3rd of July

Our massive 4th of July celebrations started a day early!  My mom's two brothers and their families were in town from Houston and NJ and it was the only day we could all get together.  Our house was appointed as the gathering place - and what a gathering it was!

Dad did some crazy amount of "cooking" and 6 hours and 12 quarts of homemade ice cream later....yum!  He also treated us to homemade root beer!  Look at it carbonate!

Everyone brought some food so when the time came to eat, we were well stocked!  So many yummy things - and the best part?  I hardly lifted a muscle!  Everyone was so nice to me and did all the work and almost forced me to take it easy.

Genevieve and the kids made it to our house on Monday night (they drove from South Carolina - her younger sister came along to help out with the kids in the car).  And thanks to a last minute miracle, Stuart was able to make it too!  Although he didn't get to our house until later that evening - but he was in time to see the aunts, uncles, and cousins!

Our cute "little" nephew, Asher.  Definitely cute, but despite his age, not so little!  He was so much fun to have around and Eve especially loved to "hold" him. 

See, having that huge spare dining table came in handy!  It turned into the women/kids' table (+ Andrew and Uncle Reid :) ).

While our table became the "man cave".  Dig in!

It also happened that the 3rd was my cousin Michael's birthday, so we got to celebrate that, to boot! 

A yummy cake to go with all the ice cream!

Uncle Phil and Aunt Alicia brought their dog, Scout, along.  Eve was a big fan!  Even when Scout licked her face - Eve still loved it!

She especially loved playing with cousins Kate, Ben, and Jane.  Technically, they're my cousins, but she knows their names from pictures at Grandma's house (and from our trip to NJ last year!) so she was pretty comfortable to dive right in and play with them!  They were so patient with her and helped keep her occupied so we could enjoy the rest of the company.

Eve also had fun playing with cousin Chiara, or "Keera" according to Eve. 

We may have stayed up a little late, but it was so fun to all be together because opportunities like that are few and far between!