Friday, August 2, 2013

4th of July 2013

For the 4th of July last year, we did not do much at all because we had a one and a half week old at home.  This year, the 4th of July officially started a new era for Cooper - this was his first SECOND holiday - haha.  This is the first holiday that he has now celebrated twice.  Last year, Grammy and Pop brought over dinner, we did a few sparklers, and we called it a night.  This year, we still didn't go all out or anything, but we were able to celebrate a little bit more.  Let me just say, while I LOVED that baby stage with Cooper, I am much happier to be at the stage that we are in now.  I enjoyed his baby stage, but I'm glad that it was short lived.  Thinking back to last year, I just remember how hard it was at this point.

Oma and Opa were having a small party at their house, so they invited us to come over to celebrate with them.  We headed over there as soon as nap was over (about 3:30) and stayed until after dinner time.  They had quite a few of their friends over, so we just enjoyed talking to everyone, showing off the kids, and eating!  Here are some pics from the party:


Cooper got to hang outside with the men during the party.  :)

And LL got to hang out inside with all of the women.

That morning, we worked super hard on LL's nails to make them patriotic, too!  She LOVED them and was so excited to show them off to everyone.


I LOVE this sweet girl!!  



I am so blessed beyond what I deserve to be able to be Mommy to these two amazing kids.  

Just a look at how much Cooper has changed from last 4th of July to this year.  What a difference a year makes!!


Can I just say that this is my new favorite picture of all of us??  It seems so rare for us to get a good picture of all 4 of us, but this one really does it!  Yay!!  This is already framed in our house - haha.

Take 2 wasn't too bad, either!

LL is in a phase where she is a "little bitty kitty" about 99% of the time - haha.  Oma got a picture with both kids, but LL was in "kitty mode" by this point.

After dinner, we came home and gave both kids a bath.  Cooper goes to bed at 7:00, and it is totally still light out during the summer.  We still wanted him to participate in some of the festivities, so we did a few "fireworks" outside before he went to bed.

LL has her sparklers and is ready to go!

I told her to look excited - haha.


Oh geez.


For the first year ever, LL decided that she didn't have to be scared of the sparklers.  She had a BLAST! 


Coop and I just watched from the porch because of all of the smoke.  He was verrrrry interested in what was going on.  He is going to be in the middle of it next year for sure!




After Cooper went to bed, we let LL stay up a little later than normal (like 8:15) so that we could finish the rest of the fireworks when it was darker outside.  We couldn't let her stay up until it was completely dark, but this was a lot better.



Daddy is a hardcore pyromaniac, so the 4th of July is one of his favorite holidays.


This is the best picture!

We really had such a great time celebrating with our family!  My favorite part, hands down, has to be my tradition with LL.  Every 4th (well - for the past few years), after LL goes to bed, I wake her up and take her outside to see the big fireworks that happen in the towns around us.  Our house is in between two little towns, so we can see the fireworks from both of them from our yard.  Every year, they start doing them around 9:00 - 9:30ish.  I go get LL out of her bed, take her outside, and we watch them together with Daddy.  She's always so confused and happy when I get her out of bed, and I love it!  

A lot has changed for the 4th of July over the last 6 years!


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1 comment:

Emily said...

HOT MAMA! You look so super pretty in the family pics for sure :)