4th of July

This Fourth of July was very low-key and relaxing and EXACTLY what we needed. Our little family of four has been spread out over Texas and Arkansas for most of June so it was really nice to reunite and have a much needed day together... just the four of us. We were lazy for most of the morning and then went to the pool for a swim. The girls love it when Ben goes swimming with us because he does all kinds of crazy stuff with them. He throws them half way across the pool and lets them jump off his shoulders and all kind of things that I am just not fun enough or strong enough to do. : )

The best part of swimming in the morning is the long afternoon naps that usually follow! We grilled out burgers and hot dogs that night and then headed to downtown Fort Worth to watch fireworks. The girls were so pumped about the fireworks all day. They really enjoyed them but we weren't in the best spot so the fireworks seemed a little bit further away than what they saw last year. They got kind of bored with it about 15 minutes in and were more interested in walking on and jumping off of the wall we were standing by. I am glad that we at least saw some fireworks though. All and all, it was a really great day! Here are a few pics:

The Griller

Getting ready to leave for fireworks

I feel like I should say a note about their outfits for the fireworks. I was out of town the few days before the 4th (more about that later) so the holiday really snuck up on me. I totally forgot to get them cute 4th of July outfits or t-shirts. I had them in cute summer dresses earlier in the day but since we didn't even leave for the Fireworks until 8:00, I decided to give them a bath before we left and put them in t-shirts so that they could just get into bed easily when we got home since it would be way past their bedtime. Anyway, long story but I felt the need to explain why they are wearing too small Razorback shirts instead of cute red, white, and blue dresses. They are wearing the appropriate colors though. : )

Waiting on the Fireworks to start

You gotta have ice cream on the 4th!!

Last weekend I went to Fayetteville for my annual Girls Weekend with my girlfriends from college. I look forward to this trip every summer and had such a great time spending time with my friends. Since the last time we met (last summer we met in Austin, TX to celebrate our 30th bdays), there have been 2 babies born and an engagement within our little group. Actually, 3 babies born b/c our friend Jenny couldn't be there but she had a baby in December. It's crazy how those babies seem to all come at once! We were so excited to celebrate Andrea's engagement too.  Here we are on Friday night:

Melanie, Stephanie, Stephanie, Brooke, Andrea

I plan to create another post with a look back at pictures of the girls from other July 4th celebrations.  Remember how I said I am going to do that on Holidays? I'm too tired to look through old pictures right now. I have to gear myself up for that task.  I also have a post coming up about the girls first Dance Recital. Stay tuned......