Independence Day

Look at me- two posts in one month!  Maybe I will catch up one day.  This was the best 4th of July I have ever had with our little family and quite possibly my favorite one ever!  It just seemed like everything about the day went perfect.  We talked a very unhappy Richard into going to the parade with us in the morning, which is one of his least favorite things ever.  But we showed up right before the parade started, got an awesome parking spot, found a perfect place to watch in the shade, and even found our amazing friends to watch with!  Even Richard had to admit that if parades were always like that, he would probably like them more. I was sad I didn't take any pictures but it was a lot of fun seeing my kids excitement at McKenna's first ever parade and Kaylee's first that she can remember :) 

We had a very good relaxing afternoon (which was also the most perfect weather for the 4th, it was not hot but also didn't rain. See? It was meant to be the best!) and then Richard and I decided to bust out the face paint for our kids.  I knew it would be rubbed off in two seconds so I just did two little ones on Kenna

but Richard and Kaylee decided to go all out!

He did a fantastic job and she sat so patiently the entire time he was working on her.  She was really excited to show her flag off to all her friends.

That night we had a neighborhood BBQ with all of our friends (again, where was my camera??) I am going to miss living in a place like this for a lot of reasons but getting everyone together for holidays is definitely one of them!

That night we also decided to take our girls to fireworks for the first time.  We met a bunch of our friends at the park and the kids played with pop-its, sparklers, and glow-sticks while we waited for the show to start. The kids were having so much fun that all the pictures we got look like this:

But at least we have proof we were there!  The fireworks were pretty good but my only problem with this show was there was no patriotic music playing during the fireworks.  Seriously???  I guess I'll have to put up with these ones until I can get to Taylorsville Dayzz again :)  Hope everyone had as good of a 4th as we did!

MAJOR Catchup

I have sat down to catch up on blogging many many times and there has just been too many things happening this year and I am so overwhelmed!  So instead of trying to write about all of it, I'm just going to make sure I document it with pictures and then hopefully one day  in the near future I can go back and get down some of the details....  But for now here is a glimpse of what our year has looked like from about March until now!

 VIP Night at Kaylee's Preschool

 Richard and I had a one night getaway to a B&B in a super sad little town

 Kaylee turned 4! 

 Kaylee wanted a pirate party with her friends and it was awesome! We kept the guest list small (which was so hard to do!), my sister was here to help, and we had tons of fun party games that the kids asked for over and over! So much fun

 Grandma came to visit! Can't ever get enough of her :)

 Super fun Easter with multiple Easter egg hunts and a brand new Sunday tradition that I love

 We took care of 5 kids under 5 for 3 days with no mishaps! We even ventured out with them and had a blast.  We will miss them so much when they move!!!!

 McKenna taught herself how to ride a big girl bike. Maybe one day she'll let me teach her something...

 Kaylee finished up her first year of preschool! She loved it so much, mostly thanks to these ladies. Couldn't ask for better teachers!

 Uncle Bryant got to stop and see us for a few hours on his way through

 Went to the new Africa section of the Columbus Zoo- it's amazing!  This is the best zoo I've ever been to by far

 Daddy Daughter Date going to ride on the bus and get ice cream (her choice) for being fully potty trained (for the second time around...)

 Daddy Daughter Date to a baseball game. Kaylee couldn't get enough of it!

 Had two caterpillars hatch into butterflies this year- I don't think I'll ever get sick of doing that.

Had a GIANT flood the night before we went out of town which caused a huge mess and forced our landlord to finally rip out our carpet :(  

Well that doesn't even come close to showing all the things we've done the last couple months but for now it will have to do.  Here's to hoping I can get back into blogging! I know all of you have been dying without me...