Fourth of July-2013

For the Fourth of July, my family came to visit and spend the day with us. Diane, Josh, and Hannah also stopped by to visit for a little bit. We had lots of fun grilling, swimming in the pool, and spending time with each other. I got to love on my sweet niece, Tinsley, too! It's hard to believe that she's going to be one next month! Where did this year go?? 

Eli and Hannah had a chicken fight rematch. Eli won the first game and Hannah won the second. 

Then my crazy husband decided it'd be fun for us to chicken fight Josh and Diane. I'm always up for some fun so I climbed on his shoulders. The Hargons were scared though and didn't take the bait. Haha! Since we didn't chicken fight, Josh thought he'd scare me to death instead and got out of the pool with me still on his shoulders and JUMPED OFF THE DIVING BOARD! You can tell by my face that I was scared for several reasons:

1.) That I was going to fall off his shoulders and break something. 

2.) That we were going to break the diving board in half.

3.) That I was going to get a concussion from hitting the diving board when we jumped in the pool.

4.) All of the above or something worse.

Thankfully, none of those things happened and Eli now thinks we're pretty cool parents :) If he ever decides to do what we did though, I'm pretty sure I'll flip my lid!

Josh's next pool trick involved Eli. Basically, Eli gets into a very tight little ball and Josh throws him in the air. Eli flips like Sonic the Hedgehog and does a perfect landing in the water. Eli LOVES it and always comes up smiling from ear to ear. Scares me to death every single time though...

Josh and Hannah tried it and Hannah was great, too!

I love these two little daredevils!

Tinsley really wasn't having a great day. She was cutting teeth and not feeling all that great. (Andrea found out a couple days later that she had lots of fluid in her ears. Poor baby!) We went inside so Tinsley could eat her lunch before we ate ours. 

Josh manned the grill this day and did a FABULOUS job! Everything tasted wonderful!

After lunch, Tinsley and Eli played a little bit together with some of Eli's toys. I kept back some toys of his that are really too young so that when Tinsley visited she'd have something to play with. What ended up happening though is that Eli rediscovered these toys and wanted to play with them. 

We spent a couple more hours playing in the pool and having fun and then they all had to leave. It was such a fun Fourth of July. I'm really glad my family is so close now! I love that we can be together for holidays and other special occasions. 

After my family left, we rested and had some down time and then got ready for the annual fireworks show down at the river front. The only negative was that it started at 9 PM. Oh well...it's summer! The fireworks show was great but the best part was sharing it with my boys. I'm so thankful for them and I'm so thankful to live in a country that's free. Thank you, God, for all my many blessings and for the men and women who fight for those blessings every single day. Happy Fourth of July!

Fourth of July, 2012

For those of you that come to this blog daily expecting to see recent posts, I'm so sorry. It's gotten harder to update lately just because we're so busy. I have about six posts ready to go, so hopefully I'll get to those very soon. For now, let's go back to the beginning of the month :)

This year for the Fourth of July, we invited the Hargons, Mammy and Uncle Clare, and Zue-Zue over to the house to barbecue and to swim in the pool with us. The food was so yummy thanks to the Pioneer Woman and Pinterest. My life and my waistline have been forever changed because of those two sources. Goodness! I made the Pioneer Woman's salsa and potato salad and they were both SO GOOD! From Pinterest, I made the coconut fruit dip (BEST fruit dip EVER!) and a banana caramel pie. OH.MY.WORD. That pie was incredible. I'll definitely be keeping that recipe :) Josh grilled burgers, we all swam, ate until we were going to burst, and then sat around talking and having fun. Everyone left and our family of three made our way to the river front to watch the annual fireworks show. 

You might be able to see that I'm kind of obsessed with taking pictures in front of the bridges when they're lit up. They're so pretty!

My two favorite boys

Me with my little man

In the past when we've gone, the fireworks show was delayed for a long time. We worried that it would happen this year, but they were very punctual! Eli loved watching the fireworks and sat entranced in our laps during the entire show. Well, until he found out that my watch I was wearing had the Indiglo light and from that point on he just wanted to push that button to make it light up.

I love doing things that make wonderful memories for my family and I am so thankful to all the men and women that fight to protect that right and that freedom for me. Happy Fourth of July to you all!! I hope you and your family had a wonderful day celebrating the wonderful freedoms we have!

Happy Fourth of July!

For our Fourth of July, we traveled down south a couple of hours to spend the day with my brother, Josh, and his wife, Andrea. We thought it would be a good day to see the new CARS 2 movie and to look at things for the new house. 

