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Fourth of July Fun and a Day Trip to Boot

Weekly Happenings: This week held two fun events. On Thursday, we celebrated the Fourth of July by grilling, relaxing, and popping off fireworks with friends. It was pretty exhausting keeping Abigail from running after the fireworks, though. She still doesn’t have much of a sense of self preservation. We ended up heading back to our house (we were only two doors down) as soon as we finished with our fireworks. The kids were a bit bummed, but once we pulled out ice cream, their frowns disappeared and were replaced with smiles. Friday morning, we took a spontaneous trip to Waco so that we could check out the Magnolia Market (of Fixer Upper fame). Paul kept an eye on the kids outside (there’s an open space where kids can run around and play) while I checked out the market. We didn’t stay long because it was pretty hot, but I’m glad I got to see what I did.

The Weekly Weather: Warm, humid, and sunny…with a mix of rain here and there. It’s pretty typical for July. 🙂

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been busy with work and Daddy duty. I mention that last bit in particular because, as of late, Abigail has not wanted to be left behind when he goes somewhere. I’ve heard, “Daddy! Daddy, wait!” quite a bit the last little bit.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I have basically been doing my typical summer stuff: entertaining kids, piano students, housekeeping, and the like. I also got my eyes checked and my astigmatism is a bit worse, so I need to order new glasses and sunglasses.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been pretty much enjoying the summer life. He had a ton of fun with fireworks. He also recently finished the second Harry Potter book.

What Abigail’s Been Up To: As I mentioned before, she really liked the fireworks and wanted to get right up close to them. It was hard keeping her out of harm’s way. She actually pitched the biggest fit when we headed for home, but luckily, since two-year-olds are rather fickle, she was also the first to perk up at the mentioning of ice cream. I joke with Paul that trying to raise her sometimes feels like raising Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Luckily, most of the time she is sweet and cute with only occasional bits of fury.

This Week in Pictures:

One night with a bad dream followed by the next night full of thunderstorms equals for a sleepy baby.
I thought a Ben Franklin quote would be fitting for my board during the month of July.
I changed out the look for my big vase (before it had some multi-colored glass stones and some battery-operated tea light candles in it). I wanted to lighten it up by switching out the rocks to plain white ones and put some artificial flowers in it.
A close-up of the vase.
She insisted on having her bear ride with her.
Snuggling and watching cartoons.
A Google Photo’s mash-up. They’ll do this every once in a while with photos that are spread apart in time.
All ready for the fun Fourth of July festivities.
She let me do her hair!
Playing piano with her “bubba”.
More couch cuddling.
She discovered that this page had a mirror on it and was trying to see her bow.
Eating a red, white, and blue popsicle and playing with a sparkler. Quite the bit of Americana right there, haha. This was at our friends’ house. They’ll be moving soon, but they’ll still be relatively close, so hopefully we won’t completely lose touch.
Watching the Daddies pop off some fireworks. It wasn’t dark yet, but they could still see a lot of the “sparkles”.
Abigail and her buddy were checking out each others’ head gear.
Watching the “sparkles”.
Enjoying her first popsicle.
She got quite messy, but that’s part of the fun, right?
Demolishing her ice cream.
He was excited that we got waffle cones.
Making sure she got every last drop of ice cream.
On our way to Waco. There’s not only one, but TWO Bucc-ee’s (a super-awesome HUGE gas station). The kids were just a bit excited.
Coming up on the silos (where Magnolia Market is centered).
The silos and the Magnolia sign.
The outside of the market.
I got this fun mug (which I purchased to use as decor rather than drink from)…
…along with a comfy T-shirt.
Playing with her “baby animals”.
Our beautiful front yard. I’m so grateful for all the hard work Paul puts into it!