Our Fourth of July - Part one

We spent our fourth up at my parents with my whole family again. The girls loved the chance to be at grandpa and grandma's again and loved the chance to play nonstop with cousins.

First morning there we had to wait for the rest of the family to arrive. So Ryan put the girls (and Sophie and Cole) to work.

Ava, Sophie & Cole

Kate had to make sure we had enough soap. Entire container? Check.

C'mon - this cute of a face & you won't care how your car looks when she's done!

Just trying to make an efficient use of soap

Then the traditional water slide down the back hill came out.

Ava loved it pretty immediately.

The boys having fun

Kate shocked me and LOVED it too.

Olivia pretty quickly planted herself at the bottom with the bubbles.

Action shot

We "helped" Olivia down one time thinking she would like it this time (she's usually our more adventurous one).

Peek closely at her face. That should answer any questions.

These 4 were so fun to watch all weekend.

Wonder what they're doing?

They sat here for probably close to 30 minutes . .. looking at clothes online.

love these girls

We had a birthday party for all the summer birthdays.

My grandma turned 91

My almost 4 yr old (gulp) and her Tinkerbell cake.

The three birthday girls

My sisters and grandma

Kate and Olivia?

They were busy enjoying their cake and ice cream

Ava with her presents

Checking things out

New Coloring books!!

Sunday night, I surprised my nieces and nephews with a little "craft" project. Ryan's cousin had introduced us to "tie-dye nails." After googling it and watching a tutorial, I bought everything, waited for the twins to go to bed and went to work.

It's quite the process but the end results are pretty neat. It made a fun way to incorporate red,white and blue.

Ava's hands before we cleaned them up.

I knew it was kind of "cool" when even my nephews got into it.

Yes, they'll love when I bring that up to their fiance someday. : )

Ava and Mommy and the final product!

If I look tired, I was. By the time we got all done, hours had passed and I think I'd forgotten what clean air was between nail polish and nail polish remover.

The finished results were pretty neat though. Then it was on to the 4th . . .