Fourth of July

Now that Justin is out of the Army, we have kissed our four day weekends goodbye.  In fact, I think he has maybe earned one day of leave so far.  This July 4th we joined the majority of America with our one celebratory Wednesday.

We decided to have a low-key barbeque by the pool.  We first spent the morning as a family.

James watched his new favorite movie, Bolt, about an actor puppy and his child owner.  James has since been trying to ‘hold Lyna’ and ‘hug Lyna’ which is sweet, but is likely to ruffle some feathers.

We sang Happy Birthday to America and ate America pancakes.  {James actually sang “Happy biwfday Ammew-i-aaaa” later.}

We got ready to go to the store.  James said to Justin: “Daddy, guess what?  We gonna go to da stowe and get a cookie.”  I got him the free cookie at Publix one time, and it has been “Mommy, dat way pweeeeease” pointing to the bakery every since.

I made Fourth of July strawberries while, the guys played in the backyard.

We had beer, a grill, and family.  All we needed was water!

There are plenty of days in which I put James down for a nap, and he is absolutely exhausted, but doesn’t sleep.  I leave him in his crib during “rest time.”  It’s become a joke that any time we have something fun planned for the afternoon, this little guy takes a marathon nap.  We finally woke him up.

It was time to celebrate the 4th and swim with cousins!  We first “put face in da wa-wa” aka dunked.

James is in his second week of swimming lessons, and we are working very hard on teaching him to swim.  After James dunks with Daddy, he gets to “fly in da air!”

Harper just had swimming lessons, too.  It’s so fun that these cousins are so eager to learn swimming together.

James’ lessons were aggressive, which was needed for his strong-willed personality.  It gave him the fear that he needs of water, but he still LOVES to swim.  Except now, he waits for an adult before he jumps in.  His favorite pool spot now is the steps.  While I watch from about a foot away, he practices putting his face in the water, blowing bubbles, pulling up on the wall, and kicking his feet.  He practices on his own and is very eager to learn how to swim completely.

Harper and Sasa went fishing.

Then James joined him.

They are so close, and I love that they are growing up together.

Before we knew it, it was dinner time.  Fireworks and sparklers were not on our agenda so, we did glow sticks instead.  They were A HIT!

This is the only picture I got of cousin Olivia.  She was sleeping when we were swimming, but she was ready to party when she woke up. :)

So that was our Fourth.  Much more low key than they used to be.  A perfect day.