El Quatro del Julio...Dos

On the actual 4th Chad took the boys disc golfing and to get fireworks while Sophie and I went grocery shopping.  Then I came home and made brownies for the party we were headed to that night.  

In the afternoon we took the kids to get ice cream and then went over to a park to let them run off the sugar before we took them home to get ready for the party.  I was able to get some pictures of the clothes that I slaved over made for them to wear for the holiday.  

I made Kade's plaid shorts and Sophie's sundress using tutorials from online...I can't use a pattern to save my life  yet!  The boys' flag shirts I made using this tutorial:

 http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/06/4th-of-july-shirts.html 

 I love her site and have made a few things from it.  She is helping me get over my fear of sewing.  

Of course, after I spent hours making the shirts Chad had to go and point out like a real smart aleck that I had managed to merge the three stars on the Tennessee state flag with the American flag.  If you look at that tutorial though you will see that I wasn't the first!  

We headed out to the boonies during the evening and enjoyed spending time with friends, good food and Chad and the boys shot off the fireworks that he spent way too much money on. 

Someone on facebook (who was probably quoting somebody else) put it best when they said something to the effect of:

 "The 4th of July, the holiday that millions of Americans willingly blow up their own money. So what is the federal govt's excuse for the other 364 days of the year?".  

All in all I deem the holiday weekend a success.  We saw blood, we saw sweat, we saw a few tears...ooh and did I mention that I saw a little bear cub just outside of Cade's Cove?  Well I did.  Of course, you'll just have to take my word for it since my camera was dead at the time!