Happy 4th !!

I love the 4th of July....obviously, the reason for celebration is the most important...but, I love the small town parades, the gaudy head gear/decorations, tatoos, tshirts, hotdogs, homemade icecream, and of course family. AND, when the weather is perfect, that makes for even a more enjoyable day.

Needless to say, we had a terriffic 4th!! I can't say it was perfect because Dave had to work at 5, but, that just comes with the job. :(

We headed North to Tekamah for their "small town" parade which is alway a lot of fun. Emma and Lauren and Patrick and Cece loved all the candy that was thrown and Stacy and I loved the floats. I took 144 pictures yesterday...(did I mention I like taking pics too) Anyway, I will try not to overwhelm blogger with too many , but here are a few from the parade:

Then, it was home for a much needed nap for Daddy and Lauren. I managed to get a little rest between Emma bugging me about when Lauren was going to get up. :)

We went to mom and dad's and had a yummy meal as usual!

We purposely don't have any pictures of the adults eating!

The kids played a little on the swings and in their playhouse before we migrated into the front yard to ride bikes.

There was basketball and the kids tried to organize their own game of "lawn golf." (It didn't last)

The candy bowl appeared and the kids went nuts...

How could we have a 4th without the traditional parachute contest.

I was too tired out to take pics of the cute cake Brian made and some fireworks that we shot but here are just a couple of my favorite pics throughout the day........