Jubilant 4th of July

We actually had a pretty low-key 4th of July, which was wonderful.  It was just the four of us, with nowhere to be and nobody to host all day long.  We decided to go to the famous Lake Bluff parade for the first time ever.  It was Luke's first parade ever, too!  What a gorgeous day we had, and the parade didn't disappoint.  Then we went home and had a little pool time before we walked to the Lake Forest festival later that evening.  We decided not to stay until 9:45 for the fireworks, but we still had fun spending a couple hours at the event and listening to the live music.  We put the kids to bed, then Matt and I watched the fireworks from our backyard.  Since they are so close to our house it was just as good!  

I had to work on Friday, then Saturday and Sunday we headed up to Wisconsin to spend time not only with Mom & Dad, but also with Shelley, Rob & Alyssa who were in town from New Jersey and Kristin, Cory & PJ again.  It was such a fun couple of days!

Playing with her toes

In kid news, Claire has found her feet, which is totally adorable.  She is delighted with her discovery every time she grabs one of them.  She kind of rocks back and forth and laughs.  She also has learned how to stick out her tongue, and I think she likes the sensation because she does it a lot.  Claire's sleeping hasn't been too great, she wakes up usually 1-2 times a night, but on July 8th she slept through the night for the first time and it was amazing.  Hasn't happened since, but it was amazing nonetheless.  Luke has been waking up in the middle of the night fairly often because he gets cold and wants to be covered up with his blanket again.  His bed happens to be under the air conditioning vent, and at about 2am he gets pretty chilly.  Speaking of sleeping, while Kristin & PJ were here Luke slept in the same bed as Matt and I for the first time, and it was totally no big deal.  We all slept great!  Recently he's been so cute by looking up at me coyly and saying "You love me."  He says it kind of drawn out, and states it like a fact, not a question.  I love this confidence in our love:)  Then once when he said that to me, I said back "Yes, I do!  And do you love me?" and he said "Yes, I love you to the moon and back!".  The other cute thing he's been doing lately is calling Matt and I "my Dad" and "my Mom".  So if I was with him in the family room he'd look up and say to me "What is my Dad doing in the basement?".  This possessiveness is really quite sweet.  

Here are all the pictures from the week, and a couple videos too.  

Lake Bluff parade, the girls in their red, white & blue 

Luke liked the marching bands

Sucking her thumb

Swimming on the 4th

Kids in the pirate ship!

Luke was fearless going down the bouncy slide at the festival

Picnic dinner

Stripe buddies

Playdate at the park on Saturday.  Andrea, me, Shelley and Jen with all the kiddos!

Rob & Alyssa

Alyssa, Josie and Isabelle.  The girls were so cute together playing.

Alyssa hugging her cousins Chase and Elise

The long walk up the hill was a big attraction at the park.

Saturday we hit the local beach with Mom & Dad.  Luke had an awesome time playing with all the old sand toys that Grandpa brought.

Both Grandma and Grandpa made sand castles with Luke and went swimming, too.  Nice umbrellas were brought for shade for Claire.

Grandpa and Claire

Who are you sticking your tongue out at?

I love Dad's expression as he pretends to eat her toes, and Claire's too, especially since she's sticking her tongue out at him.

Grandma Della and Aunt Susan came over for dinner Saturday night and we enjoyed a nice evening in the backyard.

Bonfire!  Luke roasting marshmallows.

Aunt Susan had the magic touch getting over-tired and kind of cranky Claire to fall asleep on her chest.

On Sunday K&C&PJ were over, and we had a playdate with Kristin's friend Sarah and one of her sons, Ethan

Claire was all for another playdate

Brunch

Swimming in the neighbors' pool.  It was so hot we couldn't go a day without getting in some sort of body of water.

zonked out

Love her expression.  Look at what a pro she is at tummy time now!

Monday night Mom & Dad brought Kristin & PJ back to our house so they could fly out the next morning.  Cory had already flown out Sunday night.  We got one more fun visit in, complete with swimming, dinner and a trip to downtown Lake Forest for ice cream.

This is the "dink dink" song that PJ & Luke were singing.  Claire was laughing and laughing at this song, it was really cute - here's a video.

PJ & Luke singing "Ring around the Rosie"

"...we all fall down!"

Putting their feet in the fountain in downtown LF after ice cream.

Grandma putting the kids to bed and reading stories.  She got suckered into reading the longest Richard Scarry book ever.

Finally, I'll leave you with this video of Claire rolling over so you can see how good she is at it:)