Happy Independence Day - 3 Days Later (What can I say? We've been busy.)

Katie had spend the night we one of her cousins the night before.  So, it was just me, Daddy, and Kinsley.  We woke up early and went to Beaumont.  We stopped by Academy where we got Daddy some bright, beachy shirts, beach shoes and cover-ups for both girls, and sunscreen.  We are thrilled to be going to the beach again for our family vacation.

After Academy we stopped by the mall.  I had a few gift cards from Bealls that were burning a hole in my wallet.  They needed to be spent.  I found a pair of shorts, 2 tank tops, and a bathing suit for our beach trip. 

Katie came home at around 4:00 and she brought Abby with her.  We had a lot of things planned that evening and they couldn't wait to get started.

We made a birthday cake to celebrate America's Independence.  Kinsley loves to help me in the kitchen.

So does her cousin, Abby.

Katie had a busy day playing outside with Abby on the Slip-in-Slide.  She needed a nap.

After we ate and the cake was baking, we decided to pop our own firecrackers while we waited to head to the park for the firework show there.

Katie has always been scared of loud noises.  She had earplugs in and her hands over her ears.

We drove to my sister's house to park our car since she lives so close to the park.  We walked the rest of the way.  Well, we ran, because we didn't want to miss all of it.

The fireworks were beautiful.

When we got home we lit the sparklers.  Thank goodness for Pinterest.  I found this idea on there.  Why have I never thought of using a plastic cup to protect those little hands?

Kinsley wouldn't do a sparkler, but Katie and Abby did.  They were writing their names with the sparklers.

While we were at the park, Daddy frosted and decorated the cake.  Why didn't I think to get some blueberries????  We sang Happy Birthday to America and then we dug in.

She wanted to more when she was done.  I swear this girl has a worm in her belly.  She has been eating so much lately.

The next day we went to Nanny's house (my sister) where we played with Lily and Ava and Katie learned how to do the Slip-In-Slide.  I needed to work on my tan so that I don't burn next week at the beach.

Katie had a tooth ache.  Poor baby.  She didn't let it stop her from having fun though.  Dentist appt. is July 30th.  She's going to regret having told me that her tooth hurts....LOL.

MIA Post - December 2012 Part 3

We didn't stay very late at Maw Maw's house for Christmas.  We had to get home and in bed so that Santa would stop and bring us goodies.

I caught Santa as he was setting out all of the toys.

I love this part!!!

Santa wanted us to know that he supports our "Boys" too.

Wake up sleepy heads!

Wow!  What a happy mess.

After we open our gifts on Christmas morning, we load up in the car and head over to my mom's.  All of us eat breakfast together and we open gifts.

My hubby ran across this in October.  It was the perfect gag gift.  We were all crying from laughing so hard.  The best gag gift EVER!!!

Opening gifts from Maw Maw.

New Year's Eve got here quickly.  We did the same thing we do every year.  Made lots of food, had lots to drink, and popped lots of fireworks.  Well, we tried to do the last two, but I don't drink much, and it rained all night.  We popped fireworks during the brief periods that it wasn't raining.

Baby it's cold outside...not really.

She made it to 10:30.

I took no more pictures that evening.  Amy and I played with Ava and Lily while my girls slept.  We did make it to midnight, but barely. The house was cleaned up and we were in bed at 12:45.  We're getting too old to party this hard.

Happy New Year!  Can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for my family. 

It's going to be a spectacular year.