Happy 4th of July!

We were able to go to OKC to celebrate the 4th with the Dodson clan, and I think it's fair to say that we had a pretty perfect holiday. The kids swam in the afternoon, built forts, made water balloons, performed a few experiments (thanks to Jack), ate some wonderful food, and ran up Mimi & Papi's big hill about 100 times. The adults were worn out watching! The weather was amazing, and it's always fun to catch up with a few Roswell Dodsons as well as the Carlozzi family that were there to celebrate too. 

We were pretty lame on our own fireworks, but the sparklers seemed to plenty of "fire" for 9 kids under the age of 7. When is finally got dark, my parents house is situated just perfectly that we were able to watch Frontier City's fireworks display as well as a nearby Country Club.

We ended our time there is a bang too...Ethan got sick the next day (of course), so we drove home earlier than expected. It was really sad leaving early, but we had to keep reminding ourselves of all the fun we packed in in the day and half we were there. Thanks Mimi and Papi for hosting a fun 4th of July celebration!

A few...

 It finally feels like we're having a summer break. June was busy and fun, but now we're loving not having to be anywhere unless we really want to! I think we have been swimming 11 out of the past 14 days...it's been glorious.

 Our buddies came to visit from Ft Smith last week, and it was so good to hang out with them. Ethan and his "blond brothers" ran and embraced when they saw each other. They swam hard, explored, argued just a little, and were very sad to say good bye. We're ready to see them again soon!

 

Owen has a nice new "war wound" on his face. Of course. He was doing "tree falls" in his bed and misjudged how close he was to his headboard. The bridge of his nose is still really swollen, his eye is turning a little black, and he has a nice cut. This kid really should be wearing a helmet. Seriously. The next day he went to try out a karate class, and I told him it just made him look really tough. He really liked the class, and what he lacked in skill he made up for in volume. I'm pretty sure people outside could hear him yell "YES SIR" and "HI YAH". 

Harper (aka: Sassy Pants) is continually cracking us up. She's still referring to herself as "Cee Cee", and I think her favorite phrase is "Me do it." She's loving going swimming and is very proud of putting her face in the water and blowing bubbles. And she's loving having Ethan out of school as they are now into building forts together. It's pretty cute.

Paw Paw's Birthday

 We celebrated Paw Paw's birthday this past weekend...a bit belated but no less fun! The boys packed their boots and were ready to jump in Paw Paw's truck as soon as go there to go get the eggs. Harper LOVED driving us to the chicken coop and told her Paw Paw several times "Me do it!" and "FASTER" while she drove. After checking out all the animals, feeding a few, and collecting eggs, we headed back to the house to for lunch before we headed to the creek for a swim. The kids always love "shopping" for food in Paw Paw's extensive pantry. :)

I didn't trust myself taking my phone to the creek, so we are without photo documentation of swimming...but we had a great time. Ethan had a blast swinging on the rope swing, and Harper and Owen pretty much hung on Paw Paw the whole time.

The bigger kids (Chris, Greg, Alyssa and Paw Paw) got a game of basketball in to wrap up the afternoon. And I got hooked up with about with over 100 fresh eggs and some wonderful veggies from Aunt Kerri's garden. I'm so thankful for the Hoyle family that keeps this city girl with a brown thumb well taken care of!

Happy birthday, Paw Paw! We love you!