July 4, 2018-Happy Independence Day!

(click here for today's pictures)

• Graham was ready to go walking this morning. He was in our room around 7:30 asking when they were going to go. I reminded him that this was a holiday! By then though we were awake so Anderson, Graham and Robby soon headed on their walk. I did the laundry and dishes while they were gone.
• When they arrived home, Robby took the girls for their go around. Surprisingly, Robby said that Campbell complained the least of everyone. However, when they walked in, her face was bright red matching the color of Robby's shirt. 
• I had already told Whitman that he would go on his walk later in the day, but when Robby came in with the girls, he told Whitman to put on his shoes. He wasn't too thrilled about going and told us that he just wanted to go on a short walk. Campbell walked with them, and they were all rewarded with popsicles after their walk.
• When they came in, everyone loaded up to go to the pool for the afternoon. The Heltz and Kamps were there. The kids swam until lunch time. They had hot dogs, chips and lots of desserts. Everyone had plenty. The kids just love the picnic at the pool.
• Robby and I even got in the pool a little bit today. He let Whitman swim some. That boy goes so deep in that pool that he wastes all of his energy doing that. I am beginning to think he will ever get it! 
• We stayed until 3 and then headed to Grannymom's house for a little bit. Robby worked on some pictures while we played dominoes, Candy Land and even started another game. From there, we headed home for dry clothes.
• After my shower, I sat down on the couch with Whitman to do his reading book. Then I showed him a movie on the ipad and snoozed during the entire show. It was the best sleep ever, but when I woke up, it was time to leave.
• We then headed over to the Wilson's house for supper and fireworks. Their neighbor and Tony had both made some meat and Shannon had a ton of dips. There were plenty of desserts, and everyone was stuffed when we started the Baggo tournament outside.
• Keaton was on my team with their neighbor lady. We did decent-now, we could have done much better but we could have done much worse. Reagan and Graham lost to Brett and Layne in the finals. 
• After the tournament, it was time for fireworks and homemade ice cream. The fireworks were good but by the end, the kids were playing in the yard barely glancing up at the fireworks. They all fun though. It was after 11 when we made it home, so it was showers and bedtime!
• I try to never miss an opportunity with the kids to instruct them about something. We are currently listening to a book on tape where the neighbor is an alcoholic, and it is destroying his family and life. That isn't the main part of the book, but it is in there. So yesterday on the way home, I stopped the tape and once again discussed the benefits of alcohol (few), the dangers of alcohol (many), our view on it and the Bible's view on alcohol. Since I have a wide range of ages, I am sure that my littles hear more than they need, but my bigs need to hear this stuff now. All of that to say, I realized that even Whitman is intently listening because tonight as he was holding his drink, he said, "Let's just pretend I am drinking alcohol."