4th of July shenanigans

I love the Fourth of July, it is by far my favorite holiday. Growing up with parents working in politics the 4th was always a busy time we would attend three parades that day, not counting the one or two we did the day before. If you were super lucky you got to ride in the convertible and throw candy. It was always a fun time that might be capped with swimming and a BBQ and fireworks, there were always fireworks. I love celebrating the fourth. I love spending time with family and friends celebrating the freedoms this country provides.So here is how we celebrated this fourth...

Cul-de-sac of fire. We had fun with friends and we had fun with neighbors
as we attended the neighborhood firework show. It even came with a fun
BBQ this year. It was fun just spending time with family and friends and enjoying
each others company.  I love my neighborhood

We only had two munchkins this year so the matchy shirt picture
was a little small, plus we wanted to get it before Abby drooled or spilled
over her shirt. 

Our annual breakfast out. Matt enjoyed some chocolate pancakes

As a little girl I always remember looking at this cake in magazines
and wishing that I could have it. Now I make it every year and it is my
favorite. 

 Christian got a smoker for Father's Day and really wanted to smoke a brisket so we invited our neighbors and family over for dinner. We had fabulous smoked brisket and great side dishes that everyone brought. It was fun to be together and enjoy great food. Later we had fireworks and had a rather scary moment. One of the fireworks decided to malfunction and send some explosions right at us. There were a couple of small burns and singed clothing but everyone seemed to be okay, if rattled.  We're still not sure what happened as the firework was was still standing up and everything appeared normal but it was a our scary moment of the night (well that and a tiki torch catching fire earlier in the night...it was rather eventful).

Matt and his cousin Sophie playing with Pop-its

Our gathering for dinner

Abby had already had to be bathed before the cake came out. I can
tell by her face she quite enjoyed the cake this time around. 

Relaxing and enjoying the fireworks. 

The older kids came home on Tuesday morning so we recreated the 4th for them, minus the firework mishap. They even had left over brisket and cake!

Pop-it time! 

Matt creates a new super hero - Termite man

Matt lit his first firework this year...I lit my first one too

Termite man evolved throughout the night- we love glowsticks here