Happy 4th of July!

Happy birthday to America!  We love celebrating the 4th of July around here.  We are trying to teach the girls what it means to be proud to an American, and the 4th is the day it seems to come together.  Liz and I had fun celebrating with the girls while Ryan is in Alaska.  Here are a few pictures to show what we've been up to.  I did not put any pictures of the dessert I was very excited about but failed at.  I knew the girls would absolutely love having ice cream sandwiches that they got to dip in red, white and blue sprinkles.  Unfortunately, I accidentally purchased ice cream squares which are completed covered in chocolate instead of ice cream sandwiches which have the ice cream exposed between chocolate wafers.  I tried cutting the sides of the chocolate off, but that made a big mess as it fell to pieces.  I will say the girls still enjoyed that treat, but it totally wasn't what I pictured...oh well, can't win them all I guess!

Liz helped the girls make hand print flags.  I love hand print art!  It makes me smile to see their sweet little hands.  Here is Mia's flag.

 Lily did a great job with her flag too.

 On the morning of the 4th, we headed over to the Marietta Square to watch the parade.  Last year, we all really enjoyed this parade, so we were excited to go back.  Thankfully, the weather started out nice and in the mid-80s; that was a relief from the 108 we experienced less than a week ago!  The girls were given balloons and small flags by different groups walking around which made them very happy.

 I always love to see the flags come in.  It may sound corny, but I feel so proud to see the American flag!  Of course, I like seeing the Georgia one as well; the third is the City of Marietta flag, and since we don't live there, I never really think about it.

 Just behind the flags was a Scottish band playing bagpipes and drums.  The girls were in awe of the bagpipes.  They sounded great too; what a treat to hear and see them.

 Of course, the many different fire trucks and police cars are fun to see.

 What a welcome surprise to see Santa Claus!  The girls couldn't believe he came all the way down from the North Pole to be in this parade.

 We watched the parade for about 1.5 hours before deciding to leave.  In all honesty, it started to get pretty boring after awhile.  We were excited to see the different public service vehicles, bands and soldiers, but then it was just one political candidate or group after another as we have several elections coming up in just a few weeks.  It was neat that near the beginning our Georgia Senior Senator, Johnny Isakson, stopped and talked to Lily for a moment.  I knew I liked him!  Anyway, the girls were obviously bored and starting to get hungry, so we headed out before the parade ended.  Moes was running a 4th special, so we enjoyed a little lunch there before heading home.

After nap time the girls helped me make some patriotic cupcakes.  The batter was of course supposed to be red and blue.  Well, it turned out a little more dark pink and turquoise, but they, they tasted good and the girls thought it was hilarious.

 A little white frosting, some red, white and blue sprinkles and viola!  (Yummy) patriotic cupcakes!

 I think it's safe to say Mia enjoyed hers!