Let Freedom Ring!

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July! We certainly did! I had a huge family get-together at my house. Usually, the parties are at my aunt's, but this year I was nominated...and I was so excited! Steven had 3 days off in a row before the holiday, so he worked his butt off to make the outside of our house look nice. We really had been neglecting it...there were weeds everywhere and the shrubbery was out of control. We had 2 yards of mulch delivered and he worked on it for 2 days straight...on his days off.

This is what he had to work with. It was like this everywhere.

He's a miracle worker, isn't he??

So, the yard looks excellent and the party was a blast. Not as many people showed up as I had hoped, but that just ended with us having lots of yummy leftovers! Sorry I don't have any pictures...I was trying to be a good hostess and had no time to step back and snap and shots.

We took the kids to watch fireworks on Monday night. I was very surprised, but Brooklyn was laughing hysterically the entire time! She loved them!! Carter was a bit more leary of them, but after he got used to the loud noises, I think he really enjoyed them, too. I had my friend's 5 year old daughter man my point-and-shoot camera for the evening to make sure we got a couple family pictures. She wants to follow in my footsteps and be a photographer...so I put her to work every chance I get!

Now I'm onto planning our next party, which will be Brookie's 1st birthday. She has grown so fast!! I can't believe it has been 10 months since we were blessed with our adorable little diva. She is now crawling, talking like crazy, and pulling herself up on everything she can get her hands on. She loves being independent, very much unlike her snuggly-buggly older brother, and prefers being on the floor by herself over being held. She is an amazing eater, also unlike her brother. We still have to bribe him to eat. He's so skinny. Brookie only weighs 10 pounds less than Carter. She wears a size 3 diaper, he wears a size 4. Even though they are so different, they love each other to pieces and they interact so well. It melts my heart.

I am one very blessed mama!