Happy 4th of July!

We started the holiday week off with a fun 4th of July craft that I hope to pull out year after year.  These are some of my most treasured things and I am finding that the kids love seeing them out too and recalling how we made them together. 

We began with a blank canvas and some bendable straws taped together to mimic a sparkler.

Each kid took a turn dapping their "sparkler" in red paint and placing it on the canvas.

Then, we overlayed some blue.

Portion-control was critical for this little crafter.

The finished project, hanging on our wall -- complete with the year their names next to their personal sparklers.

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One night, I surprised the kids (Aunt Minnie was over with Louie and Zoe too) with sugar cookies that they could decorate.

I loved watching their creativity.

Yes, this was deinitely a favorite activity ... espeically when I told them that they coould each have a decorated cookie (or two?  or three?) afterwards!

Jimmy still continues to have curls, even after two haircuts.  I hope that they stay their forever.

Some of the finished products (and evidence of a blue-frosted cookie consumed by Sophia).

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The girls were playing down the street with their friends, so I asked Jack if he would like to work on a special project with me (Jimmy was napping).  Of course, he was interested so we set to work gathering our supplies.


Pouring the dry plaster into a bucket:

Adding the water slowly before mixing:

Leveling the wet plaster:

Adding glass stones to make a pattern:

The finished project -- a stepping stone for our flower garden:

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Bikes decorated and all ready for the neighborhood parade down to the park on 4th of July morning:

These girls of mine are growing up so fast.  Sam will be entering middle school in the Fall this year (how did that happen???) and Sophia will be the oldest sibling in the elementary school. 

We even decorated the golf cart for the holiday!  You can never have too much red, white and blue!

Facepainting!

Decorated donuts!

Boats and silly moustaches!

Games galore!  (And just look at Jimmy trying to run as fast as his little legs would carry him!)

Nice form, Jack!

Jimmy found the firetruck and wanted to make sure that I got a picture of him sitting in it!

Later in the evening, we ate dinner at home (Grandpa came over to spend the day with us) and roasted s'more over the fire.  And of course, we all enjoyed the fireworks over the lake.  I say this every year, but I really do think that this year was the best ever!