July 4th Rodeo

After Tia's party we headed over to her brother-in-law Michael's house - No rules...just right... and craziness abounds!!

McLaren and Parker were absolutely hilarious (as always) to watch.  Its a good thing that nobody told McLaren the "other" name for a donkey or we'd have heard him swearing that up and down all night just to get that poor animal to move faster!! (only so that he could make Parker fall off...)

There was goat chasing and lamb riding.  No one was fast enough to catch the goat and put the underwear on tho...

We had little girls...

and big girls... 

and cousins that were so happy to be stuck giving pony rides...

Tia's nieces could do some serious riding...

I can just hear the frustration here...*(!@##$%$%!!!

There...much better

We had a blast and thank you to the Palmer's for letting us join! (And we're grateful no animal rights' activists were in the vicinity)
**I almost forgot to note that Indy was off galvanting on the New Jersey shore (learning how to surf) so he wasn't available for any family activities...or to make his siblings scream.

July 4th

Tia hosted the July 4th extravaganza this year - and with the addition of the "Nacho Bar" I think we just about perfected it!! Oh and the gymnastics finale...oh! and the flag ceremony!! Oh! oh! oh! and the video with my off-key vocals in the background that turns my husband into a hysterical laughing lunatic every time he gets a chance to play it--for anyone willing to listen :(

Oh yes - we WILL have ourselves a formal flag ceremony

Well - as formal as these nuggets could muster.

Caught in on video for anyone interested...

Then - Tia instructed everyone on the "rules of the games"

The commissioner gave us the ok to begin

Ella disobeyed the "no running" rule...

McLaren obeyed

Then came the 3-legged race.  Seriously if you want to die laughing - grab an old sock and just tie your kids up with it!  3 year olds and a 3-legged race do NOT mix.

No comment.

competitive 6 year olds and a 3-legged race do not mix either.

Love this! Why does she get all the hair!?

Costume change.

Cute sister...

Short Sister...(what!!?? she gets the hair...)

FINALE.

Concentration.

excellent execution - toes pointed even.

Sheri's specialty was ariels.

Tia's specialty was back handsprings -she threw down on 2 in a row...impressive.

Taylor's specialty was meat.

Timmy's specialty was eating it.

Gma Kathy was forced by her daughter to make the watermelon bowl beautiful.  She scored.

Trifles - the best "throw together" summer dessert! 

 A final word from our sponsor

And we had a formal flag "removing" ceremony as well... then we headed off to the Palmer rodeo...stay tuned!