Independence Day Weekend

We had a fabulous 4th of July weekend. We first went to the Wasilla parade, which we didn't do last year, but had a fun time. We walked down to it, which I thought was pretty fun to be close enough to do that. The kids had fun collecting candy, of course. In the afternoon we hosted a little party with the Reeds, the Sponsellers, and the other Westons. It was so fun having them over--we really love all their company. Tyler always gets so excited when we're having people over. I woke up and went into his room at 5:30 because I saw he had his light on. I asked him what he was doing and he said "I'm cleaning--getting ready for our party!" Lol. I turned off his light and told him to go back to bed! He had planned a few different games for the kids to play. He even picked out a few prizes from the dollar section at Target for the winners of these games. He takes these things seriously. One was a bean bag tossing game, and another was "pin the Y on the Fourth of July". He had made a big poster and written "the Forth of Jul" on it, and then colored and cut out several different letter "Y"s for people to try to put on at the end of the word July. I don't think they ended up playing that one, but I thought it was so cute. He loves organizing and leading things. We didn't do anything too crazy, just had a BBQ and enjoyed being together. Actually I take that back, Kenny instigated a "chicken chase" for the kids. It was hilarious to watch. He did it many times with a few different chickens, dividing them up into older and younger groups. I recorded some too and it's pretty funny. We had a wonderful day weekend together! And I failed to get a family picture on that day which I really wanted. Darn it. There's always things I miss (like fireworks in a dark sky), but we're getting better at enjoying this holiday here in Alaska.

walking back home with full bags of candy

These pictures are of our new swing set! Kenny knew we wanted a swing set in the yard, but I was just thinking we could go pick one up at the store, or maybe make one the more traditional way. But of course Kenny has huge, different ideas. He needed a massive beam for his plan, but instead of buying one (you'd have to custom order it) he glued and screwed together a bunch of boards, then we worked together (mostly I got in the way but really tried to help) to get it up in the trees. It was SOO heavy. But eventually he got it. It's just tied up there with ropes so hopefully it stays! haha ;). The beam was up when the kids went to bed and we stayed up late together putting the swings on together. It was sort of like a fun date working on this, and knowing how excited the kids would be. We managed to get 5 swings in there so they can all swing at the same time. They're pretty stoked about it, as you can imagine. Now with the swings, a zip line, and a trampoline, they really love being outside a lot! We're so grateful for daddy and how he knows how to make everything so fun.
Sometimes people will say things like, "oh I didn't know he could do that." Or, "did you know he knew how to make that?" But the thing about Kenny is he doesn't ever have the idea in his mind that he CAN'T do something. If there's something he hasn't done before, he just figures it out. It's a really good lesson to me. He is so persistent and good at just persevering and figuring things out no matter the obstacles. I'm much better at giving up :). But I do have better ability to think/plan ahead and foresee things, so we help each other.

Briggs has had a really hard week. He's been teething so he's acting sick and bad diarrhea, horrible diaper rash, sleeping terribly, and just ornery and upset. Poor little dude. The girls' room is his new favorite place where he can play with this little kitchen set and doll house. They're just the right size for him :).