The 4th

I know it's September but I'm WAY behind!  Time to catch up!

Am I the only one who thinks this blog thing is dying?  I'm determined to keep mine going.

I flew in from NYC around 1 am early Tuesday morning and came home, slept for bit then woke up to pack and hit the road again to our annual 4th of July in Baton Rouge.  The boys and I were on the road just after 11 that morning.  We were THRILLED to be heading to see our family.

 The 4th is one of my top 3 favorite holidays of the  year. 

 I LOVE THE FOURTH! 

 In my perfect world, I would LOVE for the kids to love America like I do and to actually know the history of our country (something I'm still working on...no I didn't pay attention in school).  So this year on the 4th, we tried to instill the reason we actually celebrate in the kids.  Hopefully they retain some of the information....and hopefully we can raise some strong REPUBLICANS!;)

 Kent ended up coming over last minute to join us.  I'm always happy to have him around and I know the boys are too...even if it's just for a day.

 These boys are the best of friends and I just love them and their little friendship.  I hope it lasts forever.

 

 The kids were TOTALLY NOT cooperating for a picture with my parents this year...so it was just a girl shot. 

 Kari and Kelli sadly weren't able to come this year which I think may have been the first year all of us weren't together on the 4th.  I hope it doesn't happen again.

 We spent the afternoon swimming.

 And practicing our tricks off the diving board

 We only had 1 v 1 on basketball this year

 But we still ate PLENTY of food (something the Bluth's know how to do)

 Sweet Rylee even serenaded us with the National Anthem.  When I say she did AWESOME, she really did.  There's not a lot of people who can pull that song off and stay on pitch.  I think that needs to be a new tradition.

 Then it was firework time.  We invited some family friends over to come join.  

The kids could do sparklers for hours.

 Then when the poppers and sparklers were gone, it was time for the big show.

 

Another successful (and more educational) fourth.  

I love our country.