Patriotic Cuties!!!

Anytime my girls get new outfits that match or coordinate, they know it's picture time! When we went shopping a few weeks back for soccer cleats at a nearby consignment shop, Annalise wouldn't let me leave without these patriotic dresses! She loves to wear red, white, and blue on Independence Day.

During our photo shoot, Allison was being a little stinker! She kept turning around backwards so I couldn't get her picture. So, as any desperate mom would do, I squealed, "LOOK ALLISON!" And she turned quickly and I caught this runway model pose from her! Ha! Gotcha! I fell in love with it!





For lunch we headed to celebrate with some good friend's of ours. The kids went swimming for hours, we cooked out on the grill, ate pie, and later got out the sparklers!!!

...anticipation as Melony lights the first sparkler!

Abby and Annalise light their first (of MANY) sparkler!

Ian and Kaley weren't so sure about holding fire, so they watched from a distance.

Allison decided that sparkly stuff was pretty cool! Look Daddy, FIRE!!!

And once the skies got dark, it wasn't long before we began hearing fireworks all around us. I must say, I'm from Georgia and don't get to see the neighborhood fireworks that I was seeing that night! It was wild! They were BIG and they were EVERYWHERE! The kids had a blast sitting out on the driveway and screaming and pointing at every flowery glitter in the sky! It was a beautiful scene!