Happy 4th of July!!

Well, this post is a little early since I have a feeling we will be busy this weekend, so I thought I would just go ahead and wish everyone a Happy 4th beforehand. Have a cookie! These were my first attempt at making and decorating with Royal Icing. Fun, but a big mess to clean up. Moving on, I will make sure to post pictures of our little firecrackers next week. For now though, it looks like I have some recapping to do since I have now missed posting about Father's Day and our 7th Anniversary. I will do most recapping through pictures, so I hope you enjoy.
Here are Ella and Hayden with their cousins, Luke and Kate. We had an extended family Father's Day brunch at our house on the Saturday of Father's Day. We had a great time with everyone, especially celebrating Mark's grandfather, Deda. Below is Ella watching him open his cards.

Here are Ella and Hayden with my 96 year old grandmother from this past weekends trip to Midland. Could not get the kids to look at me. They were far more interested in going for rides in her wheelchair or checking out the little birds in the atrium.

As far as our anniversary went, we had a fantastic time. After spending the weekend in Midland with my family, the kids and I returned to Abilene and they went straight to Mark's parents house for the evening. Mark and I headed out to see The Proposal, hilarious by the way, and out to eat at Outback. Yum! We were reliving our first date where we went to go see Gone in 60 Seconds and then out to eat at Outback. Mark made sure I actually ordered a real meal this time. On our first date I think I ate a salad? Can't remember, but he still laughs about it. What can I say, it was our first date! :) We gave each other gifts which I responded with, this is like our wedding presents!! I was so excited to receive some new cookware since mine had bit the dust and I got Mark an Espresso machine since he likes it more than regular coffee. Now he can really hit the floor running once little Miss Macy is born since he will be on a permanent caffeine high. We actually ended up in bed by 9pm and it was pure bliss to not have to bathe kids or wake up early to feed someone other than myself.In other news, Ella has really taken to swimming. I need to get some pictures of her in the pool, but over the last week she has really found her "inner fish". We are so proud of her because she has been terrified of the "big" pool and would have a death grip on me or Mark any time we took her in there. Now that she has found her confidence she continually asks to go get in the big pool and jump off the side. I love it and it has helped to give Hayden the confidence to do more things in the pool as well. This picture cracks me up. If you have been following my blog for some time you know that Hayden has the tendency to go to sleep when he feels like it. No matter where. Well, he had just gotten his new life jacket and was playing on the couch. I guess he got tipped back at an angle and could not get back up so he just fell asleep. I mean, he was O-U-T. Knowing me, I had to take a picture.As for me, 34 weeks tomorrow. I went ahead and took my picture today, so unless I just take off growing tonight then, this is what I look like right now. Just a few weeks left. I am really enjoying this pregnancy and cannot believe how fast it has flown by. Macy is quite the flipper in there and I cannot wait to meet her and her little personality. So, I'm ready for the due date predictions. Hayden was born at 36 weeks and Ella at 38. My guess is I will have to be induced at 41 weeks, but that is because I originally thought she would be early, but then decided that Macy will throw a curve ball and we'll all be waiting around thinking she is about to come and then stroll on in, well, out, at the last possible second. It's just the nature of kids, right? You think you have them figured out and then "Wham!" they do something totally unpredictable.

Hope you all have a wonderful 4th!!