Our Independence Day Celebrations

We hosted an impromptu July 4th celebration with KJ's family for lunch on Wednesday.  KJ and I didn't discuss that it would be July 4th themed, but I decided to make the table a little festive when I was running through Wal-Mart, and when I came home KJ had dressed the kids in festive colors.  Great minds.

The dessert was originally intended to celebrate T's birthday a few days earlier, but we were so busy with company, it was a few days late, but we still sang Happy Birthday, and it was a festive dessert for the 4th, too. 

It was so fun having the youngest Pughs in the family in town last week.  You'll probably notice Ella with her doll, Audrey Anne, who has been an ever-present companion of late.  Ella's gotten really into fashion design this past week, and deftly assembled Audrey a new and festive dress for the occasion out of our bandanna napkins.

James was really into Frisbee-throwing, so it was our after-nap activity on Wednesday.  These pictures were probably too dangerous for me to attempt.

Wednesday was a really nice day; it even ended with a rainbow.

Thursday alternated between rain showers and periods of brief sunshine, so we weren't sure how our plans to take the kids to the city's fireworks display would work.  I was really hoping it wouldn't be cancelled because we'd already made the rare decision to keep the kids out way past their bedtime to see it, which is a decision that comes with risks.  Also, James had never seen fireworks before, and after figuring out how take pictures of them a little better last year, I was eager to try again this year.

We braved the chancy weather and had a chance to play putt-putt golf and jump in a bouncy house before the heavens let loose on us.

 We had to huddle under our porch out of the drizzle for

a couple of pictures before we left.

After and during the downpour we took refuge in the car, where I realized I'd made some serious mistakes in the preparation department.  No snacks, no entertainment, and over an hour until the fireworks were scheduled to start.  At least I'll be better prepared next year.

After about 30 or so minutes in the car the rain stopped and we ventured out; the fireworks were 30 minutes late in starting, so we were really grateful we ran into friends from church who my children love.  They kept them entertained, though James, an hour and a half past bedtime, kept asking to go home.  Finally...what we'd all been waiting for...

 Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Ella's laughing and covering her eyes because the flash

was so bright in the dark.  We were all laughing a lot through 

that series of pictures.

I learned something new about my camera last week that seemed to work well for fireworks:  bulb mode.  Maybe I'll write more about that in another post if anyone is interested in fireworks pictures.

Ella took dozens of fireworks pictures.  She told our friend, Katie, "My arms hurt, but I can't stop taking pictures!"

The night turned out fun, and Ella slept until about 8:20 the next morning (quite late for her).  James made it until 6:50, but...that's quite late for him, unfortunately.  The only negative results from the late night were him bursting into tears of despair at lunch when I would only let him have one Swiss Cake Roll and not two.  I put him promptly to bed, and he slept for 3 hours.  All better.