Fourth of July Festivities

Since the 4th of July was on a Thursday this year Joe had a 4 day weekend! It is so nice when he has off that much time. Reese loves having him here and I do, too. Unfortunately, there wasn't much relaxing--we stayed pretty busy all 4 days.

Fortunately, we had a great, long weekend.

We spent Thursday in Chandler with my Dad and Charlotte. We cooked out and swam. Reese swam pretty much non stop from 1:30-5:30. No nap, hardly any resting, and she was exhausted by bedtime.

The life jacket she's wearing is called a Puddle Jumper. It's the best swimming invention out there. We don't have to mess with putting her in a full size life jacket (that all kids hate anyway) or floaties. She can move around the pool freely, but still stay safely above the water. She's worn it a few times before, but this was the first time she took off swimming all on her own.

Sisters reunited,

Cousins bonded,

and Shared Secrets,

and Reese spent a straight hour (at least) holding her Aunt Kate's new puppy, Lily.

It was a wonderful way to spend the 4th of July.

On Friday, we spent the morning hanging out with my friend Shannon and her son Austin. They play so well together despite their age difference. Austin is so kind to Reese. 

Splash Pad Fun,

Playground Fun,

Chocolate Chip Cookie Eating Fun,

 and Sunbathing Fun was had by both kiddos!

Saturday morning Joe, Reese, and I met Emma and her family for story time at Barnes and Noble. 

These girls are so sweet together.

We ate lunch with Emma's family, too, before I made my way down to Norman for the Tornado Relief Concert. It was hot. I am 7 months pregnant. It was worth it to see one man--Garth Brooks! 

Now, I am not a huge country music fan, but my sister, Kate, definitely is (or was?) so growing up I listened to a bunch of Garth Brooks' songs. She would make me sing duets with her over and over and over again until we got "our act" together. Listening to him brought back such good memories of us doing that (thinking we could actually sing-HA) plus he is such a great entertainer. 

Our Sunday was spent running errands for our "projects". We are currently remodeling our guest bathroom, picking out a bed frame, painting our bedroom, decorating the soon to be babies' room, de-cluttering, reorganizing, donating, trimming trees, waterproofing our front yard, and the list doesn't stop there. 

Can anyone say--nesting? Yeah, I'd say we're in full nesting mode at this point.

With this intensity of nesting going on does it surprise anyone to know that I started having contractions on Sunday night? They lasted on and off for over an hour +. Luckily, I drank a bunch of water, laid on my left side, rested, and they went away. Don't worry readers--I had a scheduled doctor's appointment early the next morning and everything is fine. She said I needed to rest as much as possible (easier said than done with a 2.5 year old) and that I needed to stay hydrated. Both of which I'm trying to do.

I wish we could have more 4 day weekends like this one. I hope yours was just as good!