So talk about slacking...now it's been a REALLY long time since my last post. In my defense, two weekends ago was my second "special date" with Brady (aka: plane trip to San Fran for Den's shower). This past weekend was the 4th of July. The run down went like this:


Thursday: B took the day off, but still had several calls to do. I went to the party store and bought a ton of decorations and we decorated the wagon, Logan's bike and Bray's stroller for the bike parade the next day. Our neighbors joined in the crafty fun on our driveway and then we went to Ribfest that night with a bunch of friends (no kids!)


Friday: Neighborhood bike parade (see pictures and reference title of entry), a swim in the pool, dinner with Memaw, Grandpa & the cousins and fireworks at the clubhouse. We made s'mores in our firepit, the boys all played with these rockets memaw bought them, and they set off a ton of smoke-bomb type fireworks (which was hysterical because they would light one and then all of the boys minus Bray would "dance" around the smoke....too funny!) There were, of course, those tiny little poppers involved...the ones that look like very small treat bags and those "fireworks" that shoot out confetti. Logan kept calling the paper "celebrations" as in "look mom...there are celebrations all over the patio!" We had purchased a bunch of glow-in-the-dark stuff and adorned ourselves with that before heading over to the clubhouse for fireworks. I decided that the glow things are the "orange festival shirt" of the night-time event. I could spot Logan wherever he went even though it was dark. Accidental genius! Mental note for next year!!


Saturday: Back to work I guess. Bri did some stuff in the yard during the morning and then we went to a hot air balloon festival that night with friends. We were so jazzed for Aiden to see real hot air balloons "up in skyyyy". He and the other kids totally enjoyed seeing the launch and then most of them (minus Logan and Bray who both couldn't take the noise) jammed out to "Bad Medicine", a Bon Jovi cover band. Aiden was a dancing fool!!


Sunday: We went to the pool in the morning and then ran errands in the afternoon for Aiden's upcoming 2nd birthday party!


And now, without further ado, here are about a bazillion pictures from the weekend.......




This is Logan at the starting line for the neighborhood bike parade. We pulled up and every one's bikes were waiting behind this line. L thought he should just get right on up front and stay on his bike until someone told him to go. All the other kids were running around, but our little guy has focus (ya...right)
AJ and his scooter...ready to roll (or where they?? stay tuned for more details)
Brady was happily pushed along in his stroller for the parade. I had a name tag right next to his head until he reached up, grabbed it and turned it into a high-fiber snack (in other words, I took it away from him when he started chewing on it). We managed to convince Logan to move his bike back into the crowd at the starting line with all of his neighborhood friends (as opposed to right up in front). He still didn't want to get off of it though.
Aiden...waiting in line holding his precious 4th of July balloon.
A view of some of the riders getting ready to head out. We are at the neighborhood clubhouse in the parking lot.
So, phase one of the parade went from the clubhouse and down the street to the main housing area. Ryan here ditched the scooter after he couldn't keep up with the bigger kids and jumped in our wagon with Aiden. At this point, Logan is WAY up ahead with the kids on bikes, Brian is trying to keep up with him (unsuccessfully) while pushing Brady and I'm hauling Aiden (now Aiden and Ryan)
During phase 2 of the parade, we move from the main street into the houses. At this point in the parade, the kids were supposed to go down one street and make a big circle around and back to the clubhouse. This picture was taken at the beginning & end of that big circle....a journey that none of these little boys made. Brian took Brady around and Logan rode his bike. We learned from a neighbor who managed to stay close to Logan that he actually didn't know that he was supposed to continue looping around and was heading his bike towards home. The 2 older girls in our group (both 4 years old), got so far ahead of everyone that one dad (the same one who sent Logan back around the circle instead of towards home) was sent to find them. During this time, AJ got tired of his scooter and jumped into the wagon with Aiden and Ryan.
Mr. Jeff takes a turn hauling the three boys in the wagon
hu?? Here, AJ takes over the wagon duty, but where did Aiden go? Why is a 2 year old hauling another 2 year old? We kept asking him if he wanted help, but he wanted to do it. You should have seen him....just plugging away pulling Ryan in the wagon. He made it quite a way too!! Ah ha! Aiden (pictured here on daddy's shoulders heading back to the clubhouse) ditched the wagon for a ride with a better view. Logan rides beside daddy and I now have Brady in the stroller.
There she is! Here is Ella...one of the older girls who went so fast she was actually missing for a portion of the parade. I think some of the kids actually thought this event was a race.
There they go again! Ella and MacKenzie speed away...no wonder they were lost! (by the way....did THEY know they were lost? Most likely not)
Sweet Brady decided it was nap time...oh to be pushed around and sleep whenever you want. I think that's my dream life :)
Ah...the real goal of the race - donuts. I did shove bananas in their faces between yummy chocolatey bites, but who am I kidding...I had a couple myself! By the way, blogspot spell checker denies the existence of the word chocolatey...wha?! Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary begs to differ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chocolatey !!!
Here we are in the afternoon playing with these cool rocket launchers that Memaw got all of the boys. I didn't know if L & A would be able to do them, but oh they caught right on. I'm thinking it's some sort of male gene...right up there with never getting lost and laughing when someone else burps or passes gas.
Brady plays on the floor inside the house....far away from the rockets and their launchers (launchers in this case meaning young boys ranging in age from 2 to 12. You're a smart boy Brady!)
S'mores.....notice how everyone is eating theirs and I'm still roasting. It's an art people...and it takes TIME to get the sh'mello juuuuust right.
Aiden didn't go for the chocolate so much as the marshmallow. I call that his "little devil face".
Here, Logan and Ella hold hands as we walk into the grounds for 'Eyes to the Skies' (the balloon festival we went to almost purely for Aiden's sake...although good times were had by all as the next pictures will illustrate)

How cute. Here, Ella models the butterfly she had painted on her face. This only took like 5 minutes! Aiden and some of the balloons (he is wearing a pair of foam bunny ears around his neck. We didn't get any pictures, but the Energizer Bunny Balloon was at the festival and this thing was HUGE....like 4 normal balloons put together. They even handed out these ears).
Daddy holds Aiden who looks "up in skyyyyyy" at the "ha air badoons"
Is it love....or is he trying to choke me. haha! See the dirt patch behind me? Well, our kids managed to find this and play in it all through "dinner" (although the adults were oblivious to it's existence when we chose our grassy sitting spot). All the kids managed to get absolutely filthy in this stuff. I know it will be a shock to you all to hear that Aiden was taking fists full of it and throwing it around.
Kids on shoulders...jammin' out to "Jovi"

Daddy and Logan acting goofy together.
The balloon in the distance is tethered to the ground. It was one of two available for rides. As we left the festival, I was pushing Aiden and Bray in the double stroller. I heard this little voice up in front saying "bye bye ha air badoons" as Aiden waved his tiny little hand. I knelt down and we said good-bye to the balloons together. I even turned the stroller around and walked backwards towards the exit so he could watch them for just a little longer. Could he be any cuter?
Look everyone - it's another picture of Brady sleeping in the stroller. Ironically, this kid was the last man standing when we got home that night. He woke up in the car on the way home and didn't go back to sleep until sometime around 10:30.