Happy 4th of July!

I know this is a little late, but we were out of town for the weekend and I didn't have internet access!  I can blog from my phone, but I haven't figured it out yet and we were pretty busy, so I didn't have time to mess with it.  It was a working weekend for us, as we have some big projects to tackle (next post), but we had a really nice long holiday weekend.

We had an extra special visit from my baby sister, Aunt Lynnette, on Saturday and I'm sad to say I did not get one picture.  I am SO mad at myself.  It was great to see her and spend a little time visiting, and she was able to get some snuggle time in with Carys.  She went canoeing on the 4th (her birthday) with friends, but she stopped by again on Monday.  This time she brought Carys's adopted Aunt Mary Beth.  Mary Beth and Lynnette have been best friends since 2nd grade, so she is officially considered part of the family.  I was so happy to see both of them before we hit the road - I miss them so much!  Carys was ready for her nap, so she wasn't the happiest camper, but Aunt Netty read her one of her favorite books and that calmed her down, for a little bit anyway!

Sorry girls - I stole some Facebook photos of you! 

Happy Birthday Aunt Netty!

LK & MB 

 We were also lucky to have a visit from Uncle David too.  He worked hard all day with Scott, but we also managed to squeeze in some chill time.  The most important thing was that he was there to witness Carys's first SOLO steps!!!  She was standing next to Dad, and when he let go she took two steps on her own before crashing into him!  She still has quite a way to go before she gets that balance thing fully worked out, but she's improving and before long I think we'll be chasing after her!  

Uncle Dave quickly figured out that the fastest way to earn this girl's affection is to feed her, and 

 I think this will be the first of many chats between these two!

Knowing it was going to be a super hot weekend, we decided to stop on our way into town and get Carys a pool.  Unfortunately for Scott, with all of our stuff in Ohio including the air compressor, he had to spend the night before blowing it up!  All the hard work was worth it though, because Carys loved it!  In fact, we all took turns cooling off, and Carys even had her lunch in the pool!

After swimming, we came in to take a nap while the boys went for a bike ride.  Carys chilled in her pack'n'play for a little bit, but decided she did not want to waste the holiday sleeping, so I got her up and we played all afternoon.  She was being a goofball and cracking me up.  Another first this weekend was Carys decided to add a new syllable to her babbling, and I couldn't be more excited because it's MaMa MaMa!!!  This girl has been saying DaDa DaDa for months now, but I could not get her to make the "M" sound even though I say it to her like 50 times a day!  Of course after seeing my reaction, she's been saying it ever since, and it just melts my heart! 

 Being sassy!

Texting the grandparents to say Happy 4th!  

After Uncle David hit the road to get home for his own 4th celebration, we went to dinner at Quay Street, one of our favorite spots.  We both had tomato bisque soup, which is so yummy, and then I had a chicken ceasar salad and Scott had the brewhouse burger.  Carys enjoyed a little of both mom & dad's dinner, and thankfully she had fun and behaved long enough for us enjoy our dinner.  After getting home, we gave her a quick bath and she barely made it to her 7 pm bedtime - she was exhausted!  Scott and I sat on the deck and took in the fireworks going on around us.  It was such a beautiful night and great to spend some time together just relaxing and chatting.  Of course we stayed up later than normal, so Carys's 6 am wake time came way sooner than we would have liked, but it was worth being able to squeeze in some extra alone time.  It was a busy weekend, but a lot of fun and getting to see some of our favorite people made it even better!

I love the 4th of July! It's always been a special holiday because it's my sister's birthday, but I also love the spirit of the day.  Celebrating with BBQ, family and fireworks is what I love about summer.  It also reminds me to stop and give thanks for those that have sacrificed so much for our freedom.  God bless the USA!