Independence Day!

Our Independence Day did not work out exactly as we had planned. Originally, we had planned to move last week and spend our day at the neighborhood pool, but since that did not happen, we had to come up with some new plans.

Our 4th of July got off to a slow start. I made blueberry and chocolate chip muffins, and we skipped church this week. We decided to go see the house again, so we grabbed some Checkers for lunch, and then we headed to Lowe's. I know--exciting stuff!! Actually, we thought it was kind of exciting. The occupants in the house decided to take the nice plantation blinds and leave us the flimsy, cheap blinds, so we are going to slowly convert all of the blinds. However, since we are going to be painting and fixing up numerous things, we are going to do it one room at a time from here on out. We did, however, decide to go ahead and replace the blinds in the kids' rooms since they tear up the cheap ones too easily. We also got some curtain rods for all of the rooms. We have pretty much decided on color themes for each room, and the kids picked out their own paint colors. I have already purchased a new bathroom set for the kids' bathroom--it's whales! Chris and I also found a new duvet set for our bedroom. Since we plan to stay at this house for awhile, we are redecorating, since I haven't really decorated a house since we left Winder in 2007.

We decided to go to see the fireworks that First Baptist Snellville puts on every year. We have been known to actually participate in the festivities, but more often, we go to Britt Elementary, which is next door to the church, and we have a perfect view of the fireworks without the crowds. We decided to have a tailgate dinner of KFC, and then we went to the school playground. The kids had a blast! Very few people were there, but Aidan's t-ball coach from last year was there, so that was fun catching up with him and his family. Unfortunately, by the time the fireworks were ready to begin, I was not feeling well. I can only eat Hebrew National hot dogs without getting ill, but I had decided to split a chili dog from Checkers with Chris because it sounded so good. I guess those 3 bites didn't agree with me, because my poor stomach was in knots, and I didn't really get to enjoy the fireworks. Noah did enjoy them, though--he kept saying "wow" every time they would burst in the sky! Katie, Aidan, and Noah all enjoyed the fireworks--for the first time ever!! By the time we got home, the kids were exhausted.

On Monday, Chris had the day off, so I went to work in the evening instead, and we took the kids to Lenora Park water park. It's the first time we've been all year, but the kids usually enjoy it. Last year, Noah only went once and couldn't really play because he was still so young, and then he was in the cast the rest of the summer. Aidan didn't really like the water park because he can't swim. I had decided to buy Aidan and Noah some Puddle Jumpers this year. One of my friends has one and gave it a great review, so I did some research online and found out that everyone liked the Puddle Jumpers. They are Coast Guard approved life vests that look like those inflatable swimmies, but they are much safer. Aidan has a fish Puddle Jumper, and Noah's is a turtle. For the first time ever, I was not nervous taking all three kids to the water park. Noah was hilarious--he would slide down the water slide and "dive" into the water, giggling the entire time! Aidan loved the lazy river--he even let go of us to float on his own. Katie put her swimming lessons to good use and practiced keeping herself afloat. After 3 hours, the kids were worn out!

We had a great holiday weekend, and can't wait to head to Myrtle Beach on Saturday!