Family, Fun, and Fireworks--Happy 4th of July

This Fourth of July was very nice for us because we are finally in the same state as our family and not traveling in a rush to visit. On Friday night James and I made Shawn a special project. James was so excited to use his hands to make the flag and then glue his stars on the blue square :). Before we gave it to Shawn James was telling him about it...so any secret you need held dont tell James :). Shawn made a big ooh and ahh over it which made James smile from ear to ear. Shawn even hung it in the garage which is pretty neat.

On Saturday Shawn and James went to Crossville to visit Shawn's mom's side of the family since he hasn't seen his cousins in while. I opted to stay home because traveling or anything lately just is too tiring on me being 34 weeks pregnant. The drive was about 2 hours and everything is outside and I just am not a fan of the heat. So they arrived and did all the fun stuff there like swimming, eating, fishing, and operating his favorite remote control speed boat. Shawn said James would eat much but when he saw Shawn get some of the banana pudding I sent he climbed up in the chair and ate it all!! James LOVES banana pudding lately and it's so cute. On the way home James went to sleep only for about 30 minutes and then woke up thankfully b/c it was like 6:30 and I worried about bedtime. Shawn and James arrived back home around 8:40 and I hopped in the car and we drove to watch the fireworks. We decided to go to Patton Island Bridge which was perfect b/c we could view them from the walking bridge and they were not loud and scary like last year for James. James liked the fireworks but enjoyed walking the bridge more I think. Then we went home and got him ready for bed. He was so tired. Shawn's not much of a photographer so this is the only picture I have of James in Crossville with the cousins.

On Sunday we ate at mom's with James other cousins, my sister, Shawn's dad and my mom. The weather was not sunny but the kids decided to swim anyway. After a bit of swimming it was time to eat. The kids played for a while and then we went outside and did sparklers and snap n' pops. It is so nice to be with family and just relax and enjoy it. James has a jammed packed weekend of fun and it is nice to see him interact with family. We know our time here is short lived and then we'll be hours away again but it's ok b/c we now know that we can make memories as a family of 4 (soon) :)