My Country 'Tis of Thee

Let it be officially known that the 4th of July is my 2nd favorite holiday! Or did you already know that?

I should report how blessed we feel to be living in our new home. At first we wondered if we shouldn't just save money and live one more year being squished and cramped in our little 2 bed condo. But, we're so glad we made the decision to move here. With every new home we move into I feel more and more like a real homemaker where I'm able to decorate and be a "real" adult. We just bought our first couch Memorial Day weekend and have for the first time in our 5 yr married life, a real living room! It's such a blessing and a desire of my heart fulfilled.

We bought a 9 cube organizer which I'm using as our "mantle" to decorate for the season. Here's my 4th of July decor:

This was great fun! Waving flags while humming (by humming I mean saying "knee, knee, knee") the tune "You're a grand ole flag, you're a high flyin' flag" aka "Do your ears hang low?" These are the joys in motherhood I try to relish to get me through the times when both of them are whining and screaming while I'm trying to get dinner on the table. But, look at their faces. It's totally worth it right?

I love my boy!

We were blessed to spend 4th of July weekend for the 2nd year in a row with Evelyn & Mike! One of the greatest blessings in life is to spend time with friends who truly know and love you. I was happy to soak up some much needed Ev time (it had been a yr). So happy in fact that we forgot to take pics together apparently :(

We had high hopes of a rousing game of The Declaration of Independence trivia and a reading. Didn't happen. Hopefully next year.

We did do some sight seeing with the Smallwoods. We hung out at Tybee for a couple hours in the evening while the kids played in the sand and the water.

On the menu we had BBQ chicken (brined and grilled by my fabulous husband), corn on the cob, pasta salad & a patriotic berry trifle made with Ina's flag cake instead of pound cake. The 4th of July dessert is always the crown jewel. This year didn't disappoint.

The day of we headed to Hutchinson Island to watch the firework show on the Savannah river. Charlie didn't want to pay $3 to park so we explored the island and found a new housing division filled with empty lots and a golf course where we could watch it for free. We had fun walking and exploring except for when Charlie got attacked by fire ants. They crawled all the way up his body and even got a bite on his face! And the rest of us got attacked by mosquitoes. Wish I would have brought the bug spray.

Silly girls (& crawling boy)

We brought our camping chairs and the kids sat in the jogging stroller while we watched the show and oohed and ahhed. We left a little before the grand finale so we could beat the traffic off the island. We ran and made it just in time. The kids crashed on the way home so we weren't able to do our own fireworks. Overall- a splendid holiday.