to wake them up.


Here is Grandma with 4 of the 5 that were there this weekend. She was trying to read them a story.


Sunday we let Finley open her birthday presents. She had a good time doing that. She got a baby doll from Arlington, and it has been her favorite gift by far.


Arlington was a big help this weekend. Here she is putting "G"'s shoes on. She is always a big helper. I am lucky to have her.



After Finley opened her presents, she got pancakes for breakfast with syrup and whipped cream. She was in heaven. I have never seen her eat so well. She kept wanting me to add more and more whipped cream.


I know this post is kind of random, but I just wanted to share some more pictures. Tomorrow I will wrap up the weekend - I promise! I have the rest of the pictures from Sunday to share. Then I will be done. Below are a few more pictures. Enjoy!

Beach Day pictures and Happy Birthday to Finley!

Here are the pictures from our beach day on Saturday. It was a beautiful day - 80 plus degrees with a slight cool wind and every once in awhile we could get some clouds to give us a break from the sun .


Sally has a better picture of "M" and Finley, but I thought this was pretty cute. We asked them to pose for a picture.


Cainan and "G" were dressed almost identical in their swim clothes. Here is "G" finally sitting in the sand. He wouldn't put his feet in it, but at least he sat in it for awhile.


Finley built a little sandcastle. Can you see it?


It was most of a sand mound. But she was very proud of it. She dug up a crab claw that she found in the sand, and used it on the top of her sand mound so we would know where it was:


She is pretty gross.


Cainan had a good time playing in the sand. He doesn't like the water, so he never really left the blanket area. But he was entertaining himself the whole time.

Our niece seemed to have a lot of fun too. She played in the sand, went a little bit in the water, and ate a lot of snacks. They all ate a lot of snacks!




Like I said yesterday, our nephew was not a fan of the beach. He mostly clung to Mat's mom and didn't want much to do with any of it. But he did eat some snacks! He wanted Mat's mom at one point, but didn't want to leave the blanket to get to her. He took one step off the blanket into the sand, cried, and immediately stepped back on the blanket. We knew then we would always know where "G" was while we were at the beach!


This last picture is of Cainan making nice with the dog. He really didn't like Lucky much the last time they met, but yesterday he held his leash and walked him around the house. So I took a picture as evidence.


So it was a really fun day yesterday. Today is Finley's 3rd birthday! At 1:58pm in 2006, our little munchkin was born. She was the best baby - always quiet, and just ate and slept. I should have known that she would turn into trouble sooner or later!

Today we had another fun day - the kids played outside all morning. We blew up our swimming pool and bounce house, and they spent hours going back and forth between those two. Then they played in the sand box and on the playset. We had lunch outside on our new patio furniture and then the little ones took a nap. Finley also opened her birthday presents today. Tonight we are going out to dinner to celebrate Mat's parent's wedding anniversary (which was yesterday) and Finley's birthday. Tomorrow I will post pictures of last night and today's activities so look out for those!!

Here are a few more beach pictures. Enjoy!!

Happy 4th of July!

This day, three years ago, I was watching fireworks from the maternity ward window. July 5th is Finley's birthday! I am glad this year to have an almost three year old, and not labor!!


I did my summer photo shoot yesterday. The kids always get such cute clothes from Easter from my grandma, but it is always too cold at Easter to take the pictures. So, I do it in the summer! The kids cooperated pretty well, and I got some great pictures. It was the first hot, sunny day we have had this week.


This post is just going to be the photo shoot photos. (There will also be more at the bottom!) You are going to feel SO special!! I am going to post tomorrow, and Monday as well to put up all the pictures that we are taking this weekend. Don't you feel special? I knew you would.


This week was pretty busy. Aunt Betty went home on Wednesday. Arlington finished up Bible School on Thursday. She had a really great time. She was there with a lot of her Kindergarten friends, so that helped.


We also got our deck furniture on Thursday. Mat had to rent a Uhaul truck to get it because the table top is 5 1/2 feet by 5 1/2 feet. So it wouldn't fit in our van. It weighs a TON. It was not pleasant to try and get that onto our back porch, but we did it. Well, mostly Mat did it, and I watched. :) No, I helped. a little. It is all together, and I am glad, so we can enjoy it this weekend. We didn't get the umbrella. We will get that next year. I haven't seen one we really like. We waited too long to buy porch furniture. Who would have thought that before June was over, porch furniture would be gone from the stores??


Friday Arlington and I kicked it into high gear, and got the house cleaned. My inlaws and neice and nephew came in for a weekend visit. We had all day to clean, and good thing. We needed it.


We spent this morning at the beach. I will post those pictures tomorrow because I took a lot. Surprise surprise! We were there about 2 hours. Us and about 1 million other people. It was really crowded, but once we actually got the the beach, we had a choice of spots. So we were not crowded sitting on the sand at all. With 5 kids in tow, 10 beach towels, 300 sand toys, and snacks to feed a small army, we settled in.


Arlington and "M" went right to the water. Arlington got in but "M" thought it was a little too cold. I agreed with her - the water was freezing! The little ones (Finley, Cainan and "G") settled on the blanket and started to play in the sand. My nephew "G" did NOT want to step in the sand. I remember Cainan was like that at first too. He didn't love it. Eventually "G' did sit in it, but he never wanted to put his feet down. It was pretty cute.


So we stayed and relaxed, and we didn't lose anyone! I found that quite a feat! I see what it would have been like for my mom-in-law when she was raising 5 kids, and have decided that three is a good number for us!


After the beach we had lunch and stopped quickly for a few groceries, and then came home so the youngest three could take their naps. The girls stayed up late Friday night (all three were in a room together and it was "party" time). So everyone was tired this afternoon.


The kids played outside on the playset and sandbox, and then we had a cookout and fireworks. After dinner we went for ice cream. Finley wanted ice cream to eat for her birthday, so we went to our local ice cream place about 1 mile from our house and ate it there.


Mat bought some fireworks and sparklers for the kids, and they had a blast. It was nice to have a 4th of July party here at home. The kids sat and watched the fireworks and had a great time. We didn't get anything loud or scary, so it worked out great.


Wednesday was my 34th birthday. I had gotten some plants I wanted to plant as my present, but Mat brought me home these flowers:


And then Arlington made me some signs around the house for my birthday. This is me:


Apparently this is how I look to her. Completed crazed. Also, she made our whole crazy family. She made Finley REALLY small because she is the youngest. She made our newest member (the fish) the biggest, which I find funny!


So that is all. Below are more pictures from the photo shoot just because I don't have enough to type to put them all throughout the blog. I will be back tomorrow with pictures from the beach day we had today.
See you tomorrow!