We had a super fun 4th of July!! It's becoming one of my favorite days of the year.
We started celebrating a few days early with Rockets over Rhema. Our pharmacy hosted a little watch party with inflatables, snow cones and hot dogs. The kids found their friends and we had a fun night.
Last year we started the tradition of hosting a fun Fourth of July party with some of our closest friends, so the day before we got ready by baking a fun red, white, and blue cake.
We had swim lessons the morning of the 4th. It was extra fun because the dads were able to join us and the kids got to show off everything they'd been learning. Elisabeth even went off the high dive for the first time that day.
After swim lessons we all went to lunch at Chick Fil A, and then went back to our house to change clothes and head to the pool. The kids had fun swimming with their friends for the afternoon.
After the pool everyone needed some downtime. All the girls ended up on our bed watching a show and the boys disappeared upstairs.
All the kids had to help decorate our Fourth of July cake.
They did a great job :)
We grilled burgers and hot dogs for dinner
And had cake for dessert.
After dinner we all headed outside for the evening to play and watch fireworks.
I love that these kids are growing up together and sharing these memories. They are all family to us.
We bought a few small things for the kids- pop its, smoke bombs and sparklers. I don't know how many more years we can get away with the little fireworks.
Our neighborhood puts on a great show. There were fireworks all around us- some got a little too close to our roof, ha! It was fun to sit and watch the fireworks and the kids running all around playing.
Matt found these finger lights on Amazon for a great price and saved them for the Fourth of July. The kids loved them. It was funny watching all the lights darting around the back yard.
This was my favorite moment of the night. She came and snuggled up in my lap and fell asleep. Gosh, I loved those cuddles. She hardly naps and never sits still, so I soaked up every bit of her sweetness.
I'm so grateful to live in America and so very grateful for my family and our awesome friends that made this holiday so great!
Vacation Bible School and Frontier City have been our big fun events this June, but we've also done some other fun things this month.
Nathan learned how to play four square at school, and he taught his siblings to play too. I so enjoyed the lazy days with no plans that we could fill with these fun things.
There is a little Popsicle house on Main Street, that we checked out one day. The popsicles were yummy, and they had corn hole which was a win for my kids. Their prices will probably keep us from returning, but it was a fun little outing.
Since then we've been sticking to QT's $.49 ice cream cones, ha!
Our Movie theater has dollar movies for kids during the summer, and I was crazy enough to take my four to see the Smurfs. I gave them all a good talk before about how they had to help and obey and couldn't go to the bathroom during the movie, because I was the only adult, and you know what, they all did awesome! I was so proud of the them, and the movie time was right during Kate's nap time, so she slept and was wonderful too. It was a special morning activity and they all did so well, that I'm sure we'll be going back again this summer.
I treasured those baby snuggles during the movie.
Of course our summer includes lots of water. We all look forward to pool time.
And the kids always have fun in the back yard with the sprinkler, slip and slide and water table. On a free morning, I'll send the big kids outside during Katherine's morning nap, and I can get a lot of things accomplished inside while they play outside in the water. It's a win, win!
We brought back a lot of my old toys from Weatherford, and Elisabeth has been having fun playing with my Barbies and partially reconstructed Barbie house. It brings back lots of memories!
Matt and I were walking around the mall during one of our date nights and made an impulse buy when we saw the classic super Nintendos were available. Neither of us are impulse shoppers, so it was fun for us to be a little wild, ha!! We had fun playing it during the rest of our date night and almost everyday since then. It brought back even more childhood memories, and the kids love it too!
We celebrated our favorite Daddy on Father's Day with a ladder ball set and an afternoon at the pool. We love him so much!!
Nathan attended a fun day camp at our church for first and second graders. They had Bible lessons and crafts in the mornings and then had fun activities in the afternoons like laser tag, inflatables, and even a field trip to the zoo. He had a great time with his friends.
The kids have been helping around the house a lot more this summer too, and most of the time they have a good attitude. Both boys are saving their money for big purchases, so they've been working hard to earn more money.
Samuel is my table cleaner. After he cleaned the top of the table, I asked him to clean the legs too, and he went nuts. He kept saying, "When I spray this and then wipe it off, the dirt disappears. Isn't that amazing?" Ha! He did a great job, and he said "he loves that chore."
We've tried to take advantage of no school and schedule lots of play dates too with friends. I think we fit in five or six this month.
One of our favorites was a visit with the Dalmans. We played at their splash pad and park and then had lunch and more playtime. Nathan and Samuel consider Emma and Grant to be their best friends, so quality time with them is always a blast. They are at such fun ages playing too. They were playing knights on the playground.
