July brings one of our favorite holidays. I’m a real sucker for red, white, and blue, summer sun and simple celebrations of unity and promise, so I get super excited when the 4th of July roles around. 
Just like last year, we joined Nora’s school in the Fourth of July parade, only this year she rode on her own pedal power, and Chris was around to participate too.
I love how excited the girls get about these things.
They felt so special to get to be in the parade instead of watching it, and seeing them watch the fireworks later that night was amazing. Zara did great, despite the late hour, and Nora whooped, hollered, cheered, and clapped through the entire show. Her excitement was positively infectious.
Today, was our second July celebration: Zara Bea’s half birthday, which in our usual tradition meant cupcakes of her choice and two books as a gift.
Sometimes, I cannot believe this girl is halfway to three…other times, with all she can do and her big personality, it is hard to remember that she is still only two. At two and a half, Zara is getting ready to move from the toddler room to the preschool room at her little school. She loves to dress up to look “beautiful” (but never “cute,” heaven forbid you say that word), and still very much likes Daniel Tiger. She has an active imagination and playing pretend with her big sister is one of her favorite things. Zara’s favorite book is I Need My Monster (she takes much delight in pointing out that all the monsters are “eww, gross”), and she is fearless when it comes to just about everything, except for bugs. She has a great sense of humor and knows just how to make each one of us laugh – one of her favorite jokes lately is to say things to Chris the way I would say them, and call him “babe” while she does it. “Thanks for dinner, babe,” she’s says almost every night with her big cheeseball grin.
If pregnancy plays a role in baby’s personality, Zara makes it pretty apparent that spending a pregnancy on the beach will equal one happy, jovial little girl. Of course, like any two year old she has her moments, but she’s most definitely a keeper.
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