Fourth of July

For 4th of July this year we got to have a barbecue and pool day with some friends.  Alden and I started the day by decorating the sugar cookies that I had made the night before.  Alden was so excited to get to make "spiderweb" cookies with Mom.  I love getting to do baking projects with Alden and share my love of cooking and baking with him, so it was a great start to my day.  Although, it does take longer to frost the cookies when he is helping, but it is worth it.

After we had decorated the cookies and relaxed around the house for a little while, we ran an errand to Lowe's where the kids were very happy to ride in the cart with steering wheels.  After we got back we packed all the food up and went down to the pool at our apartment complex where they also have a grill.  It was a nice hot day outside (not that I ever expect anything else here) so it was the perfect day to be in the pool.  Alden had a great time playing in the pool with his friends and Drew and I had fun visiting with friends there.  We had a great time playing in the pool and we had a great lunch barbecue.  We had hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, blueberries, potato salad, vegetables with dip and sugar cookies.  It was all really yummy and we definitely had plenty to eat.  This was a great way to spend our holiday.

After hanging out at the pool for a few hours we went back to our apartment to clean up before meeting up with our friends again to just do a few small fireworks.  We just did some little things and the kids had fun throwing snaps.  After we finished doing fireworks we had cupcakes that my friend had made and then called it a night before it got too late for the kids.  I am so glad that we got to spend the day with friends and have a good Fourth of July because otherwise I would have missed our celebrations from Washington even more than I did.

Alden loved helping make the "spiderweb" cookies.

Both boys loved riding in the car and I had to take pictures because they had their adorable 4th of July shirts on.

I love all of their happy and funny faces.

Here are some of the finished cookies.

Anders was so happy to eat tons of blueberries!

Alden wanted to take a picture of Mom.

Then, of course, Alden wanted to take pictures of the cookies.

Alden loved playing in the pool and it is so fun to watch him actually enjoying the pool and not being afraid of the water anymore.

Anders had lots of fun floating around and chilling with Daddy.  He looked so relaxed in the pool.

These are some of the sugar cookies that I decorated for the 4th.  I had a lot of fun experimenting and figuring out how to do different designs.

Alden had lots of fun watching our friends' small fireworks.

Both boys enjoyed sitting and watching the fireworks, even though it was still really hot outside.

Chilling with my little boy.

Alden was so excited to use a sparkler...

Until we went to light it and then he wanted nothing to do with it and gave it back to Daddy.  This was really funny to me because last year Alden loved playing with sparklers.

At least Drew got to enjoy it.

Alden and his friend had fun making sure that we used every firework.

After we were done with the fireworks we sat outside to eat the cupcakes and Anders had fun walking around and trying to climb over things.  We had an awesome day and I am so glad that we found a way to make this 4th of July special!