All-American

Independence Day has become my favorite holiday behind Christmas. The older I get the more I value our freedom and what the fourth of July truly means. And this year the day kind of felt like a big national celebration as everyone was united by our nationality and debates about same-sex marriage, immigration, etc. were set aside at least for one day.

This was a week prior to the fourth but it hadn't found it's way on the blog yet. "Easy like Sunday mornings"-or not. Those are usually our hardest mornings. Sister was feeling it, brother was not.

Our county fair most notably known as the Catfish Festival is the week of the fourth but unfortunately this year (and the past couple years!) it rained so much we were only able to go one night. So we stayed home and played a lot this week. It was pajamas and big messes galore. This night I found an awesome deal on a double stroller I have been wanting on Craigslist and so we loaded up and headed to Tennessee at 7 o'clock on a Tuesday night. I love the spontaneity of summer nights and I love our new stroller! Hopefully the rain will go away and we can start using it.

Between the storms we did get in a little pool time. Once this girl warms up to the water she is a fish!

This boy has done a lot of relaxing in the shade. I can't explain just how easy of a baby he is. So thankful.

A little sparkler action at Granddad and Grandmomma's house.

The morning of the fourth Georgia Grace entered her terrapin that she so affectionately named Simon in the annual terrapin race. Our cousins Payton and Elijah had the idea and my uncle found the turtle for her on the side of the road the night before the race :) Simon (he was #129 out of 150 turtles!) got 4th in his heat and she was so proud of him. We kept him for a little while that day and then we explained that he needed to go home to his mommy and daddy so we put him on a log in the woods. We were playing outside last night and she asked, "Do you think Simon will come back and see me?" Melted my heart completely.

Sprinkler fun in our backyard with Ma

Roman and his mommy and daddy came over to celebrate with us and we tried to get a cute picture of these two and this was the best we could get. They were too busy fighting over the hose nozzle and/or the flag.

My all-American babes. This time last year we had no idea we would be celebrating the this year with our baby boy. God's blessings are abundant!

We went to the Catfish Festival and ran into Miss Catfish who just so happens to be one of my former cross-country babies! Hannah is the most beautiful girl inside and out, she is a great representative for our county. Georgia was mesmerized by her crown!

This was her first year to ride the carnival rides and she was excited about it. Her big cousin Keagen was such a sweetheart to ride with her.

Riding the motorcycle ride, just like her Pa!

The festivities continued Sunday with the annual "Thunder Over Grancer" at our friend's house. I made peach homemade ice cream and the container was scraped clean!

It was a crawfish boil and everything was delicious!! I ate my weight in fish.

This girl loved the homemade ice cream :)

Hope you had a wonderful Independence Day! We have so much to be thankful for.