Happy 4th of July!

We had a very relaxed, low-key 4th of July yesterday.  It was actually very non-patriotic (not that we aren't grateful for our freedom.  We are.)  It was still fun, nonetheless!

I started the day off early, super-excited that I finally got out of bed to make it to a class at the gym, and got there to realize... they were closed!  BUT, there was a Starbuck's across the street, and my kids wouldn't even be waking up for another hour or so, so I did something I haven't done in several years.  I got some coffee and read the newspaper.  The entire newspaper (well, except the sports section, ew!), all by myself!  It was glorious.

Then we got the boys up, picked up some pizza, and headed over to "Uncle Chris & Aunt Tara's" house!  We had such a great time!  It's so fun now that all the kids are old enough to interact and be cousins!  (Thanks for having us over, guys!)

Taylor is a natural mom!  She is so cute with the boys... she loves playing with them and is like the big sister they never had!  Look how cute she is holding Bo:

I love how Bo is smiling at Rylee here:

Toby had fun playing with toys that aren't his, plus having a cousin who loves trains as much as he does!

Taylor, with her beautiful picture she drew with me!
Toby loved this hat!

The highlight, for me, though, was this moment:

I cannot figure out how to post video (anyone wanna help me? :~) but this was HILARIOUS!  First of all, as a side note, Uncle Chris and Aunt Tara are celebrities in our home!  Seriously.  Anytime the boys hear a song that Chris or Tara have sung, they get so excited and squeal, "Uncle Chris' song!" or "Aunt Tara's song!" (and even sometime's "Tay-Tay's song!")  So, Chris got out his guitar and was gracious enough to let CJ whack it over and over again, and sing with him.  The video is hysterical, though... CJ just repeats whatever Chris says, and then adds some rap at the end.  I love the footage of CJ at the guitar, Taylor laughing with him and dancing around, Trevor jumping up and down and doing flips over and over on the couch, and Toby playing with toys in the background... all their personalities in one shot!  (Sorry, Rylee, I think you were sleeping! :~)
We came home, all tuckered out, and the boys fell asleep right away!  Later, while I was making dinner (BBQ chicken, chile-lime corn, and dill mashed potatoes with Lemon-Cornmeal Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches for dessert) I looked out in the hall way to see this:
The boys were watching a Sesame Street with Ernie singing a song, and started dancing together, holding hands!  Sooo cute!  Again, I really wish I could figure out how to post video, b/c this picture doesn't really show their little "ring-around-the-rosie" type dance.  

So, after dinner, we put the boys down, Keith got some ice cream for us (I love him so!), and we watched "Vantage Point."  It was an insanely good movie!  I highly recommend it!  I didn't even finish my ice cream until the movie was almost done... I didn't want to look away from the screen...

It was all in all, not a very "Red, White and Blue" kind of day, but still tons of fun!  Maybe next year we can actually see fireworks :~)