Go Big Red (White and Blue, too!)

Happy 4th of July Patriots! Hope you all had a wonderful, wonderful time, on this the most terrifying of holidays. :) I decided to get a little brave this holiday and take Hallie and Adam to Nebraska to see so many of our fabulous family and friends. Matt sadly could not join us due to his work schedule and I know what you're thinking, a seven hour car ride with a two year old and seven week old?!?...that's a special kind of crazy. And while it's true that I am that, it was very manageable and fun due to the tremendous help of my folks and Lisa and Dante without whom, this trip would never have been possible. They were amazing! They were understanding when our little seven hour jaunt ended up taking closer to nine hours and they were patient when (only 2 hours into the trip) Adam had already asked, "What's that?" for the 3, 675th time. We stayed with my grandparents, Nonnie and Petesie, and who spoiled us with so many things and so much delicious food. We all had a blast. The day of 4th was a marathon of fun events. We started the day by visiting my great-grandma Tella and taking some fantastic pictures, including a photo of 5 generations of first-born women (Tella, Nonnie, my mom, me, and Hallie). What an amazing gift! After that Tella boarded our party train as well and we headed to the Rotella picnic. It was wonderful to get to see so many family members that we had not seen in many years. After the picnic we headed to my Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathleen's beautiful lake house where we had a great time swimming with cousins and aunts and uncles and finally the party train headed to our last stop; my Uncle Larry and Aunt Becky's lake house for more food, fun and fireworks. It was a fantastic day and the kiddos had a great time and held up well emotionally, behaviorally, and fashionably. (The fashion part was due in total to my mom and Lisa'a brilliant idea of changing them into new, yet coordinated outfits for each party we attended. It was like Independence Day at The Emmy's.) My only wish would have been for more time so that we could have stayed at each party longer and been able to visit more, but we all know my feelings about time already so I won't go into that. :) Instead I'll say how blessed I feel for the time we had. It was a wonderful trip and I am so grateful to everyone who made it possible.

Below are some pictures of the Freedom-Funtivities as well as Christian's birthday which we celebrated yesterday when the little man turned 3! Happy Birthday Christian!!!! Thanks to all who sent me pictures so that I might shamelessly post them on my blog and pass them off as my own. :)