Happy Birthday America!

Two years ago we went to the lakehouse for the Fourth of July and had a blast so we were really excited to get to go up again. And let me tell you, it was a blast!!! We had such a fun time and I just really loved watching the children play and laugh.

From the time we got up there until the day we left Shelby and JP literally lived in the water only coming out on occassion to eat and go potty. They were so wrinkled by the end of each day!

Shelby and Pratt enjoying some father/daughter time. This is the thing that memories are made of and as time seems to fly by faster and faster with each passing moment I hope that we can hold on to these precious children forever!!!



Pratt came up with a great idea to tie a cinder block to the rope of a tube and float it out in the middle of the lake. It was brilliant and the children had so much fun trying to jump off the dock on top of it, climb up, and jump off of it. It took many takes, but I was able to get some cute pictures of Shelby and JP on top of the tube.



I mean really!!!!! Where does time go!?!?!?!? How do they get so big sooo fast! It is just madness!!!

Of course, no 4th of July weekend would be complete without the fireworks and boy did we have some great ones!!! (That is one benefit to having a pyromaniac for a husband.) Since we had to drive home on the 4th we had our show on the 3rd. It started with what appeared to be a super cool way to enjoy sparklers, but as the fire moved from one sparkler to the other we quickly realized that what seemed great in theroy was actually not so good in reality. Can you figure out why this didn't work?



After we did some sparklers we had a few minutes (well, like 30 to 45) while we waited for it to get dark enough for the big show. I think that those 30 to 45 minutes were some of the most fun I had. Shelby, JP and I had a little dance party in the backyard. There is just something super magicial about dancing around and singing at the top of your lungs with your children!!! I can't tell you how much fun it was!!! After the dance party we tried to wind down a little and this is when we got this picture of JP and Sebastian sitting on the dock. I don't know what JP was saying, but the cute thing is that it appears that Sebastian is truly and genuinely interested in what it was. Too cute!



As a final to the 4th of July weekend, Pratt was very kind to let me run down to say good-bye to my brother as he moved to Kentucky to start a new job the next day. It was a nice relaxing evening and in those moments I realize how wonderfully blessed I am that the Lord would see fit to give me the family I have!!! Simply amazing!!!