Indepedence Day 2013

The three of us celebrated 4th of July together and had a wonderful time, but it was also a hard day for J and I.  It was another "first" holiday without our sweet princess. All day long, we kept thinking we should have had our lil princess with us, in our arms, enjoying the day, in her cute 4th of July dress. . .

Instead of loving on her, the day before, we decorated her marker with patriotic flowers, an America flag and a couple of pinwheels.

We had already purchased her dress back in November on clearance.  I still remember how excited I was to finally have the opportunity to buy lil girl dresses.  As soon as I showed it to J, we immediately thought it would be the perfect 4th of July dress for Ava. . .never knowing, she would never get to wear it. =(

On Fourth of July morning, J surprised me by installing the hardware for our new flag. He let B have the honors of hanging the flag for the first time.

 

I LOVE the extra, patriotic touch it adds to our house. =)

 

Afterwards we headed off to the parade in downtown, but as usual we were running a lil behind. Once we got closer, we realized how bad traffic was leading up to it, so we all made the decision to just skip it this year and we could try again next year. Instead we ran a few errands, then went to visit our princess to take our family holiday photos.

 

Afterwards, we went home, watched a movie, and J grilled some yummy turkey burgers while I made a potato salad.  We decided to have an inside picnic. . .away from the heat and bugs. =)  For dessert, I made 4th of July "cupcakes in a cone" topped with star sprinkles and Pop Rocks. 

B thought they were YUMMY!

J's parents visited us last weekend and his mom brought us the precious angel laying down. I LOVE it!

We got some family swim time in too. =)

 

Then we went back to see our princess and do some "celebration poppers" with her.

This picture shows the anticipation on their faces of their grand finale.  Unfortunately it turned out to be a dud and did nothing! =)

 

 We also got to capture a BEAUTIFUL sunset.

 

Then we headed off to get our spot for the fireworks.

Waiting patiently for the firework show to begin. =)

 

As we were watching the fireworks, I happened to look up in the sky at one point. I showed the boys, what seemed to be the brightest star in the sky, just happened to be right above us. It was our sense of peace.  Our lil angel was right there with us, watching the fireworks, only she had the best seat in the world. =)

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!

 

Thanks for following along with us,