Happy Independence Day!!

Our Independence Day started off a bit slow. Jeremy played golf early this morning and I was hoping that the girls would sleep later than normal since they had been up past 10pm the last two nights. Camden, as usual, was the first one up. She woke up up around 7:00. Claire wasn't too far behind at around 7:30. Poor Carlyle must have been worn out from all the festivities of the weekend because she didn't wake up until 8:15, which is so not normal for any of my children. I can't remember when any of my kids have slept past 7:30 in a very long time. We got up, had breakfast and were moving very slowly. We then headed over to Marme' and Pops' house for lunch. We were the first ones there so Camden and Claire enjoyed helping Marme' make special desserts for the kids, prepare relish trays, and getting everything ready for our big BBQ. After we ate, all the kids (and the big boys) got their swimsuits on and went out to enjoy the big water slide. All the kids had such a great time, but I think the big boys had just as much fun!!

Jax started off the fun

Madeline's turn
Camden took her turn
Madeline going down on her Daddy's back
Claire going head first
Madeline and Jax on Rex's back
Carlyle had the best time just running around the yard and playing in the water.

Oh no!!
Daddy decided to take Carlyle down the slide. She wasn't a huge fan.
Trying to get a picture of all the kids
This is the best one I got. These kids were worn out after playing hard!!
Later that afternoon we went over to Nana and Papa's for swimming and dinner. Carlyle fell asleep in the car so I transferred her to the bed. Jeremy and I took Camden and Claire to my parents' neighbors to swim for a bit. They had so much fun!
After swimming, we had a yummy dinner of grilled chicken, corn on the cob, potatoes, beans and homemade rolls. YUM! Camden and Claire wanted me to bring stuff to make smores, which I was very excited about. So, after dinner and more swimming I got everything out. My dad was going to make a fire outside, but both girls insisted that they wanted to make their smores without roasting the marshmallows...WHAT?? Since the girls and I were the only ones making smores, I didn't want my dad to make a fire just for me. I was a little disappointed because I really wanted a good, yummy, gooey smore. I attempted to roast my own marshmallow with a match. I don't recommend that. It just wasn't the same. Although it still tasted good, the marshmallow wasn't as roasted as I'd like and the chocolate didn't melt. Oh well, despite the fact that my smores experience wasn't a huge success, we still had a great day celebrating the holiday with our family!