4th of July Weekend

When Asher's birthday party was over, we still had two days left of the long 4th of July weekend to enjoy AND we still had visiting grandparents to enjoy it with!

Saturday night, Asher was a bit wound up from his party and had a little trouble falling asleep.  I put the silly boy to bed, but then Grandma K. ended up snuggling in his bed with him for a while afterward to help him fall asleep while the rest of us enjoyed a little peace and quiet in the summer air outside.

Silly boy putting socks on his hands instead of his feet.  Just like Daddy as a kid!

The After Party!

Asher & Grandma's bedtime snuggle.

 Sunday morning, we all enjoyed a relaxing time together before church.  Then, once we were all ready, Eric's parents headed back home to Michigan while the rest of us walked over to church.

Asher & Papa building his new Lego Van and Camper together.

Me opening my birthday gift from Eric's parents.

I got a Costco box of Ghirardelli brownie mixes (they are sooooooo good) and Avery was convinced they needed to be opened!  It was a very heavy box (for a little guy) and when I wouldn't open them he carried them over to Papa to see if he'd have more luck with him.

Asher went for a short bike ride with Gramps close behind before church.  He is getting the hang of his new bike and he was very excited to tell me when he returned that he "laid a patch" on the sidewalk while he was out!   (A new phrase Gramps taught him...now he uses it all the time!)

Before Gramps and Grammy headed home we got them to take some pictures in the photo booth from last night's party, along with some other pictures with the kids and my parents.

After Gramps and Grammy had left we headed over to church and then after a quick stop back at home out to Cracker Barrel for lunch.  Then it was time for some much-needed naps for the boys, during which Eric and I were able to head out to see the new Independence Day movie together.

Avery & Grandma walking home from church.

When we arrived back at home, we found that a birthday present from Asher's Auntie Julie, Uncle Dave and cousins Emmett & Olive had arrived for him to open.

It was a toy Dyson vacuum!  Julie had asked if there was anything Asher had wanted that he didn't get and I told her a vacuum.  A couple of weeks before his birthday Asher got out of bed one night after looking through one of his ABC books.  He brought it over to me and then pointed at the V for Vacuum page and said, "Mommy, I want one of these for my birthday!"  It was the only thing other than a bike that he specifically asked for.  What can I say?...the boy likes to help clean!  :)  ...and it works out perfectly because of all the household chores to do, this Momma does not vacuum!  I make Eric do it because I cannot stand the noise it makes!

While Asher was distracted with his new vacuum, Avery ran over to the trampoline to get a chance to jump without fighting for it with Asher.

Waiting at Cracker Barrel for lunch.

Three generations of Klingenmaiers.

After nap time, we enjoyed a lazy afternoon and evening at home with Grandma and Papa.

Playing with poppers.

Sparklers before bed.

Asher sporting his new glow-in-the-dark dinosaur jammies.

On Monday morning it was Independence Day, which means the weekend still was not over and we had one more family day together.  Avery was pretty "special" today.  For some unknown reason he was incredibly grumpy, so we did the best we could to keep him happy and still enjoy the holiday.  After a quick breakfast at home, we all loaded into the van and headed up to Racine to watch the parade.

We found a great spot right downtown where we could see everything perfectly and enjoy the yummy snacks that I packed for the show.

Avery watching the tractors come down the road.

Asher with his flag clipped onto his hat.

Yay!!

Wisconsin Marching Band.

When the boys started to get really grumpy, I broke out the red, white and blue suckers left over from Asher's party to buy us a little more time.

Then, once the parade got to float 100, we headed out to beat the rush.  Everyone was very tired and Grandma and Papa needed to head back to their house, but we stopped at Jose's Blue Sombrero for a yummy lunch before going back to our house.

The boys airing out their piggies on the ride home.

Papa & Avery at Jose's.

It didn't take long once we were back in the car for Avery to pass out.

 When we got home from Racine, we said our goodbyes to Grandma and Papa and then we all headed to our beds for much-needed naps.  Eric and Asher woke up before Avery and I so they headed out to Menards with a stop of McDonalds for "secret" McFlurry treats together.

Asher riding his patriotic bike down the sidewalk.

Avery slept for over five hours and since he'd gotten so much sleep we hoped he would be in a good enough mood that we could go enjoy the fireworks.  We headed down to the lake with jammies on and some glow-in-the-dark necklaces and bracelets.  At first it seemed that we may have an enjoyable evening together, but that quickly changed when it became apparent that both of the boys were still way overtired and cranky.  For the remainder of the evening, we attempted to keep our crazy boys quiet so that the others could enjoy the show.  Neither of them were very interested in the fireworks but were instead interested in the snacks I'd packed and their glowing jewelry.  As soon as the firework show had ended we got back to the van as quickly as we could to get the boys in bed and finish out an exhausting (but overall mostly good) weekend.