Happy Fourth of July!

Aside from her birthday (which, technically, she's already had), today marks the last of Molly's "firsts." Max, having celebrated this particular holiday twice before, is an old hand at this Independence Day stuff. ;) We had a very low-key Fourth of July (I know that comes as a huge surprise) -- we stayed home, dressed the babies in some patriotic garb, cooked up some food, and had a very small fireworks display in the back yard. We debated driving out to see the big fireworks, but since Max and Molly usually go to bed between 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., we figured that they'd dissolve into sobbing piles of baby goo long before dusk. Although I was disappointed to miss seeing a fireworks display again, it turns out that we made a wise decision.

So, after stuffing ourselves on grilled brats, baked beans, potato salad, and corn, we went out into the back yard to light off a few little sparklers and fountains for the babies. As it turns out, Max the (normally) fearless was NOT IMPRESSED. He wanted nothing to do with the sparklers and the wimpy little fountain we set off freaked him out -- he was whimpering and saying, "all done, all done!" until they burned out. He retreated to the safety of the patio chairs to watch the next couple fountains and seemed relieved when it was time to go back inside.

Molly was barely more enthusiastic, but did stare at a sparkler for a few seconds before burying her face in her big sister's shoulder. So, it's a good thing we saved ourselves the drive and the traffic to see a proper fireworks display. Maybe we'll try again next year!

After the babies went to bed, we waited until dusk to set off the rest of the (admittedly rather tame) fireworks that we had. The big kids enjoyed being given the task of lighting the fireworks (with much instruction and repeated warnings about proper firework-lighting technique) and we finished off the evening with some hot fudge sundaes (I had originally planned to bake an apple pie, but got hit with a bad case of the lazies). Now we'll get to spend the rest of the evening (and probably the rest of the week) listening to people lighting off fireworks. :P I'm sure this is one of the days that the dog is happy to have gone rather deaf!