Celebrating Family!

I feel terrible. The only pictures I took for the fourth were of Alex and her cousin's. We were going to stay home and just have Jason's parents over for the fourth of July, but we were invited to Jason's cousins house instead (along with Jason's parents because Jason's mom is Jason's cousin's auntie). The more the merrier! It was nice for the girls to get to see their cousins, but I didn't get to see my 2 oldest girls much that day. Samantha who is almost 8, had a friend over who was just one school year younger than Mary, and they all thought it would be cool to go to the park down the street instead of hanging out with the old people and the babies (meaning Alex and the littlest cousins Michael,3 and Mathew,2). Normally Alex would have wanted to go with her sisters but she was having too much fun getting her pig tails pulled by her very boyish, and active cousins. I think she loved being chased down by them, and they loved having a little girl around to torture, that wasn't their sister. I'm sure Samantha lets them know who's boss! Sooo, I got pictures of Alex playing in the back yard with the boys while the older girls were at the park. They came back, we ate, and they went back to the park. When it came time to see the fire works I made sure that my camera was in my purse. Since we had to carry chairs, blankets and a cooler for 3 blocks, I decided to leave my purse in my car. Forgetting of course, about my camera. The pictures would have been great too! There was a park that the kids played in before the fireworks started. Rob got the kids all an ice cream and they all made such a mess since it was so hot and humid out. I LOVE messy pictures! Oh well. The girls loved the fireworks as always. We had a great night with family!

Even though I feel guilty that I don't have a picture with all of the kids from the fourth, I will still post these of Alex and her cousins. And just so that I don't leave the other girls out, here's some that I took outside today of the girls riding their bikes.











Speaking of family, this August we will welcome a new member to the family. My little sister called me this morning to announce her engagement! She is having a little wedding in early August. She sure didn't leave herself enough time for planning! Deborah will be starting her third year in college this fall, and I guess she wanted to get married soon so that they can find an apartment near her school in the city. I mentioned to her that she CAN move in with him before getting married.....but my parents raised a good Christian girl! She will not live with him unless they are married, that is her reasoning behind getting married so soon! I still think of Deborah as being Mary's age, it seems so weird that she is in College and is getting married! She is studying music, and is planning on being a music teacher/instructor. She was so excited to learn that Mary has expressed an interest in playing the Viola this fall. Deborah plays the violin, the viola, piano, cello, and bass I think. She is so good, she can make you cry and she can make you laugh when she plays. For the past few weeks she has been giving Mary private lessons. She doesn't ask for payment, and she refuses my money. She looks at it as a learning experience for herself and Mary. Like they are both getting something out of it. Guess I'll just have to get her a few things on her bridal registry! Since my mother only lives about 20 miles from my house it's not a big deal to drive there weekly, but I don't know about driving out to the city for Mary's lessons! (We'll talk about this next week Deborah!)