4th Of July Parade.

This is of course the highlight of the parade for the kids. An obnoxious amount of loot this year.

The highlight of the parade this year for me was my husband and the Chili's float. Chili's is in the parade every year and as well as throwing out the usual candy, they pass out coupons for free kids meals to parents. Now you must understand how important free kids meals are to my husband. VERY IMPORTANT. So important that he thought nothing of standing up and screaming "COUPONS! COUPONS! HAVE MERCY ON ME, I HAVE 3 KIDS!!!!" at the top of his lungs in front of 10,000 of our fellow Iowa Citians. I kid you not. A very friendly Chili's employee jumped out of the back of the truck she was riding in and hand delivered a hefty stack of coupons to my very happy husband. She must of been impressed with his enthusiasm. My husband then proceeded to count out his coupons with his signature 'money countin' swagger' as I so like to call it. Most of you have probably seen this at one time or another. He did divvy them up eventually. He makes me laugh.

New Playhouse!

This is the playhouse my grandpa built for my cousins. They have since outgrown it and Lily has inherited it. We thought maybe it needed a little sprucing up so......out with the old.....

and in with the new!!! Thanks grandma Connie!!

4th Fun (on the 3rd!)

Lily was thrilled to be in control of her very own orange popsicle.
This is a lovely mixture of orange popsicle and various other ice cream treats she snitched off of other family members.
Here is the life of the party right here, folks. She's an animal!!!
Party poppers. Joe's got lots of streamers to pick up in his yard tomorrow. Ha, Ha.

William Parker.
A rare photo of a wild species known to run from cameras shouting, "Run from the blog, Run for your life" I caught him this time. HA!
Sweet Noah.
Not too sure. She just wanted to grab the pretty light. Maybe next year.

Happy Fourth, everyone!!!! God Bless the USA!!!!

Movies.

Guess what I just got done watching? BEETLEJUICE. Who remembers that movie? I kept thinking throughout the movie, "this is so bizarre" I had forgotten how wierd it was, it kind of freaked me out. All those dead people....ugh. Last night I watched GREASE. An oldie and a goodie. Joe was balancing the checkbook and 'randomly' decided to come out to the couch to sit. As I belted out all the words to "stranded at the drive-in...branded a fool...what will they say...monday at school" Joe would mock me and roll his eyes. Truth be told, I heard several chuckles coming from his side of the room throughout the movie, but I dared not make eye contact. This happens EVERY TIME this movie comes on and then we get to end of "wap bap a loo ah a wap bam boo" and Joe erupts into "That's so stupid..why is the car flying in the clouds...that's so dumb...that's the dumbest ending to a movie ever" And as always I remind him that he doesn't have to sit and watch the movie...no one has handcuffed him to the TV...he could have just said 'no'and walked away. I know he secretly likes the movie, but he'll never admit it in a million years. Emily, what was the name of that one he secretly liked...the dance one...I can't think of it, but I know you'll remember.

A Few House Pictures.

Weekend O' Fun.

We had a great weekend with Joe's brother and family here to visit. The kids love getting together and is always a fun time when they're together.

(Lily really was having a fun time. Really. She thought an unnamed cousin had mistakenly taken a drink out of her milk cup. Drama.)

This One Is For You, Jeannie.

Pretty self explanatory...no words needed. Yo.