4th of July

The kids and I wanted to do a fun 4th of July craft, but most of our craft stuff is still in boxes in the office, or it belonged to the preschool and I haven't replaced it yet. So we came up with the idea to dye rice and make some festive jars. I've actually never dyed rice before and was surprised how easy it is. The kids had a blast and of course were covered in food coloring before it was over. Justin had to work this year on the 4th of July so I decided to head to Rupert for the parade. It ended up that all the family was gathering there so it turned out to be a fun weekend. We went to Grandma's Sunday afternoon after church. I may be 29 but I still love going to Grandma's house; there is something magical and therapeutic about it. It's especially fun to share those special memories with my kids. She was flooding her grass while we were there and the kids ran through the water and played and got soaked. Afterwards Landon spent all evening collecting the snail shells from around the water spouts. Those are some of my quintessential memories of being a kid at Grandma's house and it made my heart warm and happy to watch my kids enjoying those same pastimes. We got to help pick her raspberries and she sent us home with a whole gallon bag of them-yum! I love going to Grandma's house!

 Trenton is such a good sport and always plays with my boys. They love wrestling with him and playing catch.

 Grandpa is turning into a softy in his old age. Whenever I sit and play the piano he will sing the hymns along...who knew Grandpa was a singer? I was playing the patriotic hymns this time and he sat and sang all of them with me.

 Monday morning we got ready and headed to the parade. As is traditional we sat on the lawn at Lance's house which is right where the parade begins. The kids got lots of candy.

 Afterwards we ate lunch at the food trucks parked around the square and then all the kids wanted to do the carnival rides. Thanks to their kind and generous aunts and grandparents, enough cash was scrounged up that all the kids could choose one ride. Koyle and Landon choose the Merry-Go-Round.

 Matthew of course went on one of the big kid rides...although it ended up spinning almost as slow as the merry-go-round I think.

 After a fun afternoon in Rupert we headed back to Pocatello in time to be home when Justin got off work. Jacque and Travis came over and we had a BBQ and hung out. The kids did sparklers and pop-its as it started getting dark. Unfortunately, right as the firework show was about to start Jacque got called in to work and had to leave. But we could see the show from our front lawn and Travis stayed to watch the show with us.
Matthew FINALLY lost his tooth while we were eating dinner! That tooth had been hanging in there for a while. He was thrilled that the tooth fairy left him a dollar.