July 4th on the 1st! (and 2nd; and some of the 4th)

I tried to write this post on the 1st, and then the 2nd, and then I don't even know what happened to the 3rd, so here we are on the 4th and I'm trying to catch up on last weekend before 30 people come over to our house at 3 to celebrate the 4th (again!), now on its proper day. Winston has his party face on and it's going to be a good day.

Actually, right now he looks like this:

But he did party and I'm sure he'll wake up by 8 p.m. to party just a little more again. While he naps/snores incredibly endearingly loudly let's go back to Saturday when we drove to Houston to spend a quick but super fun weekend with my parents!

My mom treated the kids to a round of floats at Target and they made some very excellent choices.

We played in the pool- even me! Mostly so I could model my awesome new rash guard set from Cabana Life. Claire was in her set too. Still love their stuff- Claire's is nearly a year old with TONS of sun/pool time and it still looks perfect. (This is not sponsored, but they did reach out since I kept talking about them and you can use the code LLSPF to get 20% off your order!)

But mostly I sat under the shade like a good 35-year-old with a skin cancer scar and watched the shenanigans from the patio.

My parents had their pool recovered and in doing so, added a hot tub. It's awesome and Cora-approved.

We ate delicious bison burgers on my dad's new Big Green Egg that night and then headed out to a local fireworks show.

I don't think we'd done a real fireworks show with the kids since we lived in Austin (they're so late!) so it was SO fun to get back to that tradition and the kids LOVED IT. Especially Cora. I know I say it all the time, but I really can't wait until Disney.

Despite going to bed at 10:30, everyone was up bright and early for more swimming.

Lots more swimming.

I put on my festive swim suit and snapped a quick picture of Cora in HER festive swimsuit (and festive penguin?) before donning my matching rash guard. #SunProtectionParty.

Uncle Eric ("Ewick!!!") came over and he was immediately drafted into the pool.

Much more swimming and sun screen applying later, my dad's parents, sister, and brother in law (so my grandparents and aunt and uncle) arrived Philly (by way of San Antonio!). It was SO GREAT to get to see them and they loved the new house and pool.

We ate tasty catered Mexican food and the kids swam for their 20th hour of the 28 hour trip.

We left about 4:30 p.m. and all I could think about on the ride home was how much I had missed Winston. (He stayed back with our pet sitter since we felt he was just getting settled in our house and there were a LOT of people and dogs at my parents house and we were only gone one night; I think it was very much the right call, but I missed him SO MUCH).

I think he missed us too.

On Monday we had work, doctors appointments, and friend swimming appointments. James coached all day. All the kids were home. It's hazy.

Today we woke up early to start prepping for our party (an 8 lb. version of this pork is simmering in my crock pot along with many other things) and for our awesome little neighborhood 4th of July parade!

Friends of our always make a float and this year Landon and Claire and a bunch of their friends got to ride in it, so James made Winston a float and walked them over to our friend's house.

Cora was in fine form for the occasion. I just set out her t-shirt last night and told her she could wear whatever else she wanted.

Challenge accepted.

Winston felt left out so we found him some beads and glasses. I feel like I really missed out on an opportunity to accessorize the dog. Next year will be big.

The parade was super cute. Our friend's float was awesome and the big kids loved it!

Everyone was throwing out dog treats and candy and we were cracking up because Winston won't eat treats and Cora hates candy, so it was all lost on them. They would have appreciated more beads though.

And now our back yard is cleaned, our tables our loaded, and our beer cooler awaits all the beer- Happy 4th of July to you all!