4th of July Weekend

We just had a completely crazy week. Last Friday night we had a rehearsal dinner for a dear friend's wedding. I was a bridesmaid and Michael was the ring bearer.
Saturday was Jackie and Mark's wedding. The kids did a great job.
Michael was a fantastic ring bearer. He walked very nicely and at a very good speed down the aisle. And he was dashing in his tux! :)
Sunday we had our annual tradition of saving our spots for the 4th of July parade. 5 families each took a turn sitting at our spot for 30 minutes from 10:30 AM until 1:00 PM when it was legal to leave our blankets unattended.
Monday was the 4th of July. The kids did amazingly well! We went to the parade and we all had a blast. The kids got a ton of candy this year. Much more than I remember getting in years past.
After the parade we took a quick nap. We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, eating, and watching fireworks.
We didn't get the kids in bed until around 11:00. This is the latest I remember them ever staying up and they were great. No crabbies and hardly any whining. We were thrilled to have such a great weekend with our kids.
This week Matt had a short work week. We are spending today together as a family since Matt took the day off of work. This weekend we are going to be spending lots of time with family. We have an anniversary date with Matt's family at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater (Grandma and Grandpa Hawks' 60th wedding anniversary, Mom and Dad Hawks' 35th wedding anniversary, Chris and Sarah's 10th wedding anniversary, and our 5th wedding anniversary). Sunday we have our 3rd family reunion of the summer!

Oh, and one more thing! Yesterday my dear friend (and neighbor), Julie, and I took our girls to an Ethiopian salon to get their hair braided.
We were there for 3.5 hours. The girls did a great job and they look so stinkin' cute!