The Bottle Rocket

On the 4th of July quite a few people in our neighborhood did fireworks. A lot of those people went to Wyoming to get their fireworks. We just went to the local fireworks stand. We didn't want no stinking tickets from the coppers.

The next morning Baby found an unlit bottle rocket in our backyard. He was in Illegal Fireworks Heaven. Every year he begs us to go to Wyoming and every year we tell him No.

So, the next day when we went to our friend's house we decided to light the Illegal Fireworks. That way we wouldn't get the ticket if the cops decided to hunt us down. We're smart thinkers like that, letting others take the fall for us.

First order of business was to find something to hold the rocket. Since we don't drink soda from glass bottles anymore I think they're going to have to rename Bottle Rockets to something more relevant to our times. Thank goodness for Mexico Coke or our children wouldn't know what Coke in a Bottle looks like.

Our friend's had this contraption for a legal rocket that they shoot off occasionally.

Baby attempted to light the Firework. He was having a little trouble though.

Olaf came to the rescue.

They finally got it lit! It was a successful Bottle Rocket. Baby was a Happy Illegal Fireworker.

Teenager Wisdom

As you can see Middle child is becoming a Teenager. He's no longer a sweet-faced little boy. He manages to keep growing as I've talked about before.

But as for the teenager aspect of his growing up, his friends have also become teenagers.

He went to play Night Games last weekend with some friends. He called me for a pick-up rather early on Friday night.

"Why are you coming home so early?" I asked when he called, baffled that he was willingly coming home before midnight.

"There's lightning!" duh?

"Yeah, but can't you go inside and do something for a little while?" still baffled at the early hour.

"His parent's aren't home so we can't go inside."

Ooooohh! I understand now. We sometimes instill the same rule: No friends in the house while parents aren't home. But we and these parents obviously have no such rule for outdoors.

I love Teenage Wisdom.

Rainbows for Everyone

What did you do this weekend? This long glorious weekend.

While we did the usual things, fireworks, parades, sleeping in, etc,

we also celebrated a birthday for a dear niece. She turned 1!

So we had to make an awesome cake. Or was it just an excuse?

Homemade butter-cream is always the best.

This sure looks good at three layers.

But we weren't done at three layers!

We finally finished at six layers.

And they were such pretty layers!

A rainbow for the eyes.

Such large slices they didn't fit on a plate.

Was it worth it? Only if you love this face.

Glorious, sweet happiness.

Chunky cheeks eating a layer at a time.

Is it time for cake yet, Mom? I've been waiting and watching all day.

I would call that a stupor of sweetness. Very soon after she was zonked out for the night.