We got to the theater a little early, so Josh and Eli tested their driving skills on one of the games in the lobby. I sure hope Eli becomes a better driver when he's older because telephone poles, trees, and other vehicles don't stand a chance otherwise :)

Josh and Andrea met us at the theater and we found our seats for the movie. Here's my review for whatever it's worth...The Toy Story short film at the beginning of the movie was great and had Eli begging for more. It was good to see those characters again :) Once the CARS movie started Eli and I settled in for an exciting adventure. Unfortunately, our adventure ended about the same time the popcorn ran out. This particular Cars movie just didn't do it for our family. It was geared towards a much older audience with all the lengthy dialogues, bombs, and guns. Eli paid attention when there was racing, but it was hard to keep him focused during all the dialogue. He normally will sit transfixed during any Disney/Pixar production, but this one just didn't do it for him. I think if he was older he might have liked it better, but as it was, all he wanted to do was watch his two favorite cars race and have fun and there wasn't quite enough of that. Oh well! We still had fun, but Josh and I were very thankful when the movie ended because we were tired of trying to keep Eli entertained and in his seat.

After the movie, we walked across the street to eat at The California Pizza Kitchen. It was nice getting to visit and catch up with my brother and sis-in-law. Eli loved feeding bits of pizza crust to the little birdies that were nearby our table.

Think, think, think....

Looking for the little birds

I love this kid!

Before we left, we took a couple of pictures in front of the fountain. It was lots of fun getting to spend the day with family. I'm so thankful that even though we live away from each other, we're still close enough that we can still make day visits to see one another. 

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July

Today Josh's side of the family gathered at his grandparent's house to celebrate the Fourth of July. We had such a great time celebrating our country's Independence Day and remembering all the men and women who have and are fighting bravely for our freedoms. What a great country we live in!

Before we went over there, I dressed Eli in his patriotic outfit for the day. Yesterday a friend from church brought me a huge sack full of clothes for Eli that her son had outgrown. I was excited to see this pair of overalls in there because I had been looking for a cute red, white, and blue outfit for Eli, but hadn't found anything. It was a 12 month, but it fit pretty well. I thought he looked quite patriotic today :) I had high hopes of getting a cute family picture, but it didn't happen. Eli and Daddy looked handsome together though :)

My two handsome boys :)

He's getting so big!

It's hard to believe that last year, this precious little guy, that has completely stolen my heart, was snug and warm inside my tummy. I have to say, even though I LOVED being pregnant, having Eli on the outside is so much better. Josh and I are so in love with him!

Fourth of July 2008
I thought I was HUGE in this picture. LOL! Funny how our perspective changes.
I ended up looking like Josh towards the end :)

One thing I love about family gatherings is the amount of food we always have at every meal. Eli decided baby food was for the birds and chose to eat some smoked sausage instead (JOKING!!!). It was SO good! Papaw, Josh, Tommy and Reggie (Josh's uncles) spent all morning smoking sausage and two or three chickens for our afternoon meal. And if that wasn't enough, Josh's mom, grandmother, and Aunt Lisa all cooked yummy side dishes-corn on the cob, green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes, broccoli salad and baked beans-to go with the meal. We ate and ate until we were so full we thought we were all going to pop!

Reggie tempting Eli with a piece of smoked sausage.
Eli's wondering where the bread is for his pig in a blanket.

The kitchen crew-Mamaw, Sue, and Lisa

Look at all that DELICIOUS food!

After the meal, Eli played on the floor for a little bit with his cousin, Jess. He was more than happy to let her help him walk around the go see everyone. As long as he's moving, he's a happy baby!

Eli walking with Jess

For dessert, we made homemade ice cream. Yummy! We have a rule in the family, that if you don't take a turn cranking the machine, you don't get to enjoy the ice cream. Everyone made sure to take their turn because they didn't want to pass up the delicious ice cream. Will, Jessie's boyfriend, was one of the last to take his turn, which meant he got the hard part. By then, all the girls had taken their turn (we were smart and cranked it when it was still runny).

He who does not turn the wheel, does not eat the ice cream. Family Rule # 3

Jess giving Will a little massage.
He was working so hard!

Will and Jess
(Jess, we gotta work on getting Will to pose right!)

Will and Jess

Arion and Jeff

Jess and Sarah enjoying the product of their hard work-yummy homemade ice cream topped with toasted pecans and caramel sauce.

I fixed a bowl of ice cream, but for some reason it didn't appeal to me today, so I opted for a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich. I love those! Eli was more than happy to put his little lips to mine and get a taste. I think he's going to be a sweet lover like both of his parents :)

Sorry, Grammy, Mommy finally caved and let me have some ice cream, but it was that fat free stuff. We'll get the good stuff when I'm with you!

Do you think he enjoyed it?

After a busy day full of visiting with family, fun, and lots of yummy food, Eli was tuckered out! We had such a great time today. I can't wait to celebrate even more holidays with my little guy. He makes each one so much more special now :)

So tired from their busy day...