Our exciting holiday week kicked off with the excitement of a stump grinder truck (thanks to Calvin Worst for educating me on the correct terminology) outside our house. Unfortunately our tree lined street experienced a box elder infestation and the city was forced to cut down about half of the trees. The upside was watching the process of tree removal and stump grinding from the comfort of our own living room!
Josh and Kjersten returned from a recent cruise with some cool gifts, including pirate flags for the boys to adorn their door.
Sam has recently started earning an allowance. He saved up a whole 7 dollars and took a trip to the store. After changing his mind about 42 times, he finally settled on this pup named Frank and a Star Wars toy.
Swimming lessons finished out with great success. Both Noah and Sam did all the skills expected of their level. Sam did a really nice job with the back float.
And Noah is getting much more coordinated with his freestyle and backstroke.
Noah was also able to go off the diving board with no noodle and swim to the side!
Isaac is clipping along too, in a lot of skills. He's completely mobile and walking like a champ. Recently, we decided to drop the last bottle as he's drinking milk from a cup just fine. So, this here marks the last bottle I will ever give a child of mine. A little bittersweet, but mostly just excited to keep moving forward!
Some deep cleaning has occurred around the house as we prep for some out of town guests. Noah was a great help scrubbing stove parts!
On Wednesday we got to meet Mr. Campbell Howard! Our high school friend, Jenny, was in town with Campbell who is about 10 months old of adorable chunker-ness! We met up with the Howards and the Worsts at our fav spot Oberweis!
Despite the 60 degree temps and misting rains, we couldn't keep the big 4 from the splash pad!
We also got to feed some cute ducks and ducklings!
Daddy and the big boys enjoy pizza dinner while watching Tom & Jerry!
Our first 4th of July at home in Roselle (post lakehouse sale) was fantastic! Just down the road, they have a free concert and fireworks, so my parents and Josh and Kjersten came over for a festive dinner with fruit kabobs prepped by Noah and Bamma!
We made some firework cookies, which included pop rocks on top for that extra POP. Sam even enjoyed dumping the pop rocks directly in his mouth!
It was great to have our family there to help wrangle and entertain children during the wait for fireworks!
Sam insisted on some patriotic headgear!
Noah preferred to experiment a bit.
Isaac's new favorite game is to steal some shoes and wear them on his hands while clapping. Hours of fun!
He also enjoyed playing with Bamma's scarf!
Photobomb by our neighbor Mikey!
The Brandywine Drive crew, Sam, Isaac, Noah, Priscilla, Deven, and Makenna!
Not to be outdone by his nephew, Uncle Josh celebrates 'Merica!
The fireworks were awesome, and all 3 boys made it past 9:30pm to see them! Sam was bouncing around from lap to lap, shrieking, "WATCH, WATCH! DID YOU SEE THAT!?" Noah snuggled up with Bamma and Isaac survived being completely exhausted and shellshocked by hanging with Uncle Josh.
I don't think I'll forget Sam's excitement, it was adorable.
After spending a lazy 4th recovering from the fireworks on the 3rd, we headed over to the Worsts today (Saturday) for the Palatine parade.
Waiting for parades is tough work!
There was plenty of candy and tiny american flags to go around!
Another highlight of the weekend was having Anya, Faith and Evan's dog, here. The boys love her cute little face and puggish snorts. I think she's feeling pretty comfortable here!
I think she also enjoyed story time with Noah today!
We wrapped up today's celebrations with some Red, White, and Blue jello! Happy Birthday America!
