Celebrate Freedom!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!! We were excited to celebrate our country's independence and the sacrifices made by men and women who protect and uphold our freedom and way of life. I always enjoy Independence Day because it's usually pretty low key, and this year was no exception. We went over to my parent's house early in the day for a lunch cookout with Grammy, Pappap and Aunt Lorie. Maura was so excited to go. First thing in the morning, when I asked her what she wanted to do for the day, she said "I do so want to go to Grammy and Pappap's house." "I do so want" is her new favorite phrase.

Grammy and Pappap got some good cuddles in.

Maura got to hold her baby brother. It's funny, I always have a vision in my head of how these pictures should look and they never come out looking like they should. Somehow, I always expect to see two pleasant children smiling for the camera. Silly me!

Maura does love her baby brother, though, and it's priceless to get pictures like this.

My two patriotic men.

In the afternoon, we went to a cookout(or cook-in really) at our friends Angie and Chris's house. We really enjoyed it. We don't hang out with our friends often enough and we always have so much fun when we do.

We ate and then went to the park to watch the fireworks. Unfortunately, it started to downpour pretty much as soon as we got there, so we were reduced to watching from the backs of our cars. Maura's friend, Sarah, joined her in the car and they had lots of fun.

These girls have been friends since Maura was four months old. They're just now really starting to enjoy playing together and I hope they always remain good friends.

Momma and her two chicks. We enjoyed the fireworks, even if we were just watching from our car.

The firework pictures are courtesy of Brent. He got a little carried away and took fifty pictures of the fireworks!

Maura LOVED the fireworks. We were afraid that she'd be scared of them, but we talked about them making a boom all afternoon, so I think she was prepared for them. She got so excited when they started and climbed up in Brent's lap and didn't move for the remainder of the show.
When it was over, she said, "I want to see it again!" We had to spend the trip home pointing our all the random fireworks that people were shooting off.

Tristan didn't love the fireworks and I spent the whole show feeding him. He was fine as long as he was eating!

These are too cute that I just had to share them. This morning, Maura and I were playing in her room and I got out all the stuffed animals that I have stored in various places around the room. We dumped them all in her crib and she had a ball playing with them.

She made me think of ET! We played zoo and Old McDonald and just had a lot of fun. I was a little horrified to realize just how many stuffed animals she owns. I might need to thin the herd!
We were able to come up with ALL the animals that you might find on a farm!