One Scrapper's Existence: 1st half of July

7/2: Looking for a new kitchen sink faucet. Makenna wants this walk-in tub for Christmas, ha ha!

If you can't tell from all the food on her face, Avery really enjoyed our late lunch at Chuck-a-Rama that afternoon:

We did a few small fireworks, sparklers, and poppers before the girls went to bed that night.

7/3--We did more fireworks that night, since we weren't sure we would do any on the 4th because Jared knew he would need to go to bed early for work.

7/4--Our Independence Day/my birthday celebration--grilled chicken and steaks, seasoned potatoes, corn on the cob, Caesar salad, French bread, and yummy cupcakes, followed by fireworks fun. There's never doubt looking through photos of whose birthday it is when there's an American flag cake or cupcakes. :) And I always thought the fireworks were for me when I was little, since we often celebrated my birthday on the 4th. :D

Birthday balloons from Kiki:

The twins loved my balloons:

YUMMY birthday cupcakes!

Doing some poppers before Jared left--he had to go to bed early to wake up at 3am for work :(

Time for fireworks!

Not a bad view for 4th of July fun:

The kids had fun running around to get the fallen parachutes:

Hugs:

Our little snaggle-tooth (she does NOT like to be called that, ha ha!):

Makenna helping to light a firework

Too cool to sit by all of us but not too cool for a red, white & blue Popsicle:

7/5--My birthday lunch. We stopped at Scaddy's on the way home from dance class. My birthday is consisting of teaching 6 piano lessons, taking the girls to dance class, and dealing with two kids who are on one from being up late last night. Happy Birthday to me. :P

Fun with Snapchat that night. :D

7/6--They ask to do Snapchat every day now. :)

7/7--Had a lovely evening in our backyard with Aunt Colleen, Katie, and Jill's family, then had yummy burgers and frozen custard at Culver's. :)

7/9--First zucchini from the garden this year. Frying it was a team effort--Avery did the flour, I did the eggs, Makenna did the bread crumbs, and Jared manned the fryer.

7/11--I can't believe how nice it feels outside! — ☁ Clear Sky, 72°F

Uh oh, Whiskers is standing guard by the bird feeder on the deck.

7/12--This girl loves her "wallamelon"! :)

7/13--Enjoying a beautiful 75 degrees in the backyard with cousins Daisy & Cody.

7/14--I am so tired! I went to bed too late, at 1:30. Jared had gone to bed early so he could get up early for work and Avery had gotten in bed with him at some point, so she was in the middle of us. She likes to have a lot of room when she sleeps so, when she is sandwiched between us, she gets frustrated in her sleep and tosses and turns and whimpers a lot. She basically throws herself around. Somehow, I got kicked in the face, which doesn't make sense because her head was up by mine! Jared was snoring at one point, then the cat was snoring, then they were snoring together. Oh, and Makenna came and got in at the foot of the bed at 2:00. So all 5 of us (including the cat) where in my queen size bed last night. No bueno.

7/14--Playing with cousins today! :D

I went out to check on the kids (who are being SO GOOD and playing so nicely together!) and a hummingbird came up to drink from the feeder, with all of us within a few feet of it! So beautiful, although I wasn't able to get a great picture of it.

7/14--The girls and I had fun with my SIL and her kids today!

Then I had a blast with the ladies at church for our "Olympics" activity. :D So much fun! I went grocery shopping after coming home and putting the girls to bed, though, and now I am exhausted!