4th of July ( and 3rd, and 5th...)

The 4th of July is definitely one of my favorite holidays. It's right up there with Christmas. I love the parades and picnics and sunshine. I love celebrating this awesome country that we live in. And I love red, white, and blue. As far back as I can remember, I always tried to make sure I had on red, white, and blue for the 4th of July. And since we live in Utah, I get a little extra dose of it for the 24th of July too. It only makes sense that I was thrilled to dress my kids up for the 4th, right?

Here is Jayden on his first 4th of July. Nothing special, just an outfit from WalMart and a hat that didn't fit.


This is Jayden last year. Again, nothing too fancy, but it was red, white, and blue.


This year, I decided to go all out. 2 kids + a new sewing machine=2 fun 4th of July outfits! You'd think that would be enough for me. No. Never. I also made skirts and appliqued shirts for my friend's girls (Pictures later. When I can steal them from someone else!). Yeah, pretty sure I'm crazy. And I now know why I never made any clothes for Jayden before.

Here is Maycie's dress. I love it! It was far from perfect, but now that I figured it out, I'm going to maker her another.

And here are Jayden's shorts. Cute, right? I made them from a mens 3X shirt because it was the best plaid I could find. And heck, 3x is the same price as a small, but with lots more fabric! I saw a man wearing that shirt. I may have laughed a little. (And possibly pointed.)


At some point when I was making them, I must have forgotten that the kid had a butt... See how straight they are? I didn't make the waist high enough so they were always hanging down funny. And there wasn't much room for a diaper. Maybe I should start using patterns...

And just because I love these faces:
I suppose I'd better explain the title of my post. Since the 4th was a Sunday this year, we pretty much had 3 straight days of celebrations. Saturday we went up to watch the parade with my family and see all of my Dad's side of the family, since they were having a reunion. Saturday night were some UFC fights that my hubby and our friend couldn't miss, so we came home early.

Sunday afternoon we had a barbecue at Dustin's parents' house. We did lots of fireworks there. Those Mellos love their fireworks. A lot. It might not be healthy. Does anyone else in the world have firecracker fights? Didn't think so.

Monday was the parade and fun here, so we braved the crowds for a while and then came home and we all had naptime. Monday night brought us these:

Jayden trying to catch the "far-works"

This past week has been so much fun. Dustin was able to take work off all week, so we slept in til 9 or 10 almost every day. It was no fun sending him back to work tonight, but we sure had a great time having him home. I love that guy. :)