Our Fourth of July Celebration

We hope your Independence Day celebration (for those American readers, of course!) was as fun as ours...although I don't see how it could have been!

After church we raced home to get the kids dressed in patriotic clothes (see previous post) and get ready for the party, which included getting all the outdoor toys out.  Lukas discovered a broken ball, and tore it into a hat.  But Konrad got the best photo as "Man With The Yellow Hat"

Kim got to meet Dominik for the first time and spend some quality time.

Cameron and Chandler showing the finer points of wheelies on the trike.

Carly swinging high.  I loved her fireworks headband!

Coco arrived asleep, and she and her headband are cute too!

Karen is coaching Natalie on throwing a water balloon at Tom in the swing.

Lukas doesn't need any coaching.

Where's the food?  All the kids ready for yummy dinner: barbecue chicken and beans, hot dogs, salad, fruit and peach cobbler with ice cream.  I think Konrad ended up where Leah is sitting.

Dinner's over...time to play in the front yard again so the dove parents can return to their nest.  The babies were left alone the whole time we were in the backyard for dinner, and even though the parents were watching from a distance, it took some time for them to return to the nest.

Bubbles can entertain for a long time...

All the kids are in this shot except Leah...

...who was washing Russ' hair with bubble juice.

Tim, Dan and Kim enjoying the fun.

It's finally dark enough for fireworks!  Natalie and Konrad only lasted through a few fireworks with me on that blue blanket in the front before deciding it was time for bed (an hour past their bedtime).  Natalie said, "I am very very tired!"

The moment Lukas has been waiting for!  He helped Tom pick out the fireworks and love love loves to watch them burn.  Coco and Carly aren't too sure what's going to happen.

Tom's making a great show for us.

Lots of fun lights and sounds!

This morning Konrad said he wanted to see more fireworks.  Too bad!  Another year until we can celebrate again!  We had so much fun, and it's wonderful that everyone got to sleep in because today no one works or has school.  Time to get the house in order before summer school starts tomorrow!