Twelve years old and the 4th of July

Our favorite week/holiday of the year!  The boys seemed extra excited for their birthday this year.  It was hard for them to sleep in the days leading up to The Big Day.  They even went to bed early the night of July 2nd.  The day of the 2nd, I was also a wee bit excited.  I made both their cakes (one ice cream, one lemon), made all the food for supper on the 3rd.  I also golfed 18 holes.  Priorities.

Mom, Jason, Holly, Kayla, and the Sipes family (Jonathan's Godparents) were her for supper.  Amy, Whitey, and Macy got to town late, so we didn't see them until the morning of the 4th.

 Swimming was the favorite activity of the evening!  It was a nice, hot and sunny afternoon.

 Eric got a Lego set.  Big Surprise

 He educated Grandma on The Lego Movie

 This is the ice cream cake I made.  It was delish.

 I only took a pic with the ice cream cake.  The lemon cake, while also delish, was not as pretty.

 Yeah!  Something to finally put on his blank walls!

 Lego themed poster!

Jason and I did the 5K the morning of the 4th.  It was getting pretty cloudy and pending storm looking as we finished, and even rained a bit. We got settled into our usual spot for the parade.  I went to get my free smoothie at BAM Nutrition, which also served as a plug for Herbalife products.  By the time I got back to our seats, we learned the parade had been cancelled.  Bummer!  But....lightening, hail, and parades don't really mix all that well.  I did end up being a beautiful day.

The Van Winkle and Flemmer families joined us for our 4th of July celebration.  The kids went swimming and played in the sandbox.  We have set things in motion for a Huxley-Zoe wedding in 20 years or so.

 We started lighting off the daytime fireworks around 8.  The smoke bombs  and snaps are always a hit.  Eric and Jonathn lit most of the smoke bombs.

 We moved to the front yard around 9 for some of the tank battles. I did not keep tally of whose tanks won-Eric or Jonathan's.  The tank battles are one of our favorite firework traditions, even though several tanks are always duds.

 Huxley tried his best to get a bite of Eric's ice cream cake.  Eric knew Huxley had a taste of Jonathan's cake, so when Huxley asked him if he could try it, Eric simply told him: "You tried Jonathan's"...

 Aunt Lisa fixed that problem.  Thanks, Grandma Miller, for pointing out Huxley's need for more cake!

 Our fireworks lasted until close to 11 pm.  It was an extra busy night for fireworks this year.  Like last year, one of our 'shooter' fireworks tipped over, and shot the explosives right at us.  One ended up in our garage, right next to Don's van.  It hit the snow blower when it 'popped'.  It was noisy.  And scary :-).  For some reason, all the kids sat huddled in the corner behind Mary Kay and me for the rest of the show.

After our company left, we thought we'd jump back in the pool.  It was a little cold in there in the dark.  We watched what fireworks we could see from the backyard.  Might be a new tradition for us!

The 4th is our family's favorite holiday, hands down!  It's always so bittersweet when the last of our family leaves.  Today we cleaned, did load after load of laundry, and spent time in the pool since it was over 90 degrees today.  Tomorrow, I take the boys to 4H camp.  Another busy and adventurous week for them!