Happy Birthday America!

Our good friends Shannon and Laurie are sisters that married best friends, who also happen to be friends of ours from high school. At one point they all lived on the same piece of property so we referred to them as the "compound" for a few years. They have since each bought homes within a few miles of us (and each other) and for the last couple of years they have hosted a "compound fracture Fourth of July." Shannon and Kevin live a block away from the high school which puts on a fireworks show on the 3rd and then Laurie and Russell have a great house with lots of fun stuff to play with that we go to on the 4th.

On Thursday we got in some serious pool time, only taking breaks to eat pizza and then again for dessert and fireworks. Reed was so excited for fireworks and sat mesmerized on our blanket eating dessert and watching the colorful explosions. I wasn't sure how Kieran was going to do and figured he would be hungry around that time but too distracted to nurse so I threw in a bottle and crossed my fingers. He loved them too!!! The noise didn't bother either of the boys and K sat in my lap or sprawled out on the blanket the entire time. After Reed finished his dessert he sat with Tio for a while and then went over to a little girl (of like 7 years) grabbed her hand and pulled her back to our blanket. It was just about the cutest thing ever.

Clarita and Kierito

Shannon and Reedcito

While Dad was at work on Friday morning Reed and I made breakfast oatmeal in the shape of the American flag. I'm not sure which he liked more - putting the flag together or eating it! After the boys woke from their afternoon naps we headed over to Russell and Laurie's house to spend the rest of the day swimming and eating. Russell did a great job barbecuing and there were lots of yummy salads and desserts too. Besides swimming Jon and Kevin also played a game of pool beer pong, they upped the difficulty by each holding a kiddo during the game.

I took the boys home at their normal bedtime, after having such a late night the evening before we decided it was best not to push our luck with two nights in a row, Kieran was getting pretty fussy too. Jon stayed behind and came home a bit later so I told Reed that I had a special thing for him if he played quietly in his room while I nursed Kieran and put him down to bed. He was an angel, so I took him out by the pool and proceeded to light two dud sparklers much to both of our disappointments. I offered up the idea of blowing out a special candle instead and he bit. He thought the candle being blown out and then lighting back up on its own was so cool and we had a great time with our indoor "firework."