Celebrating Independence

Happy Belated 4th of July! I hope that like us, you spent the past weekend celebrating the birth of our nation amongst food, family and friends. Thankfully, the weather was unusually cool and breezy for July in PA (which was good because the two parties we attended last weekend in the sauna horrendous heat and humidity had us all "partied out" for the summer), so a blast was had by all. We started out the day cleaning getting stuff done around the house, then went for a quick swim at Gigi's (because Jason and I had not been in the pool all summer so far, a travesty for two former competitive swimmers), followed by a picnic at Gaga and Pop's. It was great to see a bunch of my mom's family that we hadn't seen in awhile (we're totally not afraid to leave our house with The Tods, I swear). I managed to get some pictures with the good camera this time, so brace yourselves, here they come...

The Happiest Toddler On the Block

These pictures speak for themselves.

Possibly one of my favorite pictures ever taken.
Totally due to the very goofy genuine smiles!

Brady had a case of perma-smile.
Never a bad thing for a 2 year-old.

On the other hand, his sister had the opposite going on.
More like perma-frown. Not because she dislikes the pool, but because she's 1 going on 13.

Miss Independent.
It will be her decision, and her decision alone, to enter the pool.



This is the "Mommy-Why-Aren't-You-Doing-What-Say-With-My-Whine?" face.
This face is a frequent visitor.
Luckily, it's adorable.

And what her whine said was food, not swimming.
Nothing comes between my girl and her chicken nuggets.

A very ladylike eater.
Not at all scarfing fistfuls of chicken.

Once the belly was full, she decided she would go for a swim.
You probably shouldn't try this at home.
Clearly, this child's mother is not giving her the best advice.

A smile!
The 5 chicken nuggets she just ate might have played a part in this happiness.

And another one!
Shhh, we won't tell her when she's an actual teenager.

Daddy Photobomb.
Good one, Jase.

Time to go to Gaga's! We arrived to find that Pop had the chicken covered.
Crap. Now I'm hungry.

Brady was so excited by all the fun that he had a happy kiss for his Sister.
Excuse my while I sob uncontrollably over this photo.

Same face, different gender, 18 months in between.
Not the world's most-focused photo, but the identical facial expressions are priceless.

Another kiss.

That got a smile!
I know I know, it's all fun and games between siblings...for now.

This guy loves all the shiny things.

And so he must try to figure out how to make it his own.
Brynne showed up to offer scheming advice moral support.

As Brady makes his move, "I didn't tell him to do it, Mom, I swear."
She's definitely not his willing accomplice.
This photo clearly incriminates them both Brady and Brady only.

Going for the other one with Uncle Dan to witness.
If you're going down, you might as well do it with a bang!

I wanted a photo with my adorable daughter in our matching outfits.
And matching crazy hair.
This was the only way to coax a smile out of the little turd the mini pre-teen.



Attempt #1

Attempt #2

Attempt #3

And now I'm just waving at Jason the camera with a fussy child on my lap.

At first glance, this appears to be a successful shot.
What it actually was, however, was me smiling at a child who's crying face looks a lot like her smiling face.

And I finally give up and accept defeat.
At the same time, I secretly scheme to tell everybody she was happily laughing in these photos.

This is what she wanted to do instead of get her picture taken.
She's very nurturing. I expect her to be amazing mother someday.

This is another thing she wanted to do over picture-taking.
She's too wild to be tamed.
She needs to run free.

Trying her hardest to keep up with Big Bro.
Incidentally, Brady is too wild to be tamed too.
Jason and I have one heckuva gene pool.

To further prove the above point, this picture.
Run Little Girl, Run!

And this picture.
He needs no encouragement. He is always run-ning!
(Yes, I said that like Forrest Gump)

Meanwhile.

A kite!
More running.
See? I do not lie.

Sister and Daddy joined.
Because Sister can never be left out, and Daddy wanted Mommy to try out The Chair.
(Mommy took pics instead.)

Kite-flying superstar.
I always knew my child would be some kind of prodigy, but I have to admit, kite-flying did not cross my mind.
To each his own.

The party went on after that to include much more food fun and games, but Mommy needed a rest and the camera got put away. It was a great day though and we went home exhausted (what else is new?).

I have a lot to blog about this week, so come back soon! The long-awaited reveal of the high dresser I re-finished in our Master Bedroom makeover is FINALLY going to happen (I promise), as well as a tutorial involving a really satisfying DIY project. So, if you're bored enough to read following this blog, make sure you check back at least 2 more times this week!