I hope you all had a fun, safe, and happy 4th of July weekend! It seemed to stretch on forever for us because we left last Thursday to spend several days in Franklin, TN with Craig’s family, and then we continued celebrating once we got home.

We planned our trip for this weekend to attend Craig’s grandparents’ 60th (!!) wedding anniversary party, and we also celebrated his Papaw’s 80th birthday. His aunts, uncles, and cousins hosted a really nice gathering, including a barbershop quartet serenading us with love songs. And that caramel cake…  YUM. Leighton had been saying “cake” every time we mentioned the party that week, so she was pretty excited to try two kinds of cake and banana pudding.

We were able to catch some of Craig’s sister Cassie’s softball games on Saturday, and they won both of them! Leighton enjoyed eating all.the.snacks while we cheered on her aunt. 🙂

4th of July attire on point, thanks to Mee (L’s nickname for my mom)::

Our friends Amy and Brian hosted several of us for a cookout later that evening so the kids could run wild while we visited, and that they did. Popsicles, trampoline jumping, sliding, sandbox playing, cookie eating, and couch wrestling were some of the preferred activities. Leighton had the best time with her new friends Jack, Luke, and Holland! We love our Nashville friends, and it was such a fun night hanging out with them. Leighton also added quite a few items to her wish list after playing with all of their fun toys!

Leighton’s parting gift from our friends very quickly became her new best buddy, and she is officially drinking the Mickey kool-aid! We spent the rest of our weekend being pretty lazy — doing Leighton’s puzzles and reading books, playing in her blow-up pool, napping, and eating several home-cooked dinners with family. It was a pretty nice little break, to be honest.

We got back home in time to celebrate the 4th with our neighbors, and we had a great day spent at the pool. After dinner, we made our way back to their house for sparklers and some fireworks in the street. The girls loved them! And we love having such neighbors who have turned into such wonderful friends. Our girls are two peas in a pod, and it’s so much fun watching them grow up together.