Father's Day and the 4th of July!

Wow this summer is whizzing by, I can't believe we are half way done with our time off from school. Our family has been having fun enjoying the long summer days and keeping very busy! This year both Father's Day and the Fourth of July were extra fun (maybe all things are more fun with 3 boys in tow).

For Father's Day we had lunch with Philip's Dad and then some swimming before it started raining. Levi and Joel love their Papa and I know Nathan will too as he gets older. I'm very thankful for Allen because he did a great job raising my wonderful husband, and loves my three boys too. After a little rest during the rain we headed over to my parents house for round two. We ate some yummy pizza, had root beer floats and swam some more. This was our final visit to my parents house before they moved out, and it is still surreal that they no longer live in the house where I did a lot of my growing up. The water was a little chilly from the rain, but that didn't stop the cousins and dads from swimming and having fun. Whenever I mention to the boys that we will be seeing Pop soon the response it always pure excitement! My boys sure are lucky to have 3 amazing fathers in their lives! They are especially blessed to have Philip as their Dad. I often find my self in awe of the way he loves, teaches, plays with, respects, and enjoys time with our three sons. God really blessed me by giving me a husband who is such a wonderful father and strong example. I know I couldn't raise three boys with out my Philip!

On July 3rd we started our Independence Day celebrations by meeting up with Sean and Jessica for some dinner and then shooting off our own fireworks a little north of Denton. All 4 of the "big boys" had so much fun playing with fire, and us girls and the baby enjoyed watching them from a blanket :). Philip and Sean are such special friends, and it is so nice to have him and Jessica living near by! 

This year we celebrated the fourth of July with my family and it was extra special because it was the first holiday where Aunt Molly and Uncle Ryan were there as TEXANS! We are so thrilled to have them living near by and can't wait to have them around so much more often. To start off the festivities we all met at my parents new place (and Molly & Ryan's home while they search for their own place). Moe and Pop have a great new town-home which includes nearby walking trails and a neighborhood pool. The kids had a blast swimming with all their Knochel aunts, uncles and cousins. After the swim we had a yummy all American meal before heading over to the Richardson fireworks show. We ended up with near perfect seats and all of the kids (and adults) enjoyed the fantastic display. Even little Nate stayed awake for the fireworks (after a long nap on Aunt Kate shortly after we arrived) and he LOVED watching them. He was so cute squealing, bouncing and grinning as the exploded above us! I wish I would have caught some of it on video! It was a great evening and I'm really looking forward to more celebrations with my whole family in one place. I'm grateful to live in such a wonderful country, and I do my best to appreciate all that has been done in history to make America what it is today. I also consider myself blessed to have a family who I want to spend time with and who loves me well.