July 4th

This is a very long post, so I'm guessing that only my most devoted blog readers will make it through it all. There were just so many precious pictures from July 4th, I had to post them all. The thought of a mother thinking pictures of her kids are just too precious not to share is so crazy, I know.

We spent the day at Nana and Papa Daniel's house. It was a whole lot better than last year. Last year, the girls were puking and we had to take Mary Elizabeth to the ER.

Mary Elizabeth really enjoyed jumping off the diving board with her daddy. She's such a wild child.

I love this action shot. She's smiling with her eyes closed in anticipation of hitting the water.

I LOVE this one!!!! Her eyes would get as big as saucers every time she'd come up from underneath the water. It was such a surprise every time!

Woohoo! Rock on! That's so much fun!

Raise the roof! Round two!

One of my best friends that I grew up with bought the girls these precious socks for July 4th. Here's a close up other them. We love you Annie and it was so sweet of you to think of them!

Mckinley in her July 4th outfit.

Mary Elizabeth in hers.

After swimming in the pool all day, we headed over to Stacy and Christy's house for fireworks. They're family friends and they have a cute little boy named Brady.
Here's Mary Elizabeth with Rachel, Justin's girlfriend.

Mckinley with Nana.

It was so cute to watch Mckinley's progression towards the fireworks. Stacy and Christy's house is on a mountain and you can see a long ways from their front yard, so we were able to see a lot of other people's fireworks. When we were looking at the fireworks that were being set off far away, Mckinley was totally cool with them.

Mary Elizabeth with Aunt JuJu.

Then, the fireworks got closer and louder. Oh my!

Here are some close ups of the fireworks Stacy set off. They were super cool and they did a great job! Thank you Stacy, Christy, and Brady for inviting us over!

This is were the progression ended when Stacy started setting off his fireworks close by. They were way too loud for her. She slammed her eyes shut and latched on to her daddy for dear life. Poor baby! She missed the whole show! Maybe next year...

Mary Elizabeth was not so sure about them, but enjoyed the show.

Uncle Mac (Matt) with Brady. Mckinley and Brady are getting married one day and they're going to make BEAUTIFUL red-headed babies together! :-) The fireworks were too loud for Brady too.

The super-duper sparklers Stacy and Christy bought. They girls liked these a lot. Seriously, these sparklers were on steroids.

Mckinley in a much better mood since the big, bad, fireworks were over. She loved the sparklers.

Mary Elizabeth with her sparkler with Nana.

Brady picked out some kiddie fireworks and those included two turtle firework things. Turtles are the girls favorite critters right now, so after they were partially blown up, they wanted to play with them. Here I'm trying to check the turtle to make sure it's not too hot before letting Mckinley play with it. I know, I'm mother of the year! :-)

The night totally zapped Mckinley. She laid her little head down in my lap, and I started patting her back, and she took a little nap. It was one of those precious moments that I want to freeze time, and stay there a little longer.

The next morning, Mary Elizabeth grabbed a ball and bat from Nana's toy closet and Louis decided to show her how to hit. She already hits a ball better than her Mama!

She thinks she's doing the coolest thing in the whole wide world!

This is SO much fun Dad!

Look at that form!!! We have contact!!!

Uncle Mac's turn.

She worked up an appetite from her hitting practice, so then she settled down to eat some of the blackberry cobbler I made. Yum!

Yummy Mama!