4th of july

this year we invited the baldwin clan and some friends over for the fourth of july.  pflugerville does a huge pfirecracker pfestival (yes, of course that's how it's spelled in pflugerville!) at the lake each year, and for some reason they had it on the third.  so, everyone came up for the weekend.  it was so much fun!  i love cody's family, and we are so blessed to live close to them.  it's especially fun for the kids.  cousins make the best of friends.

i had a great time getting ready for everyone to come.  mae and i made blue and red cupcakes. and of course we had to test the batter. all week long mae was asking when her cousins were coming. and when we would see the fireworks.  i would tell her not until friday and she would cry and say not friday, now!  to say she was excited would be an understatement.

we also bought a slip n slide for the kids to play on.  it was so much fun to watch them!  mae didn't really run and slide.  she mostly walked across the tarp...my gentle giant

 these kids get along so well together.  they always have a great time when they see each other.  i love it.

 after the kids played for a while, we headed down to the lake to check out what they had going on.  they had lots of different vendors, and a couple of bounce houses for the kids.  i didn't think mae would actually get in the bounce house, but she did.

 then we came home and played some more.

 cody bought a bunch of fireworks to set off for the kids.  in pflugerville fireworks are illegal, but we live right outside the town limits, so cody went ahead and bought some.  i'm not going to lie i was a little nervous.  this was mae's first year seeing the fireworks, so i wasn't sure how she was going to handle them.  but, she loved them!

 every fourth of july should have sparklers

the first firework...

 the second...seriously i had a better time watching the kids than the fireworks.

 i think cody had a pretty good time picking out the fireworks and lighting them

i'm not sure why the roman candles had to be taped to a baseball bat, but they did.

 mae and tessa were brave and helped cody hold the bat when the fireworks went off

the next day we took the crew downtown.  these sweet girls!

 and of course made a stop at in n out. these kiddos are so fun.

 tessa loved izzy.  she was so adorable with her. 

 this little cutie.  finally got him to smile for me!!

we had such a blast.  we're so grateful to live close to family, and that they drove up to see us this weekend!  i love when we get together, and i especially love when our kids get together.  i'm so glad that they will be able to grow up together.