Jess Visits & Fourth Fun!

Wow, we had a busy first week of July! (And we continue to be busy, which is why this post about the 4th is being posted on the 14th!)  When we got back from the family reunion at the end of June, Jess was here to visit!  We always have such a good time, and I love when she visits in the summer, because I’m usually off to get to hang out with her.  And hang out we did!  We spent a lot of time at my house, just hanging out with the girls.  We took Laney to see Toy Story 3 (at the “movie feater,” as she says it), did a little shopping, went to the park with April, Ella & Noah, drank coffee, surfed the web, talked and, of course, took lots of pictures!  A great visit… and it was hard to narrow down just a few pics…

We tried a little photo shoot with Audrey, and got some really cute pictures of her.  But, one of my favorites was this one.  This is my life, and I love it…

Another day, another photo shoot… couldn’t resist getting a pic of these two in their matching polka dots!  Looks pretty cute, but as soon as the camera clicked Laney said “Now can you take her?”  Ahh, sisterly love…

Ella and Laney after the park… love the sweaty red faces!  And it was great to catch up with April, and meet her new little man, Noah!

After the park we had about an hour and a half to squeeze in a nap before we all went to get pedicures.  Laney fought going to sleep (who wants to sleep when Aunt Jessie is here?!).  I went in to wake her up, and she wasn’t in her bed, and I couldn’t see her anywhere.  Talk about panic, my heart dropped to my stomach.  But then I turned around the dresser, and saw this:

She was totally passed out, IN THE CLOSET!  No idea what made her go in the closet to sleep, but she was definitely out- I took her old toenail polish off and she never even moved. 

Despite the tired little girl, pedicures were fun.  Laney actually got her own toes done, she picked out the color (highlighter green) herself and everything.  She was very interested in the process.  Unfortunately, with her affinity for chewing on her toes (GROSS), the polish didn’t last very long!

The color choice… not my fave, but kind of cute on little girl toes!

 

And, just to prove that the girls aren’t the only subjects for photo shoots, here’s poor, abused Truman:

Pretty good lookin’ kitty!

Most of the weekend was spent hanging out at Mom & Dad’s house.  There was lots of good food, lots of family, fireworks, gardens, bbqing, pets… everything that is so wonderful about their house!  I can’t really tell what happened on what day, so I’m just lumping all of the pictures together! 

Aunt Ruthie bought a blow-up pool and put it in the backyard.  Despite the fact that the water was about 50 degrees, Laney was in!  She is definitely a water baby…

Wrapped up nice & toasty with Aunt Jess!

Daddy, grillin’ brats & burgers… YUM! :)

Laney is fascinated with Grandpa’s garden.  Anytime she was outside (when she wasn’t in the pool) she would head for the garden.  Unfortunately, she doesn’t really know what to pick when… but Grandpa is very patient about losing a few flowers and some squash due to premature picking! :)

On Saturday Mike drove in from KC to hang with us, too.  Josh, Charlie, Mike, & James hit the Perche Creek golf course Saturday afternoon, and then we all headed back out to the Price Ponderosa for more fun!

Mike and Josh… no, they didn’t call to coordinate! :)

Laney sure loves her Uncle Mike!  And is clearly still learning how to smile for the camera! :)

Mike brought a bunch of fireworks to shoot off.  We shot some off on Friday night, and Laney got her first burn- the glowing red end of a sparkler is just hard to resist!  So, she was a little gun-shy on Saturday, but ended up having fun with them again!

Bottle rockets with Uncle Mike!

And trying out a sparkler again!

We set off some bigger fireworks after it got a little darker.  They were really cool, but the funniest part was Elena’s running commentary.  See, she was watching Jungle Book, and we turned it off to go watch the fireworks.  So every time one went off she’d say “Oh, that was my favorite one in the whole world!” with a lot of feeling.  We would have believed her, except she immediately followed it with “Now can I go watch Jungle Book?”  To try to distract her, Jess talked about the movie we’d gone to see- Toy Story 3.  So she asked Laney “What does Woody say?” Well, then for the next 30 minutes, Laney kept saying “What does Woody say?” “There’s a SNAKE in my boots!” at varying decibels.  Ahh, the joys of having a two year old…

Sunday morning Jess & Mike headed back to KC, but Sunday afternoon Grandma Judy, Sarah, & Fred came in!  They were going on a road trip with Mom & Dad, so they came in a day early and celebrated the 4th with us.  We grilled ribs Sunday afternoon, and then we all headed to the church block party.  This was the first year we’d done a big block party as a church, and it was a pretty huge success.  We had somewhere around 130-150 people come for desserts & ice cream.  Definitely a repeat for next year!

Grandma Jo & Grandma Judy, hanging with Miss Audrey!

Laney sampling one of many popsicles!

Ruth, Laney, & Heather, ready for the fireworks!

And, what would the 4th be without some pictures of fireworks?  Thought this one turned out pretty cool…

And, just a random picture that I thought came out cool…

 

So, a crazy week for the family, but a really fun one!  Hope your 4th was as fun & as safe! :)