I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. Growing up Ryan and I both had fun celebrating this holiday with family. For me, our family got together down in Pana and watched their fireworks and spent the evening hanging out playing with sparklers and stuff. We still enjoyed celebrating the festivities as the years went by having fun with our own firecrackers and whatnot.

With the arrival of Marlee last year – we opted to stay home and relax with her instead of going out and watching fireworks. And this year we kept the tradition a little bit by staying home, cooking good food, and hanging out with friends. Ryan is going to be doing the food for one of the Wednesday dinners at our church, so he wanted to test run the mac and cheese he’s hoping to make. And it was DELICIOUS! I made some ceviche for a healthier option too. Then everyone played Betrayal at House on the Hill while I entertained the little one. (Marlee skipped her nap so she was a little fussy and ended up crashing early!)

My brother, sister-in-law, and their two kids were in town, so on Thursday Marlee and I headed to Decatur to take some pictures, play, and visit for a while. While we were in the midst of our waiting period of infertility and adoption, it was simultaneously wonderful and hard to be around the twins. I got such joy from spending time with them, but also felt my own sorrow at perhaps never being a mother myself. So nothing has been more fun than watching Marlee interact with her cousins. It was so cute watching them engage with each other and play. It makes my heart happy.

Here’s just a tiny glimpse at our holiday festivities