Pre Party...

Since the fireworks were canceled in BCS (well, I believe in most of Texas) we decided to have people over to celebrate Independence Day on the 3rd. Our rationale being that would give us all day on Monday to relax and enjoy the long weekend and when you think about it, we should be thankful for our freedoms every day! :)

So celebrate we did! I LOVE the 4th of July. Besides Thanksgiving it may be may favorite holiday. It has all my favorites: food (BBQ = yum), family, friends, fireworks (most years), fun! AND it's in the SUMMER which this crazy Texas girl adores. The long days, summer nights, even the Texas heat are wonderful. The smells and sounds make me happy. So, Ryan and I would love to have a July 4th celebration every year. 

Consider this your invitation to join us whenever you like!

I totally forgot to take a picture of the set up, but we had yummy food set up on the patio and I didn't buy one single serving dish! I just reused (yay me for saving money and yay GiGi for bringing me surprises). On the menu was pulled pork sandwiches, tater salad, baked beans, chips, BBQ chicken, salmon sausage (very yummy and very HOT - thanks Lyndon), green bean & corn salad, and corn muffins. 

And then there was dessert. Oh. My. Goodness...dessert was ridiculous. Lyndon, my co-coworker, brought homemade chocolate pie, Krista made a firework cookie bouquet, Kelly brought Red Velvet cake and GiGi made her famous banana pudding. We were in heaven! :)

After all that food you would think we would have just sat there curled up in a food coma, but we managed to have some fun, too. These two kids reinvented ladder ball...

His accuracy was unmatched ;)

They are just the best-of-friends. 

Seriously, like an old married couple that is either fighting or loving each other.

The Kings in our red, white and blue (a party requirement ;))

Pete and Bok with Emmy and Rad... 

GiGi and Pops... 

And our crew! We were really missing our California Crew this weekend...Sonya you sure you can't move the deli to College Station? I guarantee exclusive rights to MSC catering events. :)

Not real sure why Ryan was holding Radley this way, but it makes me giggle.

We promised the big kids they could play in the water, so out came those yard toys. I looked over and saw this cutie thinking she was "so big" climbing INTO the table. Now this girl refuses to walk more than 15 steps at a time, but she can CLIMB into this? 

Look at me, Mom! No hands! :)

Holy cow, her cheeks...

Pops was proud and wanted some high fives! 

The big kids had fun, too... 

And we all really enjoyed our new patio furniture! If you are on the look out for new furniture RUN to Target! They are having their summer clearance sale and we got all of this for less than HALF of what it cost in April. 

We were so excited that Brandy and Lyndon could join our crazy crew. The Kings/Guercios/Baileys/Munsons are used to each other, so I was worried that we would be a bit much to take in all at once, but they handled us like champs! :) 

We even taught Lyndon the art of mumbly-peg (a very safe, very old, knife throwing game). :)

Jeremy is usually our champion...

But Stu was the winner this weekend! :)

And no 4th of July celebration is complete without poppers. 

Kayla and Radley got pretty brave at the end. We only had one minor incident with a popper and Uncle Pete's ear... but Stu was the culprit. :) Lesson: aim down. 

We had the best day!! Let's do it again next year! :)

ps. If you can't tell by the quality of these pictures, our camera is dying. :( One too many trips to Costa Rica, the beach and well, 30K+ pictures in 3 years, I guess. Leave your suggestions on what we should get...Santa is planning on bringing mom a new camera, I just know it! :)