Fourth of July 2021

We had a wonderful Fourth of July! It's one of my favorite days of the year, and it certainly did not disappoint this year. 

We had church on Sunday morning and it was fun to wear all our red, white, and blue to church. 

That afternoon, we got ready for our annual Fourth of July party. This is our fifth time hosting, and I'm looking forward to many, many more years. Our patriotic puff corn has become a tradition too. 

Matt bought me some pretty flowers on Saturday to have for the party. 

We had four families join us this year, and it was the best group. I'm so thankful for each of those families. 

The guys had a shooting competition before dinner. The ladies stayed inside chatting, so I have no idea how it went. 

Such sweet friendships among all these girls 

We lined up all the kids along the fence for our annual picture. We had 18 kids this year- 9 girls and 9 boys- perfection!

Matt grilled burgers and hot dogs. Our grill was full!

We took family pictures after the kids pictures. We're an All American family. 

Dinner was delicious and the company was even better. We had a dedicated adults table this year, and we all talked about how big our kids are getting and how much easier these parties are now that they're getting older. 

After dinner, the kids couldn't wait to get outside and start the fireworks. 

They started with pop its and smoke bombs. Katherine was so excited about buying smoke bombs this year. I couldn't believe she remembered them from last year. She talked all about the balls and the smoke that was colored. 

These ladies are treasures. I will never take their friendships for granted. Old and new friends doing life together and raising our children together. Such a gift. 

Daddy's Little Firecracker and the daddy whose wrapped around her finger. 

The kids took a break from the fireworks to wait until it got a little darker outside. They found plenty of things to play in our backyard. 

Tell me you have a lot of kids at your house without telling me you have a lot of kids at your house- ALLL the cups :)

Her face! They may be getting older, but the thrill of fireworks has not lost any luster for them. Their screams and cheers after every firework is one of the best sounds of the night. 

Second generation best friends :)

Yelena taught the kids a fun game that they played during a break from fireworks. Everyone was laughing at how fun it was. 

Brooke brought a delicious and festive cheesecake. We ate dessert and then got back to fireworks. 

Sweet Evelyn- we all enjoyed having a Little One at our celebration. 

Finger lights and glow sticks are the norm at our house on the Fourth of July. Clearly, Katherine was a fan. 

Michelle sent me this cute video of Katherine chasing Luke all around the yard trying to get him to play with her. We might all be hoping they end up getting married one day, ha!

Some of the kids got tired and vegged in front of the tv at the end of the night. 

There may be a lot of problems in our country, but I still believe the United States is the best place in the world to live. I don't know why God blessed us with the privilege of living and raising our family in this country, but I will always be grateful. I'm also grateful for a house full of friends who are like family, sticky floors, giggles and squeals and good conversations and maybe some fun fireworks too. 

Nathan woke up on the fifth and said, "Only 364 days until next Fourth of July." I feel the same, Buddy. I can't wait. 

 

June Fun, Part 2

The boys spent a week in June in Weatherford with Grandma and Grandpa. They got to attend Camp Invention and had a great week! I took advantage of a week with just my girls, and we did some fun things too. 

The girls attended a dance camp each morning, and in the afternoons we planned a few fun things. We went shopping one afternnon.

They put on a lot of dance and gymnastics shows during the week.

We also watched a couple of girly movies the boys wouldn't have been interested in. 

They had picture day at dance camp and wore their Mighty Shrimp Cheerleader costumes, since it was a Zombies and Descendants camp. 

We scheduled a couple of playdates with our favorite all girl families- The Ivy's and the Miller's.

I also treated them to lunch out at one of their favorite restaurants and a pedicure (Katherine's first) after camp one day. 

Elisabeth looks so old to me in this picture! She's growing up to be the sweetest girl. Such a joy to be her mom. 

Katherine was a little wiggly, but she loved the girly fun- especially picking out her nail polish and getting a flower on her toes. 

All our girly fun wore her out, so we snuggled up for a nap one afternoon. 

On the last day of camp, the girls had their parent performances and got to pose with characters from Descendants and Zombies. 

Katherine danced to Do it Like the Zombies Do and sang and danced to What's My Name. They were so cute! Her personality really shines when she's performing. 

She was supposed to do a zombie pose at the beginning of her dance. This is what she showed me when I asked her to pose. 

Elisabeth danced to Rotten to the Core, Bam and sang If Only. She was so excited to perform. I loved that she was doing a villain song about being bad and she couldn't stop smiling through the whole dance. She loved the fun moves she got to do. 

Dance camp is most fun with friends! These girls had a great week together. 

We celebrated the end of dance camp/girls week with lunch at Chick Fil A.

Meanwhile, the boys were having a blast in Weatherford. They had a fun week!

 We picked up the boys in Edmond on Saturday morning and spent a few hours at Frontier City. We've gotten our money's worth out of our season passes. 

The kids asked to watch the Wild West show and they thought it was the best- especially getting splashed at the end. They even asked to pose with the performers. 

Between camps, work schedules and other conflicts, we've had a harder time getting together with the Shondelmyer's this summer. But we finally got to have a pool day, and it was wonderful!   So fun to catch up and visit while the kids swam all afternoon. 

The kids watched the gymnastics Olympic trials with me. They kept saying, "Oh, I can do that trick," ha!! It will be fun watching the Olympics with them this year!

Katherine is such an affectionate Sweetheart. She requires multiple hugs and kisses at every goodbye. She does this every week at church. The boys are so sweet and patient with her. 

Nathan had back to back camps because the last week of June he participated in a Hamilton Theater Arts camp. He's been a big fan of Hamilton for awhile (well at least the parts we let him watch/listen to, ha!), and he's been waiting to finally be ten years old and able to do the production camp where they do a whole (mini) show instead of just a song or two. His group worked hard and my boy had those (censored) Hamilton lyrics down! I was super impressed with their show and how they were able to perform so well (singing, dancing, speaking) with only 15 hours of camp. I also told Nathan he couldn't do Hamilton again next year because I cannot get those songs out of my head now, ha!

Of course, Samuel would bring a book to read before his show started. 

The girls were excited to watch Nay Nay and to see the groups before him performing songs from Annie. 

Of course, Summer time means lots of pool time. As the kids get older, our time at the pool increases.

It's always a treat when we meet the neighbors at the pool!

Our June was full of camps- VBS, Camp Invention, Dance camp, Theater Arts camp, whew. In between we squeezed in as much friend and pool time as we could. It was busy and fun! We can't wait for July.