Our Fourth of July // Take 1

The Fourth of July weekend has once again come and gone and I once again find myself sitting here with a ziploc bag of tootsie rolls, a gaggle of red, white, and blue pictures that rank right up there with my favorites, and this big bundle of nostalgic emotions as I see the proof in the pudding, or the pictures, of my babies growing year after year after year, their baby-ness slipping right through my fingertips.  For some reason, the Fourth weekend tugs at my heart strings about as much as the Christmas season does.  Maybe it's because it falls right in the midst of our summertime, when I'm more relaxed, the kids look like sunbeams, and everything feels the way it should feel.  And year after year, as I plan their patriotic outfits and get the little flags out, I let it sink in that this year is so special, for there won't be another year when they are just as they are now.

I don't have a lot to say about our weekend, just a lot of sweet pictures that make me happy and sad all at the same time.  I love the traditions that surround this weekend - camping out curbside for Shell Rock's parade, firetruck sirens and candy flying through the air like confetti, and little cousins that keep getting big and more sweet with each other.  Big red barns and Mom's potato salad, sparklers, s'mores, and fireworks night after night after night.  Families and friends and water and barbecues and little kids in swim suits, even when it's really quite cold to be.  

Our Fourth of July, in lots and lots of pictures...

Our first Waterloo Bucks game to kick off our holiday weekend.  Loved this night with my little family, sharing popcorn with Mila, sneaking peeks of how cute Cruz looked in his baseball hat, and buying festive beers from the beer guy with my favorite guy.  We stayed until the fireworks ended, and carried two sacked out kids to their beds much past their bedtimes.         

When I catch them doing this in the middle of a baseball game with 1,700 onlookers...

Saturday night was spent at Susongs, where Katy once again knocked it out of the park.  We had all the fixings for a perfect backyard barebecue, complete with several older girls who loved playing babysitter to Mila.  We drank UV and lemonades, lit up some fireworks, monitored several kids light up several sparklers, and once again carried two sacked out kids to their beds much past their bedtimes...

To be continued...