NEW BLOG

The day has come where I've run out of space on this blog.  I can't post any more pictures!!  It actually works out fine because the interface changed recently and I'm not a fan.  So here's the new blog address:  www.threelittlearmocks.wordpress.com.  No permissions necessary (yet).

The Fourth of July 2012

This year, I had the idea to coordinate something fun for the kids on the Fourth.  We've lived here for two previous Fourths and I have always wanted the kids to do the Rockford kid's bike parade.  The first year though, we were in FL, and then last year we were at the beach house during the day and missed it.  Well, wouldn't you know that this year, Rockford didn't do anything to commemorate the Fourth??  No big parade, no fireworks, no kids bike parade.  Talking with Lindsey about their plans for the Fourth, we decided to make our own parade and tacked on a cookout too.  Our neighborhood is so much fun and since most everyone has kids, everyone that was in town was going to want to do something festive with their kids too.  So I made up a flyer, Lindsey passed them out last weekend while we were in Grand Haven and our day of Fourth of July festivities was underway.

But our Fourth activities technically started on like, the second.  The girls love fireworks so much that we did some small guys a couple nights leading up to the Fourth.  

And we went with the Grinwises to the big fireworks store.  Because Lindsey and I co-hosted the neighborhood kid's bike parade and cookout, of course we had to have some good fireworks!  The men had a great time picking out what they wanted.  And the kids loved the store too.

 The night before the Fourth, our neighbors the Salmerons hosted a bike decorating party.  Off we went!

Another neighbor brought popsicles, which was a huge hit.

We went to bed early because the next day was the Fourth, or "American Day" as Ansley called it ;)  We hosted a breakfast with Nick and Lindsey and their kids, and Andy.  I made belgian waffles with raspberries, blueberries and whipped cream (for red, white and blue), Lindsey brought an egg casserole and Andy brought his usual - mimosas.  We only had an hour for breakfast because up next was a huge Fourth of July parade in Grandville, about a 30-min drive away.
The girls loved their festive dresses:

Jeff was so excited to eat the waffles!  I haven't made them in forever.

Then we all got in the cars and drove to Grandville!  The ONLY thing was, it was hot.  Like, super hot.  By the time we got there it was already 95 degrees with a heat index of 100 - and it was only 10:30am.

Luckily, we thought to bring the umbrella so the kids had some shade.

The kids brought plastic bags for the candy since we heard they gave out a LOT - and they did.  But the best parts of the parade were the popsicles they handed out - and the people with the water guns that would squirt everyone periodically!

Some instagram pictures from the parade:

There was a huge oak tree that had fabulous shade.  We hung out there as long as possible before the parade started!

Me and Lindsey with two of her teacher friends, who set up blankets and chairs at 6am so we had somewhere to sit!  They were so nice!

Andy, Nick and Jeff.

We got home from the parade and I went to work on my cupcakes for the cookout:

Then when the girls woke up from their nap, it was time to get ready for the bike parade!

LOL!  Ansley's face cracks me up.  You can tell how hot it was because her face is so red.

All of the kids, all lined up in the back of the neighborhood ready to go!

After they got to the end of our street, they turned around and came back for the cookout.

And popsicles!

HK and Annabelle:

We busted out the slip and slide.

And the kids really loved hanging out in Mr. Jeff's truck for some reason!

Ansley LOVES parties at her house.  I mean they are her favorite thing!!

We had two baby pools set up too.

HK and Nolan:

And instagram pictures:

I am keeping my eyes out for decorations for next year.  I need something big for the front of the garage underneath the attic window.

We have really really really good neighborhood friends.  This is Pattie and Evan:

Jason and Brandi and Rebecca:

It started to get dark and the guys began lighting the smaller fireworks.  HK is in the chair fishing out all of my ice cubes.

Brian brought over his firework contraption, which was basically plywood with 4 PVC pipes attached that he would insert the fireworks into and then light at the bottom.

Nick, Brian, Jeff and Evan were in charge of coordinating the firework display.  They had just a little bit of fun.

After the fireworks, it was about 10:30pm (it gets dark super late up here) and everyone called it a night.  I was never able to get a picture showing everyone there, but we had about 35-40 people total, adults and kids, and I think everyone had a GREAT time.  It was a fabulous Fourth and the girls had an absolute blast!

Catch-up

We have been busy!!  Here is some of what we have been up to these days:

First, nugget ;)  We had our NT scan on June 21st which - thankfully!! - showed a healthy baby.  The nuchal space looked totally normal, thank God!  We got a peek in at nugget and he/she looked super cozy, with it's little hands always up by it's mouth or head.  We saw it kick once too.  And I think that this profile looks JUST like Jeff!  Nugget totally looks like it has Jeff's nose and lips.  We'll see!  I have my next regular OB appt on July 9th and I'll schedule the anatomy scan for likely the last week of July, and I can't WAIT to hopefully find out if we're having another sweet girl or a boy.  Also, my bloodwork at the NT scan came back within normal range for the trisomies, for which we are profoundly grateful.

We've been playing a LOT with neighbors.  The kids are super into dress-up right now.

Every week by the river, there is a concert by the ice cream store.  We like to check it out occasionally!

LOTS of time has been spent playing in the yard.

And last weekend, we headed out to the beach house for a couple nights.  The first night, Nana and Papa were there and Nana took a spin on the plasmacars with HK.

And the next morning, we took a walk on the pier to see what the fishermen were catching.

The girls really loved the mama duck with her ducklings.

We had a really good time playing on the beach.  I swear HK could play in the sand ALL DAY.

Ansley liked the pirate boat floatie the best!

We also checked out the farm to see if the blueberries were ripe.  They weren't really ripe yet, unfortunately, but we did get a few.  HK was really into it though!

Earlier in the week, we hit up the fireworks stand for some fun little tanks and parachute guys.  The girls LOVE fireworks, like really really love them!!  They were in heaven at the firework tent.  It reminded me of how much I used to love driving with my dad to North Carolina for the annual firework haul.

And for fun I took a picture of nugget during one of my evening walks while I was waiting for my friend to join me :)  The belly is getting bigger!

And you can see the belly here one night this week too.  This was a few days ago when we set off some fireworks one evening with friends.