The Fourth of July was a total success for our newest U.S. citizen!
I admit that I get a little misty on patriotic holidays now, but there's something about celebrating with these girls who we are so grateful to have home and citizens that gets me every time. I love their Chineseness and their Kazakhstaniness and their Americanness and I love how it all blends into the wacky cultural mixing bowl that is our Morningstarness. Plus both Sasha and WanYing look totally adorable in red, white, and blue.
The day started with the ceremonial decorating of the flag cake. The cake was delicious and particularly festive - but I make no promises about its hygenicness. For the record, I did try to ensure that the girls didn't stick the licked-clean utensils back into the frosting bowl.
Sasha did a particularly fine job with the application of strawberry stripes on the cake. Please ignore the other little girl in the background who is licking her fingers between the placement of each blueberry star.
After naps, we headed over to the Kyte home for a low-key Independence Day shindig. Here Daddy demonstrates Ben's prized possession - the Nintendo 3DS that he received from his grandparents for his birthday. No, I have no idea why 1. Daddy is playing it or, 2. Daddy is playing it in the middle of a party. Oh well.
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| Good thing it's a sturdy hammock! |
WanYing embraced the Fourth of July festivities with gusto and, unlike
Sasha's first Fourth, spent nary a moment huddled under a blanket for "safety." This girl couldn't get enough of the poppers, booms, and sparkles!
She clutched her hard-earned and well-protected bags of poppers in her little fist, chanting, "more poppers, more poppers" as she merrily stomped every last one.
Oh, and make sure you check out the new squeakers purchased in China that WanYing grew into just in time for the holiday! So festive, and so dang cute - it was super-fun to hear her happily stomp-squeak-popping along the driveway. I'm glad I bought a pair in every size!
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| Be afraid, be very afraid |
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| The box-top of strobes and fountains was really fun... until it became the Box of Fire and had to be moved farther from the garage with the Rake of Safety |
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| Oh, and aerials were legalized in Utah this year - woo hoo! |
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| A fantastic finale. Boy do I love the Fourth. |
We emerged from the festivities tired and happy and mostly unscathed (it wouldn't be Independence Day without a few little burns, right?). And a good time was had by all.
4 comments:
Love it! The fourth means so much more to us nowadays too :)
The girls look adorable and the whole family clearly had a BLAST!! You Morningstars know how to rock the fourth!
Looks like you had a great weekend. I know exactly what you mean about the patriotic holidays. Although I was always conscious of their significance, I was not fully aware of what citizenship means until I had to do the oath swearing ceremony at Homeland Security for our son to become a citizen. If I were an emotional person, I would have cried; it was so profound.
Ruby
Cute kids...happy belated 4th you all too!
hope all is going well with your new little one;0)
Hugs
Donna
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