Fourth of July!

Well, my house is starting to smell normal. He's even gotten the hang of all forms of...elimination? In a moment of weakness/stress/duress/madness, I promised the Boy that the first time he used the potty for the solid stuff, we would celebrate by going to Chuck E. Cheese, a place he talks about all the time since our first trip. So, looks like we're headed there Monday night. That's like the good news and the bad news.

For the Fourth, we headed to Downtown Provo for the parade. It's pretty much a tradition and the kids are getting to the age where they really enjoy it. In fact, this is what they looked like for the duration:

Here's da Boo's favorite things about the Fourth of July:

I let her get her face painted on two different days (once again, the bestest Mommy evah). Both times she requested a unicorn. It was a first for both of the face painters. She was more than pleased with the results. And we all already know how obsessed she is with horses so her parade favorite was a no-brainer.

For the Boy, slightly different tastes:

Those of you who were with us in South Dakota may remember the constant streams of "gummy guys" (aka: army guys said by an overly-excited 3-year-old) so he was ecstatic to see more of them. Also, he loved the cannon that they set off to signal the end of the parade, although it made him jump about a foot every time. And? He used a port-a-potty while there! Even I would rather hold it instead of use one of those but he thought it was a new adventure or he just really, really had to go.

My favorites?

I've always loved bag pipes. In fact, when I die and you come to my funeral, there had better be a bag piper playing Amazing Grace or I expect you to give the Man heck about that, okay? And the fireworks are just too fun. We've gotten the big box from the local grocery store for years. Usually, we'll split it up between the Fourth and Pioneer Day. In the flames you can see the carcasses of our previous festivities.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of the local fireworks display, as they moved it blocks away. Seems that the high school football was rather sensitive about explosives being launched from their new football field. Oh, come on! Those craters and burn circles would just add character! Might even intimidate the other team, send them wonder what plays are used that cause flames.