Happy Birthday America

Olivia's teacher asked her on Friday Afternoon...."Olivia who is going to celebrate a big birthday this weekend?" I frankly had no idea where she was going with this one, I wasn't sure if someone in her class was having a birthday and I had missed the memo, but Olivia's response put it all together for me: "America"...they had clearly been preparing them and educating them about the Fourth of July and what its all about, I was impressed.

So in honor of America and her birthday, we spent the day with our neighbors, lounging by the "pool" and cooking out...what else do you do on the Fourth of July?  I haven't been feeling so hot, and I have been averaging a good 5 hours of sleep the last week or so, so this morning I took a snooze on the couch while Brad and the girls joined the neighborhood outside.

This was the scene I woke up to...you can't see all the people, in fact I have no idea where they are, but you can tell by all the chairs that several people were sitting around that spectacular kiddie pool.  We joked tonight that we need a whistle to blow to announce adult swim!

I have no idea what Riley was doing, but apparently he was bobbing for toys and this afternoon when we made our way back to the pool he was doing the same thing, and part of me thought he was going to start bobbing for toddlers, I have no idea what got into him, he is usually terrified of the water.

I surprised Brad with a new Tommy Bahama chair from The Costco this afternoon, he has been coveting my red one since I brought it home last year, it was high time he got his own.  I could do an infomercial on this chair, it has everything you could think of needing, a rack for the towel to dry, a cooler, a head pillow, straps to wear it like a backpack, its amazing.

Sweet Campbell cracks me up...and she has the most darling bathing suit on, I want to borrow it.

Zack and Jules bonding like brother and sister should...

Ring around the rosey...

This photo cracks me up...I can imagine we will see this face from Olivia for years to come...

I would rather see this face, but even when she is rolling her eyes I adore her sassy face

This is our Avery...you can just see her personality coming through this photo

Cheese for Mommy

Sisters - Happy Fourth of July 2011

We are skipping the fireworks tonight. Olivia has been battling a horrible cough and with her getting very little sleep the last few nights we didn't think a super late night would help matters, so we skipped it and oddly enough she didn't put up a huge fight.  Tomorrow morning we are heading to the pool for a few hours and then hopefully Brad and I can bang out the rest of our projects tomorrow afternoon.  I have a flank steak marinating for dinner tomorrow night, I am looking forward to a relaxing afternoon at the house, I feel like its been a packed weekend, and we could all use some downtime.