A Wonderful 4th of July weekend!!

Our weekend started off with a Friday afternoon trip to the water park. Gabriella was more than excited when I told her we were going to go to the pool:)

Jordan spent a lot of time with his little sister that day....

and I think they both enjoyed every moment of it:)

Nicholas had a great time going down the slides, riding on the lazy river, and swimming however his favorite thing....

was seeing "how much air" he could get going off the diving board:)

After a long afternoon at the park it became obvious some family members were getting a little bit tired.

We were able to attend a cookout for a birthday celebration of a very special two year old little girl that I took care of in the NICU. I didn't say anything to her mom about posting pictures so this is the only one I will post for now. I will say it was WONDERFUL to see how well this precious little "cupcake" was doing, spending time with her family that will always be very special to me and reuniting with some very dear people from the NICU. Curtis said "cupcakes" dad is a total grill master and enjoyed some of the best grilled chicken and burgers he has ever had:)

Gabriella experienced her first bon-fire this weekend as well. It took her a little while to understand what we were doing and she was MORE than ready to eat at this point!

The hot dogs were cooked to perfection..

and Gabriella enjoyed every bite of her hot dog! If you check out how she is holding her feet together this is an indication that she is very happy:)







Our little princess, who four months ago did not want to have anything to do with saying grace or her prayers at night reminded us we even needed to say grace at a bon fire:)

Do you see this smile and the princess wave? Gabriella is skyping with her Mei Mei in TN and is loving it!

The girls were absolutely precious! Emily, her Mei Mei from China, sang happy birthday to Gabriella as her birthday is this week:) Emily also taught Gabriella how to sign I love you and she totally melted my heart when she did this. The girls were just adorable as they tried to "play" with each other over skpye! Emily brought her very special dolly to show Gabriella. Gabriella brought a few toys to the computer to show Emily as well as Bailey our golden retriever and she wanted her brothers to come say hi to Emily as well! It was hard on both the girls when they said good-bye and the computer screen went blank...they both needed some TLC afterwards. We are hoping the more we skype the more they will understand they will get to see each other again:)

We also spent time with my parents at their association cookout and fireworks display. Gabriella loved going down the air slide and jumping in castle. Daniel loved taking Gabriella down the air slide and was more than willing to go with her more than once...can you guess what the attraction may have been? He is a wonderful big brother yet he is also 19:)

Gabriella loved cuddling with grandma to watch the fireworks; she also made a comment that we will left unstated on the blog but let's just say everyone got a great laugh out of it:)

Grandma also enjoyed playing with Gabriella's new dolly as we were waiting for the fireworks to begin. Our family and our extended family has been blessed with many boys however Gabriella is only the second girl on my side of the family. Jayda, my niece is now in her teen years so it's been a while since anyone has played with dolls:)

Last but not least every 4th of July I always make a jello cake that the boys and Curtis love. As our first child was due on the 4th of July, and our gut feeling was that it may have been a girl, I always wondered what it may be like to have my daughter help decorate the fourth of July cake...after 20 years I didn't have to wonder any longer! Gabriella made a beautiful patriotic cake! We giggled as we decorated it, put cool whip on each others' noses, she would say "dair, dair, pretty mommy right dair" as she placed the "stars and stripes" on the cake:) It was precious and a memory that I will always treasure:) We hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July with your family and friends! Now, we are preparing for Gabriella's birthday party! Watch for pictures next week of a very special birthday celebration:)