Later that week, Kamryn and Addisyn came over to play. The kids all dressed up and put on a parade outside. So fun! We love our neighbor friends.
It's also fun having more flexibility in our schedule when we're out running errands. If we have time, I've stopped at the park for 30 minutes here and there to let the kids play. Katherine always loves to swing.
Another favorite June activity that we have been looking forward to for weeks was our boy/girl sleepover with the Shondelmyers. We started off our sleepover with a joint family affair to see The Incredibles Two. We all loved the movie and it was even more fun with friends.
After the movie, we split up for the rest of the night. Of course I didn't get any pictures of the boys, but Matt and the boys spent the night with Corey, Wyatt, and Keaton. They swam, played, and watched movies.
Meanwhile, the girls- Brooke, Kaydence, Elisabeth, Katherine and I headed to do some shopping! We let the girls pick out animals at Build A Bear, and it was so fun! Those girls can shop! They conned us in to buying more clothes and accessories for their animals than Brooke or I were anticipating, but they were so thoughtful yet indecisive in their shopping, that it was too adorable to say no to them. They ended up with matching pjs, slippers, and a sleeping bag, which was a special way to celebrate the girls' first sleepover.
After Build a Bear, the girls played at the mall, and we ate dinner and then came back to our house. They changed into their jammies (and changed their rabbit and bear into jammies too), and then the girls played and played and played. Man, they played so well together. They were quiet and happy with ZERO fighting the whole night. Brooke and I couldn't get over how well they played without boys around. It was fun to watch them play and to visit with Brooke. Finally at 10:30, we encouraged them to go to bed, and they were so tired that they agreed, ha!
They were up early the next morning back to playing (Elisabeth got a nap that afternoon, ha!). They watched shows, played, ate donuts for breakfast and we all painted our nails.
It was such a fun sleepover for all five of us, Katherine included. We can't wait to do it again. Oh yeah, and the boys had fun too :).
Another fun activity we did this month was make our own bath bombs. Some turned out better than others, but we all enjoyed the afternoon craft. Nathan was really proud of his because it was the best one out of all the ones we made.
Matt headed out of town for the last week of June, and since it was summer, I let each kid have a special night to sleep with me and stay up late choosing something fun to do after their siblings went to bed. Samuel was first. For his special night, he chose playing Otrio, a pillow fight and watching Pokemon with me in bed.
He talked and talked during the entire episode. He told me all the Pokemon names, their powers, how they evolved, who was good and who was bad. I learned everything I ever wanted to know, and I soaked up all of my five year old boy's sweetness and listened with full attention. I always think that if I want them to talk to me when they're older about things that are important to them, I need to listen to what's important to them now, and right now Pokemon is my boy's biggest interest.
I so enjoyed my one on one time with him.
For Nathan's special night, he wanted to watch the Emoji Movie with me in bed. I forgot to get a picture of him.
Elisabeth was last and she had to wait a couple of extra days because of evening plans. She was so excited for her night. She said she had been waiting for so long, ha!
She wanted to play Monopoly. Then we played Barbies together, and then snuggled in bed to watch Barbie on Netflix. So girly and so fun!
With four kids, one on one time is rare with my kids. I have to be
intentional about it, even when I'm exhausted from single parenting all day and want some time to myself. But, I'm always glad I do it, and I think it's fun and meaningful for the kids.
The three big kids started swim lessons this month too. They are all loving it and learning so much. Samuel refuses to wear his puddle jumper at the pool now, because he says he can swim, and he really can do a pretty good job without it.
They're all learning strokes, swimming underwater and going off the diving board.
Elisabeth hasn't been brave enough to jump off the diving board on her own, but she happily lets her teacher drop her.
And the boys have loved the high dive. Nathan went off of it the first day during free time, and Samuel was the only one in his class to want to jump off it. These boys have no fear. I love their adventurous spirit, but I'm a little terrified of their fearlessness in years to come.
We've had some good life lessons with swim lessons too. Elisabeth kept saying she was nervous for swim lessons, so we had the opportunity to pray together for Jesus to help her not to be scared, and then she loved her first day! So then we talked about how it's important to try new things even when they're scary, because so many times they end up being really fun, and we're glad we did them. They're learning more than just how to swim, and it's been good for all three of them.
Swim lessons are also wearing everyone out. Naps for this girl are rare these days, but swim lessons do her in.
Nathan had fun building a Lego swimming pool. Since I took this picture he's added a high dive to it. I love his creativity!
The kids are at such fun ages this summer, and I've been really impressed at their good attitudes and obedience which have allowed us to do lots of fun things during these summer days! Our July calendar is a less full than our June was, so I'm looking forward to more lazy days, pool time and play dates. That makes for the perfect summer!
