July 1 - 9: Birthday and 4th of July

**Click on photo for clearer version.

July 1 - 9th moments:

I rarely eat with the kids, but I'll usually be with them.  During this lunch, we played Uno.  We like to play games while we eat.  :)

Kira taught me how to make this cool origami star.  

Making dinner :)  It was baked ziti.  I just thought it was cool how it was half and half before I mixed all together and poured it over some noodles.  

July 3rd - Happy 44th Birthday to me! 

Isak, Nels and I played some early morning pickleball.  We had some good games and had fun.  

Isak made me breakfast burritos for my birthday present.  It was delicious and a very nice gift!

We opened presents.  The kids made me some cute cards and blind bags.  I felt very loved!

I didn't like myself in the pictures and kept asking Nels to try again... Haha...

I give up!

My mom sent me a pretty card.  

Sofie, Kira, Noah and I played 5 Crowns.  Sofie won!

Friends brought me pretty flowers.  So sweet!  

I enjoyed them!

Nels's mom gave me this book. 

We went to Red Robin for dinner:  Kira drew this picture.  

Yum!  I love my Banzai burger.

I got a funny one of Nels.  Haha.

I had made my own cake the day before and it was yummy!  

We sang and then ate the cake.

We watched Upside Down Magic for the movie.  Sofie had read the book, so it was fun to watch the movie as a family.  And that was my birthday!  Yay!

July 4th!

Nels and I played in an early morning pickleball ladder event at Apex.

It was fun time.

My sister recommended a shampoo dye.  So I ordered it from Amazon and gave it a try to cover up my gray hairs...Before:

After!  I like it and it was easy to do myself.  It will last about 4-6 weeks.  I'm happy with it.

Sweet Sofie loves to journal and we love to journal together.  

Us girls decided to do a 4th of July watercolor.  So we found some ideas on Pinterest.  Here's one we chose:

And here's the second one:

Here's mine in process:

Here's mine all done:

Nels got the kids some Sonic slushies to go with the cheese pizza.  

Our Patriotic shirts.  :)

Kira's cute bow patriotic shirt.

We got patriotic popsicles and sugar cookies to celebrate too.

Finished Watercolor:

Sofie did one too!

On the 4th of July, we also sang some Patriotic songs together.  

We watched neighborhood fireworks and did sparklers.

I tried to get pictures of everyone.  I had fun doing it. :)  This was the best one with all four and a firework in the background.

I almost forgot the glow sticks!  Thankfully, we remembered and enjoyed the glow sticks.

Yay!  Happy 4th of July!!

July 5th - 

This is my huge burger and air fry potatoes.  Mmmmm.

Journaling with Sofie!

The neighbors came over and we played dodge frisbee.  It was fun.

Another day -- Sofie made these friendship bracelets for herself and her friend.  One says water and the other says melon...together it says watermelon!

She was so happy to give it to her friend Sudeeksha.  They had a great time playing together.  

Kira joined them for some of the crafting time. :)

Isak made us some yummy cookies.  I love that he's in the kitchen more and more.

They turned out really well!

Isak and I went to a drill session at Apex.  It was fun to do this with him.

He also tried a new recipe, a buffalo chicken dip.

That turned out good too!

And that's all for the photos...

We packed and got ready for our summer trip to Gatlinburg, TN...so that's coming up next!