Fabulous Fourth with Family

Taking another break from my Alaska posts to bring you an update of life right now. For the weekend of the Fourth, we had a houseful of family---in addition to ourselves, there were 2 adults, 4 children and 2 dogs! If you've been to my house, you know that is a houseful!!

The crew arrived Wednesday evening and everyone designed their own pizzas that we grilled and then ate outdoors on the deck.

Dinner was followed by a demonstration of all the tumbling moves that the kids had learned so far this summer.

Along with a few games of Tic-Tac-Toe, thanks to the surprise Valine left for them!

Of course, there were a few cuddles with Papaw before the mosquitoes drove us indoors for bedtime.

Ron had to work on Thursday, but fed the dogs before he left. Emmi quickly snuck into the forbidden bedroom.

After breakfast, I kept everyone busy with a few crafts to ready ourselves for Independence Day. After breakfast, we headed outdoors for a while. I brought out nail polish in patriotic colors, and all the girls got their nails painted.

Michael and Adellelyn were in their element outdoors---looking for lizards.

Oops! Look who got caught instead!

All that hard work paid off for the hunters, however, and soon they had 2 lizards in captivity.

One was the tiniest little salamander.

This girl loves her lizards!

Personally, I think that Wookie had the best idea.

The next project was one that took a little more time. I cut freezer paper stencils for each of the kids, according to pictures they picked out, and after ironing them in place, they painted the shirts with fabric paints.

It was a time-consuming process since each color had to be done as a different layer.

Carmelle and Chad were so intrigued by the activity that they headed to the store to purchase shirts for themselves.

Meanwhile, the big kids watched movies. . .

While the little kids built a fort on the couch.

Adellelyn declared Wookie to be their "puptector"! ;-)

After Ron got home from work, we enjoyed the outdoors some more. Michael and Adellelyn practiced the velcro ball toss.

Unfortunately, this didn't end well as Adellelyn dissolved into tears when the ball hit her in the mouth. After some comfort from Papaw, she found solace in a blue popsicle.

In fact, we all enjoyed one.

And then there was more ball.

Grandgirl didn't quite understand the concept of moving to catch the ball---she got quite frustrated with Michael when he didn't throw it directly to her "glove" and was sure that he was purposely making her miss it.

Emmi and Joy thought the whole game was for them.

Once Papaw joined the game, things improved. Michael could throw it hard and fast.

And let Papaw catch it off the roof of the storage shed.

As it got dark and the mosquitoes started biting, we moved inside for a game of "Revolution" while the little ones watched a movie.

Jexie and Kayonna quickly caught on to the game. The guys decided that a little intimidation was needed since they were not in winning seats, so they donned their shades.