4th of July

What a year! This 4th of July was so different from any other year. First of all, it wasn't hot. Which is super strange for this area. Usually we are all dying from the heat and humidity! This year it was rainy and cool. We also scaled down a bit. I tried to keep away from Pinterest and not get in over my head like last year! No fancy treats, or color coordinated everything. :)We did more of a potluck style this year and I have to say it was so much better! So much more relaxed! There was a ton of food and it was all so amazing! My Dad smoked pork butt all night to make pulled pork sandwhiches, we had home made coleslaw, baked beans, fresh tomato and mozzarella salad, chips, dip, cookies, and banana pudding. And that wasn't even all of it! Thankfully the rain stopped for a little while, so the kids got to play outside. We did our annual watermelon seed spitting contest again and it was so fun. I really think that is my favorite part of the day every year! Then Shane decided to do some fireworks in the backyard. We never ever do our own fireworks but because there was a chance the real fireworks could be canceled, we bought some this year. Everything was going great until one of the fireworks fell over mid explosion and shot toward the house where all the people were watching! It seriously went straight for my head! I shot to the side and so did the guy behing me. It hit the house but thankfully didn't do anything. A spark did hit my niece and she will probably never come over to our house ever again! There must have been angels hanging out with us last night for there not to be any serious injuries! So...needless to say...we won't be doing that again! No more fireworks at home! After that we headed to our neighbors back yard. We go there every year. They are a little higher up than we are and they have a perfect view of the fireworks. So we all got there, got our chairs situated and waited for the fireworks to start. The other neighbors decided to shoot off some crazy loud fireworks that totally freaked Natalie out and then it started to rain. Not just a nice rain but like the clouds opened up and dumped a bucket of water on us. Natalie started crying and we all ran screaming back to our own house. Everyone was drenched! I grabbed everyone towels and tried to keep people from slipping on the floor.  It was crazy! Poor Natalie said it was the worst 4th of July ever. Oh well...we still had fun and it will definitely be a 4th of July that we will always remember!

 Only half of all the food :)

 The kids started off the seed spitting contest

 Poor Daddy wasn't finished eating when we started so he brought his food with him!

 Mom's turn

 Jesse and Lesley 

 Rose Marie's went pretty far

 Daddy's turn

 Our first ever two-time champion!

 I gave it a go...not too bad this year

 Shane puts a lot of oomph into his turn :)

 Everyone's seeds all over the driveway

 I just love this picture. I'm not sure why but it's just totally Heidi. She was upset because she didn't spit her seed very far.  

 When the fireworks were going well :)

 The girls dressed up as superheros today for some reason. Natalie was Spidergirl and Heidi was the Green Lantern. Basically a Belle dress with a green cape. :) 

 This was Natalie's cool girl pose. Yikes! 

 Natalie and Ava, my niece...hiding from the fireworks. :)

 One thing I did get from Pinterest...put the sparkler through a plastic cup so the kids don't have to worry about the sparks hitting their hand. It worked perfectly. :)

Myrtle Beach

We took the girls to the beach for a couple days and had such a good time. I found a good deal and we went right in the middle of the week. The hotel was amazing...super nice! We've been there before but they did some remodeling since last time. They have a great waterpark for the kids to play in and our room had an ocean view. We went for 2 nights and 3 days. Dane and Nokie came with us for the first night. We drove up and as soon as we got there, the girls wanted to hit the waterpark. Nokie loved it! My girls were old enough this year to not need us with them every second so Shane and I got lounge chairs in the shade and relaxed while they played! Then we walked over to the beach and let the girls play for hours. Shane got Heidi to go in the ocean with him. She was diving under the waves  and loving every minute of it! By the next day he had her body surfing with him. :) Natalie had fun building sandcastles and letting me take her picture. (Heidi hates it when I take her picture!) That's pretty much how we spent the whole trip. At the beach, waterpark or grabbing food somewhere. I did happen to take a ton of pictures. I feel like that is my purpose at the beach. Shane and Heidi swim in the ocean, Natalie makes sandcastles and finds shells and I make sure all the memories are captured on film! 

Heading to the beach...YAY!!

 All the girls loved the water slide. Even me!

 Seriously....I love this picture. This kid is getting way too old though and I do NOT like it!! 

 This is as far as Natalie and Nokie would go. :)

 Heidi loved swimming in the ocean after we got her these goofy looking goggles. The salt water didn't get in her eyes or her nose and she just turned into a fish!

 I love this

Cousins :)

 Shane trying to get Natalie to go in the ocean...didn't work!

 Look at that cute girl! 

 Our last morning we took our breakfast out to the beach. It was so nice! 

 The girls like to play a game where they run from the wave before it gets them. 

 I think Natalie pushed Heidi out of the way to get away from the wave. I'm just glad I got a picture...too funny!

 Then Natalie tripped. :)

 The waves washed a ton of baby clams onto the shore. Natalie loved collecting them all until she realized they were still alive and trying to burry themselves in her hand! Then she threw them down on the sand! 

  

 Shane teaching Heidi how to body surf and Heidi cheering because she figured it out! 

 Sushi at the beach...talk about fresh fish!! So good!

 Natalie's sandcastle

 The view from our room

 Love these freckles!!

Heading home....they were exhausted! :)

Summer Days

I have to say that I LOVE Natalie being out of school! It is so so nice! There are no schedules, no homework, no nothing. :) We go swimming pretty much every day. It's awesome. Both the girls have turned into fish in just the few weeks that the pool has been warm enough to swim in. They are both swimming to the bottom of the deep end and Shane is in the process of teaching them to dive off of the diving board.  It's gonna be a good summer! :)

The Girls' Room

I spent all weekend painting and decorating the girls' room. We tried putting them in the same room last year and it didn't work. While we were in California, they slept together every night and did great so we thought we'd give it a try again. It turned out perfect!! I absolutely love it! 

I painted the walls Sherwin Williams Cooled Blue. I found an old wood headboard at a yard sale for $5 and then I found another old headboard at a thrift store for $15. I spray painted them yellow. I used Universal Rustoleum white satin spray paint as a primer so I didn't have to sand it or anything. Then I spray painted it yellow with Valspar House Golden Maize spray paint. They turned out perfect! I went to Hobby Lobby this weekend and they were having a huge sale. I pretty much got everything at least half off! I've been collecting stuff to put behind their beds for a while and I honestly love every single piece in their room. I used a lot of things that they already had...just in different ways. Gracie helped me a ton and so did my Mom. There are still a couple things left to do but it's basically done. I just love it. :)