Fourth of July

Did you know that fireworks are illegal in Johnson County, Kansas?

ILLEGAL?

I didn't either until I realized that there was a noticeable lack of red and white tents set up in grocery store parking lots. I thought maybe I was missing something.

I was.

They're illegal.

This is hard for someone from Arkansas to wrap her brain around.

So we did the next best thing.

We found someone in another county to blow them up for us (and foot the bill).

But first!

We did fancy firework nails...courtesy of Aunt Kaira and her magical manicure supply box.


Mom stood guard over boiling potatoes and eggs for the potato salad. She passed by researching her birds on the laptop. My, we are a computer literate family.


Kaira made a fabulous patriotic jello dish...

Mark manned the BBQ.... and kept our disassembled swingset company ....

I slaved over some tri-color cupcakes (recipe here)...


And Anna helped out by behaving in her Bumbo with a Mum-Mum. I would like to take this opportunity to say that I, too, would like to contribute by sitting in a Bumbo and eating a Mum-Mum...but only if it is a cheddar-Jalepeno flavored Mum-Mum, because seriously, have you had those new Cheetos? Oh say can you see!


After we ate all the yumminess, we packed up and headed to Independence, MO for the firework show. My personal assistant, Regina, was good enough to clue us in to the best fireworks around. Word to the wise: when googling "Independence Fireworks" you are going to get more than just fireworks in Independence. Turns out the word "Independence" is quite common when used in relation to the Fourth of July. You've been warned.

We drove up just as it was getting dark, parked our cars and headed out to find a spot to park our behinds.

I look pretty excited, no?


Isn't my mom the cutest? Yes, she is. AND she carries blankets!


The fireworks started just as we located a good spot. Here's Ethan and Charlie getting excited about the start of the show. Or maybe they're doing the Hand Jive. Either way.


This really is the first time we've taken our kids to a big firework show. You can tell by their expressions. They'd never experienced something this big exploding so close. They were very appreciative and squealed and clapped and cheered from the start to the finish. It was so fun.


Megan and Addie

Mark spent the evening taking pictures and experimenting with the camera. He got some great shots.


Overall, a great way to spend the Fourth.

What an amazing country we live in....that we can spend the day with people we love.

Happy Fourth of July everybody!

A contender

This is definitely in the running for my new favorite song.

It's like a love song for married people. It makes me feel inspired to be a better friend and wife.

We can do anything, baby!





I also love a person who says "yes" instead of "yeah".

Yes?

Strict obedience

If I'm not mistaken, my exact words were:

"Go straight to bed and please don't mess up your room."


Who can get mad at that?



Three cheers for brothers, matchbox cars, barn sets, bunkbeds, and being sneeky at bedtime.

Mathew's 8th birthday

We are going to start including green icing in our food storage rotation.

I seems like a prudent move.

Mathew's cake vision was a soccer match between 4 horses, a puppy and a foal. He felt it was only fair for each side to have a juvenile. It's important to be fair about these things.

Also, I'll admit that I was a little irritated that I spent a solid 40 minutes searching the party section of two major retailers looking for a miniature soccer ball for the cake and ended up using a sharpie and a miniature marshmallow. That's the nitty gritty of party planning, people.


Mathew stayed true to his pasta and bread heritage, but got a little crazy and picked penne in lieu of boring old spaghetti.


Turning 8 is a big deal. The baptism is coming up and he's finally old enough to go to SCOUTS! It's unfortunate that his birthday came just in time for scouts to......take the summer off. Sorry, buddy. You can break that shirt in sometime in late August.


And my favorite part of life with Mathew:

He doesn't just blow out the candles.

He lines them up:


Inhales deeply:


And takes them out.


Happy Birthday, Mathew. Eight is great...but you are greater. Someday will you come fix my computer?

Megan's 6th birthday

Let's get back to the business of birthdays.

Megan turned 6 on May 30th. It fell on Memorial Day, just like that fateful night 6 years ago when I failed to get an epidural because the anesthesiologist was off gallivanting with all his fancy friends.

Not that I was upset about that or anything. I've completely let it go. I barely remember it.

Forget I brought it up.

ANYWAY...I am happy to tell you that the wait is finally over.

There were promises that weren't kept last year.

Hearts broken.

Expectations dashed.

The peacock cake has finally arrived.

Just a touch of the glorious plumage:

A jaunty tuft of feathers upon it's wee little head:


I venture to guess you wouldn't find this specimen in the bakery of any old Walmart.


This was a labor of love. And a test of the steady hand....wouldn't want to torch the plumage.


Sparkler candles take an extra deep breath.

Megan's contradictory gifts....a Rapunzel tower:


And a semi-automatic:


I love you, Megan Kafaleen.You are the sweetest of the sweet and I couldn't be prouder of the person that you are. Happy Birthday!

Not in a "birthday bloggin" kind of mood

Sorry for the interruption, but I just have to get this out into the universe.

I just had a Crappy day.

That's Crappy....with a capital C.

There was no way around it, no way over it.

Just wading right on through the C.R.A Ppiness of it.

One child nearly drown.

One child has a freakishly swollen hand. (Think inflated surgical glove)

Turned away from public swimming pool twice.

Tried to salvage swimming promises with sprinklers and inflatable pools at home.

Failed miserably.

Sale of Arkansas house officially fell through.

Yep.

Definitely a capital C.

Ethan's 10th birthday

Ethan's up!

This year he turned a ripe 10 years old. He'll never return to the single digits again, and with any luck he'll eventually get to the triple digits. Clean living....it could happen!

So as he is getting older he decided to stray outside of the usual spaghetti fare and get adventurous with a more sophisticated flavor palette. (Methinks I've been watching too much Food Network).

He requested Fettuccine Alfredo with fresh grean beans, garlic bread and strawberries. Delish!


His main birthday desire was to finally get that elusive stagecoach with 4 horses and a driver with a whip. Amazon was happy to oblige.


And a cake of his own design...with...you know I'm going to say it....GREEN ICING!


We were shocked to find that trusty old Target is no longer carrying our favorite toy horses, so we had to come up with a few from our own collection.

Ethan had just spent the weekend at the Kentucky Derby with his Dad, so he was still feeling the thrill of the races. Consider this a tribute cake.

With FIRE!



Maybe we should email the powers that be up at the Derby and see if we might suggest adding fire to the track next year. I really think it adds that special something.

Happy Birthday, Ethan!