graduation, swimming, and the fourth of july

Each of these deserves its own blog, but oh well.

On May 21, 2009 Donovan graduated from kindergarten. His daddy was able to attend (I wish I could have). He was a bit sad, not quite ready to graduate - I think a picture is worth a thousand words.

Gavin went with Scott of course. He worships his older brother, as you can see from the picture. Not only that but he just adores wearing hats (although only briefly. I just wish Scott got a good picture of Donovan as well.

One of the first purchases we made this summer was that of a small pool to keep the kids cool. Funny thing is that we only have used it twice because soon after we got a membership to the community pool, so we spend most of our time there. Donovan loved the pool.

Gavin liked the pool, but he prefers to be swaddled up in a blanket or play in the dogs cage. I just love these pics of Gavin. They are just toooo cute!!! But then I am surely biased! You may be asking yourself - My goodness look at that bruise on Gavin's forhead!!! Yeah, he fell while I was at the hospital when I was having contractions several weeks ago. The bruise is finally fading away, but there are these times when he wrinkles his forhead and it looks like he has a dent! It makes me feel horrible!

Fourth of July has always been a special holiday for me. I am grateful to live in the United States, and am proud to be an American. Each year I am reminded of why we celebrate the 4th of July. On the Second of July the continental congress met and decided to write a declaration of independence. It took 2 more days for it to be written. Thomas Jefferson wrote later that the signing of the declaration of independence would be heralded through parades, firework displays, picnics, ect! How interesting that over 200 years later we are still celebrating it. This year we had planned on driving to Washington, Missouri to participate in a "Tea Party" activity, however it was HOT, I'm 9 months pregnant, and it was raining. We decided to stay at home, since our neighbors across the street spent an inordinate amount of money on pretty explosives!!!! We went out at about 8pm. Gavin would walk a bit away from me and as soon as a firework was set off he would run back to me and say "Hot, hot". It was adorable. He was fascinated by the snakes, and we got him to try the sparklers. His favorite part was to put the sparkler next to another surface and see the glow it created. He is our thinker, that is for sure. Donovan had such a blast that he didn't want to come in. We let him stay outside for an extra hour after we went inside. Our neighbor was out there and she kept an eye on him for us. Besides that he would pop his head in every once in a while and say "did you see that?" He was adorable. He didn't want fireworks day to end, and three days later is still lamenting the end of the fourth of july. He wants to know how many days until the next fourth of july!!!!