When the 4th is Over

Fifth of July sunrise. As Mom used to say, "It'll be Christmas before we know it." Meaning, of course, that the rest of summer would pass quickly, which, on the farm, was very true. Between threshing, haying, dressing chickens for the freezer and canning all the garden produce, there was little time for anything else. Well, maybe a day at the Iowa State Fair in August.
For my family, Christmas will be here before we know it - our third annual Christmas in July is only 24 days away. Time to get those presents bought and wrapped! But first some photos from yesterday.

Cuteness overload with the great-grandsons. Ayden was three on the 1st.

And this cutie pie, Greyson, was two on June 30.

It's also good to see my (grown) grandchildren and catch up with them. Ki, on the right, is daddy to Ayden and Greyson. He and his friend Patrick did some catching up of their own - mostly about their respective law enforcement careers - Patrick in Iowa and Ki in Missouri.

Grandpa Bud and Dominque talking about their favorite subject, running. Dominique came in 4th overall in Winterset's Freedom Race earlier in the morning.

And because I had taken their picture, Bud wanted one of me and granddaughter, dressed for the 4th, Deise. We showed him what we thought about having our picture taken. Ha. Ha.

Grandpa Preston with Greyson.

Granddaughter Kathryn taking pictures of Grandma Shalea helping her grandsons open presents. Two funny stories about Ayden's gift opening - 1) When opening a gift bag and finding clothes on top, he quickly threw the clothes out to get to the toys in the bottom. 2) After opening the card from Bud and I and discovering money, he went back and dug out the cards that came with gifts looking to see if he had missed money in those cards. (Shows me how his mind works.)

The cake, with Thomas the Tank Engine theme for Ayden's side and the Minions on Greyson's, which also set the respective themes for many of their gifts. I predict these two will be sharing their birthday celebrations for a long time.

And here is why the presents came before the cake - frosting everywhere! It is always a good day when you're with family. And being around to watch the 'greats' growing up is icing on the cake.

We drove through a light shower on the way home (we need a good rain) and passed by some very pretty horses.

Iowa passed a law making fireworks legal for the first time since a blaze caused by fireworks destroyed one hundred or more buildings in Spencer in 1931. Which meant we could watch an amateur display on the dam of the pond before the annual city fireworks started going off at nearby Lake McKinley.

All-in-all, a very nice 4th of July. Now if I could only remember what day of the week it is....