Our 4th

Our 4th of July was pretty mellow. We skipped going to the parade we usually go to. Instead we had my sister & her family over for some BBQ. It was pretty relaxing. So relaxing in fact that I didn't take a lot of pics!!

Got these of the girls hanging out on the swings after dinner...

My nephew Tyler thoroughly enjoys his ice cream. He's a chocolate freak...just like Gianna, must be why they get a long.

My neice Nikki, chilling out after having her ice pop.

After hanging out enjoying the backyard, the guys were in "movie mode" & went to figure out what movie to watch. My sister & I requested something we could ALL watch & we narrowed it down to "You Again". What a funny movie!! We all enjoyed it--even the kids!

Part of the plan was to have my neice & nephew sleep over. The kids always talk about "sleeping over" so it was the perfect weekend for it.

The next morning Joe stayed home a little later to make the kids breakfast. Not only did the guy make the kids waffles & pancakes, but the guy also made "bacon pancakes"! He is a real gem, knowing how I'm not a morning person & I was up late the night before.

Knowing the kids would need to be "entertained" I had planned some painting activities. I set them up outside & let them have fun.

Of course being a scrapbooker I needed something to commerate the day, so I had them do "handprints". Gianna chose green to stand out against the bright yellow.Marissa went with a multi-colored print.Tyler opted for red.

While Nikki went with the opposite of Gianna.They painted a little while longer with a few swing breaks but it soon got too hot & they all took refuge inside.

They watched a little TV & had lunch. Then played play-doh...but not until I got a group shot. They look so wound up it's not even funny!! LOL! I took this (& lots more)with my iphone so I could email them to my sister at work.

They had so much fun together! We definately need to do this more!