4th of July Fun

      Well, I took a long weekend off from blogging - time to catch up.  John is done with the grand opening, and we got to have some time together as a family.  You know, totally relaxing with our two young children.  We did have some relaxing moments, but we are coming to grips with the reality that this time in our life will feel a little more hectic much of the time.  Two kids can keep you on your toes.  Here are the highlights of our long weekend!



This picture pretty much sums up how the weekend was.  Most of us were really happy most of the time, until we weren't.  Bella took her turn being upset in this picture - these are the other pictures we took trying to get a good one.  Self-timer really will give us some classic moments to keep forever.



On Thursday, I went shopping at Wal-Mart.  If you see this in the parking lot, I have some advice for you.



Do not wait in a car behind this hapless mother of two children who still needs to unload all of her groceries and children into the car because you think you need her parking place, though there are many others.  This will make her feel a little frantic.  Just a word to the wise.  And Lily did cry over the spilled milk.  Two days later, John and I took a family shopping trip to this same Wal-Mart that apparently had not had the carts corralled for several days.  Cart carnage abounded.  I guess that is the craziness of a holiday weekend.



The morning of the 4th - John did the Firecracker 5K in Midtown Little Rock, and then we headed to Krispy Kreme to start our holiday off right.  Good times.

We had a little grill-out for a few friends and the little friends that came with them.  Lily helped me make home made ice cream (I plan of sharing the recipe later this week! Yum!).



Two Little Miss Independents.






Food, family and friends.  Can't ask for much more.







      We would have loved to go see a fireworks show, but they start so stinking late, and our little friends were just not going to make it last night.  We could just tell it would not fly.  So, they went to bed, and we finished up some projects in the playroom - we got it totally painted this weekend.  And, we watched our cats get spooked from neighborhood fireworks.  Last year, a firework that we used aptly named the "Bump and Grind" went crazy and shot 3 of our 5 neighbors' houses, setting one very large bush ablaze.  Sadly, though probably for the best, that ruined doing our own fireworks for John forever.  And, there will again come a time when we do go to fireworks shows that start after dark in the summer time, but for now, we will enjoy having a 2.5 year old and an almost 9 month old.
      Hope you had a safe and merry 4th of July.  We are thankful to live in a country that affords us more freedom and opportunity than most of the world, and I hope we use it to the glory of God.