The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. I love it for many reasons - and like other holidays, it's true meaning must not be overlooked. But mainly, I love that it is in summertime, that it is perfectly fine to sport shorts, swim suits, and bare feet on the occasion. That barbeques and fireworks are a plenty, and family and friends gather round. I love how my parents open all the doors and we livev outside, I love Lori Flanders homemade ice-cream, and in years past, my grandmother's homemade pies. I love gathering in the backyard and squinting into the bright sunny day...and then cozying up to someone special when dusk hits and we find our special spot to watch the fireworks show. This year, my brother-in-law Taylor, who is currently serving our country, was with us - and everything just hit home a little bit more for me. Maybe it's part of getting older, or maybe it's part of being a parent...I'm not sure...but I can sure be sappy sometimes.
Okay...enough of my rambling and onto our own little firecrackers!
Q: How do you get 4 children age 3 and under to sit still for a photo together?
A: Bribe them with cookies!
There are some smiles!
It was super fun for the kids to play with their cousins!
And Aunt Jamie & her pups, of course! This little dog below is the mama of the dog on the previous post (Peanut). Her name is Josie. She is super chill and easy going and GREAT with kids.
Here is Jamie, Alyssa, & Josie.
As I was going through the images below of Sawyer with Josie, I got a little teary. (go ahead, laugh! I told you I'm a sap!)
Sawyer used to LOVE my parents dog, Tommie, but this time he was pretty, hmm, SCARED of her. I think because she's bigger and her tail gives a good wack, he was seriously scared of her and didn't even want to go outside when she was outside.
There have been a few instances in the past few months where Sawyer has shown quite a bit of fear/anxiety/apprehension whatever you want to call it, in certain situations. And sometimes I forget: he's just a little boy. He has a very wild imagination and at this age when your imagination is going wild sometimes fears tends to come out a bit more. I struggle with how much to gently encourage or even push him into situations where he shows this type of apprehension (ie do we force him to pet Tommie to overcome the fear, or just respect that for now he doesn't want to be around her?)
Anyway, along comes Josie.
And he LOVES her. LOVES. I mean, he is still talking about her (and Jamie even offered to let us take her home, but we just couldn't).
So...is it him/certain circumstances? Because we did nothing, and he came and sat and wanted to cuddle and hold this little pup. He even gave her a kiss. Kind of melted my heart and slapped me on the wrist. Sometimes we want something for out kids (ie for them not to be scared of something) so much that we forget to just let them be and respect that in their own time and way they will come to terms with their situations as long as we just patiently love them.
Just patiently love them.
That was my lesson learned over the weekend.
Okay, and now that I've gone off on a soap box for a bit...let's get back to the pictures.
Sweet Sawyer and his Josie. Love that boy!
Of course we can't forget the cute baby sisters!
Here is Alexandra (Xani)who is just about to turn one! I get to take their family pictures the day after she turns one - not to mention celebrate big time that day with her and her family! Exciting!
And Miss Aspen Jane.
Do you love her dress as much as I do?
(Stars and) STRIPES forever!
Sawyer and Alyssa hanging on the the porch swing with Jamie's boyfriend, Brandon. He's a good sport! Both were begging for a bite of his cupcake - and Sawyer certainly wasn't shy about it!
I hope you all had a fun-and-family-filled-fourth!
Let the good times roll! I'm SO glad it's summer!
