America's Birthday

We had a really great fourth! The first pic was actually taken Sunday at church--the boys looked so cute in their red/blue/white shirts!

Yesterday, Shane was off work (that was so great!) and we headed over to Aunt Karen's in the morning and swam for quite awhile. Cameron absolutely has no fear at all of the water--he jumps off the edge and into the pool for Shane to catch him....then back up on the edge and in again. This continued yesterday until Daddy was pooped! It was so cute. Colin is a big fan of playing on the stairs of the pool (water getting in his mouth is not his favorite) so Shane invented a game called fill up Aunt Karen's watering can and pour it over Colin and Cameron's heads. Pretty fun game apparently, because the boys loved it! Ethan sat happily for quite awhile in his favorite toy right now, his excersaucer. I even got a chance to swim! We headed back home after about 2 hours and had some lunch, then EVERYONE napped. Swimming tires out little boys (and mommies!) pretty well! We got up, worked around the house for a bit, then went into Danville for some fireworks. We normally like to go to Champaign and watch the University of Illinois' show (it is amazing!) but since there was a threat of rain AND Ethan and Cameron are both still pretty little, we decided to stay in town. We treated the boys to ice cream and then headed to the American Legion. On the way, I was explaining to Colin about what the fourth of July stood for, and how it was "America's Birthday." Colin was quiet for a minute, thinking about what I had just told him, and all of a sudden we heard Cameron singing his rendition of "Happy Birthday to you!" It sounds much more like "Hap bbbbbffff choo choo", but the tune was right, and we sure knew what he was singing! It was sooooo cute.

The fireworks were just about perfect for the boys.....they were relatively intermittent, so they had time to follow each one, and there weren't too many really loud ones. Cameron really didn't know what to think at first (these were his first fireworks ever) but after a little lip-quivering, and saying, "loud, loud" a few times, he began to get in the spirit of things and really enjoy himself. Colin LOVED them, and even Ethan sat and watched--no kidding, he really followed them with his eyes and seemed to like it! No tears or anything! I was somewhat surprised at that, but certainly thankful. It was another wonderful family day--I am so thankful for my country and my family!