July 4th

I adore early July. E's birthday hits on the first, July fourth is only days away and then less than a week later our anniversary arrives (July 9th). Best time of year for celebrating.

We celebrated our amazing country's birthday with a morning at Murray Park where we played in the bounce houses, ate ice cream in the shade, and watched the tail end of the parade.

Then late in the afternoon we met E's family downtown for dinner (Thai food on America's birthday? I'll take it!) and ended the evening at our house for birthday cake and fireworks.

Summer feels so good it's amazing.

Juliet's hair is recently long enough for real big girl pig tails. They are seriously the cutest thing ever.

I interviewed James for part of E's Father's Day card, and one question I asked James what his favorite thing to do with Daddy was. He said "play ball". Ever since E has taken an extra effort to play a lot of ball with this boy. They both love it.

Chelsea and I have had such fun dressing our girls in matching outfits for the three holiday's since Emilia's birth (Memorial Day, Father's Day and now the Fourth). Each time we get a photo with the girls, and each time they seriously crack me up.

Uncle Joe got down on his hands and knees to try to get Emilia to look up (which she did) but Juliet got so upset that a "stranger" smiled at her she needed to hide.

Happy birthday E!

This boy was more than happy to help blow out the candles on Daddy's cake.

Soon after we put Juliet to bed and pulled out the quilt and the fireworks. James has played with sparklers once before but this was his first time seeing fireworks. He was so sweet and tender. The loud sounds really scared him and he kept running to the back yard. Finally after lots of hugs and some quiet fireworks he decided to watch on my lap with his ears plugged. Sweet boy.

Happy fourth!