I am a people person! I feed off being around others and having social interactions. Covid-19 and this isolating myself from others was slowly getting to me. By 4th of July I felt like I was barely holding it together. I couldn't even really talk about how I felt without getting emotional. There were times when I would just lay in bed at night and cry myself to sleep. It was getting to the point where I was going to contact my Doctor and request getting my anti-depressants raised back to what they were since I lowered them right before all this hit the fan. God knew just what I needed though and it wasn't more meds it was people and I got just that at our annual 4th of July party at Ga-Ga & Pa's. There were a few people that didn't feel comfortable coming and that was okay, but I'm so glad the majority did though because it was an EPIC day!
Of course Ga-Ga & Pa had all their decorations out...the front of the house was so beautiful too.
Pa puts the tables up in the yard every year. This year the kids had been at their house since July 1st and they were such good helpers getting everything ready for the party. I was so proud of them and they even earned spending money for our upcoming Wyoming trip from Pa for all the work they did.
This year is a special year because quite a few people in our family have decade birthdays. Ga-Ga decided it would be fun to get a cake with all the birthday's we were celebrating. The cake turned out so good and it tasted delicious!!!
Michael was King of the Grill for the day!
Hanging out with his Dad & Pa!
Normally I plan a craft for the kids to do, but since we were going to be celebrating 4th of July, decade birthdays and doing a make up Easter Egg Hunt I figured throwing one more thing in would be a bit much. So instead I bought this fun photo op kit on Amazon so we could take fun pictures with.
American boys!
American girl!
Owen decided to turn a mustache into a unibrow! Hahaha!
Addison is holding my favorite prop...Murica! I told Michael if I was going to get a tattoo it would say Murica! He just shakes his head at me, but he still loves me! :)
Hamburgers are number 1!
Mr. Magoo as Ga-Ga says!
Blowing up a hot dog!
Uncle Sam himself!
All together now!
Love these boys!
Love these girls!
Christina's Mom and Dad were able to join us. It was so nice to see them!!!
Papa & Miss Ruth!
My silly family...Michael with his salty French fries, me with my 'Murica, Ella peacin' out, Zeke the party boy, Jack the cool dude and Owen the disguised pyromanic "burning" Jack with the Lady Liberty's torch!
I love my family!
The Kuch Klan!
Love this family so much and so blessed by them!
Richie and Miss Mary from church came. It was so nice to chat with them both!
Tom & Gay...Christina's parents. They are such sweet people!
Al & Cathy are from church as well and they are just part of our family now. Love those two!
This picture makes me smile. Ga-Ga & Pa just being silly! Love it!
Such a great picture with their patriotic shirts!
Me with all the props!
The best part of the party was getting to visit with everyone and the kids getting to play with friends!
Michael and Bill could talk for hours!
The kids love their sandbox at Ga-Ga & Pa's.
Love Papa's patriotic shirt as well!
Richie is known as Mr. Skittle Man at church because he always has Skittles for the kids. I sure hope that doesn't change once we go back to the church. Miss Mary was the Sunday preschool teacher at our church for years. I think she taught all my kids. She just retired a year or so ago after doing the job for 16 years!
My sweet man! Love him so!
It was so fun bouncing around to talk to everyone. My social tank was empty and this sure filled it right up!
The weather could not have been better. It was so perfect!
The kids were having so much fun playing outside!
My beautiful friend!
The make up Easter Egg Hunt! The kids were all lined up in age order ready to go out and search for the eggs with their number on it.
The search is on!
Run Anna!
The nice thing about having Eggs with each kids number on it means they really have to hunt. It legit takes the kids about 15 minutes for everyone to find their correct eggs.
After a while if a certain kiddo isn't having any luck I'll say things like have you checked over by the swing set yet or give them some sort of other hint.
I think Richie had one of Ella's eggs!
Happy boy found one in the mailbox!
Ella finally found the one hiding in the flower pot!
Looking looking looking!
Finally found a hard one that had slid behind the decor on the fence.
Too easy! That one probably wasn't his egg number. I try to hide the older 3 boys' eggs either up high or in super hard spots.
Checking out his haul!
Happy late Easter!
For quite a while during the day Owen had been begging me to light of one of the smoke bombs I bought and I wasn't wanting to do it. Then I finally gave in and said yes. This was the best idea ever! I really need to embrace saying yes to my kids more often!
How cool is Owen's sand volcano!
He was so stoked!!!
Blue was great too!
Here's Zeke's volcano. His crater was more open so it didn't have quite the same effect, but still cool!
Yellow smoke!
Later on Zeke made this fun dirt track for his cars! He's such a fun player!
Another shot with my handsome man!
A group shot with everyone before people started leaving! It was so amazing getting to celebrate our great nation with friends and family!
Now it's time to blow stuff up!
More smoke bombs!
He is the coolest kid! Love this boy!
Smoke bombs were a hit!
Zeke got one of the parachute guys!
Lighting the snakes!
Or as I like to call them Devil Horns!
See...doesn't it look like horns coming out of the pits of hell. Kind of creepy!
The fountains are a favorite!
Spectators!
The visiting continued!
I love sparklers!
The kids were finally brave enough to hold the sparklers without having a Solo cup to protect their hands.
Party girls!
Two times the fun!
Pa rolled the fire pit out front for smores and little smokies. The lighters were running out of fuel so we were using the fire pit to light the sparklers.
Jack is still pretty leery of the sparklers!
So pretty!
Roasting smokies!
Owen had the best idea...he wedged an ice cream cone between the tongs on the roasting sticks stuffed it with chocolate and held it over the fire. The result was a cone filled with molten chocolate! Love it!
After our short fireworks celebration we laid down in the yard or snuggled in blankets sitting on chairs to watch the amazing displays around us. I was worried that people wouldn't celebrate like they normal do in my parents neighborhood, but this year was more off the hook than ever. I think people were just tired! Tired of being told to stay away from other people, tired of the restrictions, tired of all the bad news and tired of government control! That's what the celebration of the 4th of July is all about....FREEDOM! We live in a free country and yes it has warts and scars and we have a history full of mistakes, but we also have lots and lots of things to be proud of, to be grateful for and reasons to celebrate! If we wait to take the time to celebrate until everything in our nation is perfect than we won't celebrate...EVER! Nothing is going to be perfect this side of heaven, but I choose to see the good, celebrate the success and pray for a better tomorrow! I'm so thankful that people celebrated their hearts out because it just showed me that there are a lot more people out there that love this great nation than were being led to believe.
I love my country 'tis of thee...Sweet land of liberty...to thee I sing!
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