4th of July

We have had a most spectacular four-day weekend! Thursday we went over to my Uncle Myron and Aunt Lauren's house for my family's 4th of July celebration. Friday we met our friends and neighbors Rachel, Allie and Pierce at the zoo, where we attempted to completely wear out the girls so that they would sleep well all the way to YaYa's house in Madison, MS. The trip down was quite the success, and we were so excited to see YaYa, Papa Herbie and Uncle Noah! We took the girls back home during naptime the following day, which was a little bit less of a success -- 2 hours of napping followed by an hour that seemed more like 10 hours of grouchy girls who kept saying "GET OUT!" which means "GET US OUT OF THIS CAR NOW!!" Today has been a good old normal Sunday, and now I think we're all refreshed and ready to kick off a new week! Here are some recent pics:

THIS is by far the most highly rated book around our house these days. They want to hear it over and over and over. If they haven't heard it all day, they will often refuse all other books we attempt to read them until they've heard this one. I can't even let them play with it on their own, because they fight over it constantly! Thankfully, the story ends with Peter Rabbit falling asleep, so I often use that as an excuse to remove it from the room entirely when we're done reading it -- "Sorry girls, Peter has gone to sleep. Remember?"

Actually, when I tell them that, this is the kind of reaction I get. 

SO MAD!
(This is Tamsie.)
(By the way, in case you're wondering why I would ever dream of taking a picture of my girl at a time like this, it's because her facial expression here very much reminds me of one Jennifer W. and I used to make back in the day that became a classic inside joke with us. When I saw T displaying this face, I immediately had to text her a picture!)

Evie's quite the little lady. Here she is playing with her plastic lipstick that came with her toy purse.

T is very proud of the red, white and blue mess she has made!

OK, so she had a little help.

At Myron and Lauren's, T entertained herself by getting in and out of this box all the toys were in. When she was inside, it probably reminded her of happy times in her pack 'n' play, which she and her sister like to refer as the "pack 'n' box."

Just enjoying a nice sisterly chat.
By the way, they had their first actual conversation today (that we've noticed). It went something like this:
T: More milk!
E: No milk.
T: OK.
I'm sure it won't be long before they're discussing the particulars of nuclear physics and exegeting Pauline letters.

But for now, they sometimes need help getting up and down steps.

Twinnies. The only way I got E to wear a white bow for the 4th was to remove the yellow one from the table. She was only able to choose from a collection of white bows. :)

E really didn't want to sit still for this one. That's not a happy face, but a face of grudging obedience.

Model T

OK, I couldn't stop taking pictures of them!

Chasing after Daddy

Chasing after Sissy

Sitting in a chair like a big girl

In Mississippi, we went out to eat at a fabulous pizza restaurant! As usual, the girls particularly enjoyed licking every sprinkle of parmesan cheese off their plates.

None was wasted, if T could help it!

Saturday morning was spent in the pool at YaYa's. E's on the left, and I can't vouch for whatever T's doing.

The next set of pictures were taken by Mrs. DeeDee. I don't know how I missed getting any pics of the girls with her!! :( Here is Chris with Tamsie, and I'm holding Evie (yellow bow alert, of course!).

Once again, Model T

My sweet E. She currently loves saying, "Guess what?! I love you SOOOO much!" -- which she of course picked up from yours truly.

By the way, Happy 36th Anniversary today, parents!! I'm continually blessed by your amazing example.
Guess what? I love you SOOOO much! :)

Since I still have 27 of my 30 for 30 left to cover {and I totally just realized I subconsciously stole the phrase "30 for 30" from the set of ESPN documentaries Chris watches on Netflix every chance he gets... HAHAoops!}, I'll close out with the next one on my list:

4. Love genuinely, and never be afraid of loving too much. You only regret when you didn't love someone enough. This really is based on Romans 12 (which happens to be one of my favorite chapters in the Bible), which says in verses 9 and 10: "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." For example, I know sometimes in the moment I'll feel silly reaching out to someone I don't know very well to let them know that I am praying for them about something they're going through, but really the only times I've regretted something like that are the times when I didn't reach out and I should have. I heard from all sorts of people I hadn't heard from in ages back when the girls had just been born and things were all going crazy in our lives, and it just meant the world to me to know we were being prayed for by all these people and that they took the time out of their busy days to let me know. So often a word of encouragement or affirmation can go a very long way!