4th of July Festivities

I always love 4th of July celebrations, festive and casual and right in the heart of summertime.  The past couple years, we have been doubling the fun because Wilmette celebrates on the 3rd, and the town just north of us, Winnetka, celebrates on the 4th - so we take it all in!

We went to Wilmette's lakefront party on the 3rd, and the kids had a ball...they had a giant slide, pony rides, live music, the list goes on.  After grabbing some hot dogs for dinner we walked over to a friend's annual backyard party with a great view of the night's lakefront fireworks.  This was the first year that we actually made it for these fireworks...in past years the kids were just too tired to stay awake until 9/10pm.  But we decided to roll with it this year and we all had so much fun.

The next night we went to another annual party held by our close friends, the Neals, who live in Winnetka (this party includes a dunk tank!), and afterwards we walked from their house over to their town's fireworks display.  They have wonderful fireworks here and the kids loved it!  I can't believe we kept the kids out past 10pm two nights in a row, that's pretty unheard of over here in the Brown house.  But they rallied and really had fun seeing so many friends and doing so much celebrating.  Happy 4th everyone!!!

Cassidy's 6th Birthday!!!

We have a 6 year old!  Cassidy and her good friend Brynn decided to have a joint birthday party since their birthdays are just 1 day apart.  They had all the girls in their class over to Pump It Up (giant bounce houses) to celebrate.  It was a blast.  After jumping around like crazy for an hour, they had pizza and cake.  Such fun!  On her actual birthday, we went out to dinner with family at a new restaurant in town called Nick's.  Aunt Mel and Jackson came along with Grammy and Grandpa Brown.  Cassidy felt very special and loved the birthday dessert they brought to the table!  Here are some photos of all the fun.  We love our sweet Cassidy!

All the girls enjoying the party!

Cassidy and Brynn, the birthday girls

Cassidy drew out a design for her cake to give to the bakery and they matched every detail!  (It included a turtle, in the sand, crossing an ocean stream, with sunshine and a pink starfish and purple crab, please.)

 

We love that Aunt Mel came over to celebrate!

Out to dinner with family, ready for birthday dessert

One of her favorite birthday gifts from mommy and daddy were her PJs that match her doll Saige.

Daisy Days in Clarendon Hills

We love the annual Daisy Days Festival in Clarendon Hills!  This year, the day started off with a live animal show.  Cassidy (and sometimes Gavin, when he was feeling brave!) touched a giant snake, turtle, lizard, among others.  The animal handler called Cassidy up to have the lizard "comb" her hair, which she got a big kick out of.  Our kids will never tire of seeing live animals - such fun for them.  Next, we rode little coasters, flew down a giant slide with those burlap-type sacks, had some fresh lemonade, and enjoyed the scene.  We loved spending the day with Grammy & Grandpa Brown and the Tiemans.  Little Jack didn't care for the rides this time around (scary when you're only 1!)...maybe next year!

Memorial Day Weekend in Lexington

We journeyed down to Lexington for Memorial Day Weekend, meeting up at the Burkholder's home along with the Hardings and Grandma and Grandpa Reder.  What fun!  The kids adore their cousins - all their relatives for that matter - so having a giant slumber party throughout the house for the weekend is right up their alley!  They ran around in the beautiful newly finished basement, played games in the backyard, did many crafts, and had nightly book readings from their older cousins (by flashlight in the dark - nothing better).  We love making memories with family!

The Tooth Fairy's First Visit!

Last weekend, while spending the day at Grammy and Grandpa Brown's house, Cassidy lost her first tooth!  It had been wiggling for weeks, and the adult tooth had already made it's appearance right behind, so we knew it would happen any day.  It took a little twist and pull from mom, which was just a little scary, but then it popped right out.  That night, she wrote a note for the tooth fairy and placed both items under her pillow.  Wouldn't you know, the next morning we found a note from the tooth fairy along with a dollar and some shiny coins!  She even got into our sticker collection, Cassidy noticed, as she used some pink heart stickers to seal her letter that came from our sticker bag!  That sneaky little fairy.  It was a fun day and we are anxiously awaiting the next wiggly tooth...

Baby Legs

I can't get enough of 'em!  Tyler has the most adorable chubby thighs, and I know they won't last forever, so I just had to document.  Enjoy.  Ha.

Summertime!

Nothing like planting daisies in the backyard in your PJs!  We love summertime!