4th of July, Canning Okra, and the First Day of VBS!

I honestly meant to make a post about our Fourth of July festivities, but time has got the best of me. We've had a busy week with the holiday, Charlie running a fever, all of us getting a cold, decorating for VBS, canning some good yummy produce we found and then today implementing VBS. WHEW! We haven't had much time to sit down this week, but it sure has been fun.

Charlie has had a little upper respiratory infection this week and she has so kindly passed it along to me. Because she was running a fever last week, she couldn't go to school on Tuesday. Dillon stayed home with her while I worked (I think secretly he wanted two days off for the Fourth! HA!)

On the Fourth, we all headed down to the pool at my mom and dad's. We grilled out at my mom and dad's and then we had a huge dinner of slow cooked ribs at our house that evening! We also did something we had never done before and took BOTH the kids to see fireworks! Charlie goes to bed at 6:00 in the evenings so I was a bad mama and put her to bed then woke her up two hours later to go. I will say, she had fun, did not fuss and LOVED the fireworks, so I didn't do too bad, right?!

Friday, Dillon and I were off work to set up for our VBS! It was so much fun and I think we all got our 10,000 steps in by the end of the day. The decorations were on point and I am so thankful for everyone who has helped us get this task completed! This morning started Bible School and we had a yummy breakfast and the kids all seemed to have fun (They were quite sedate today, I don't know what was the matter. We'll have them warmed up by Tuesday though and things will be crazy, I'm sure!) It's been so much fun and our family minister said today that we have over 50 volunteers helping us this week! Ah-mazing! I'm going to make some good strong coffee after work this week to get through, but I'm so excited! We had fun this morning and in fact Luke was sad because he thought we could go back all day tomorrow. We had to explain he'd go to school and then we'd go to church at supper time.

I'm thankful for a day off tomorrow. My house is in desperate need of attention and cleaning. I also may try to can some peaches. HA! And maybe a nap.

Playing with Legos on the porch! 

Oh yeah. Snots McGee

I cooked in the kitchen while everyone played! 

Hannah came over for a little bit and played in the sprinkler on the Fourth! 

I can't believe how big she's getting! She's also going to Bible School with us this week!! 

We had bomb pops to celebrate!

This was my fried squash from Hannah's daddy's garden! 

Eat a peach!

Fireworks! We went to the Honeybaked Ham parking lot and people kept driving by to ask if we thought we could see them from there. We had no clue. And honestly, it wasn't the best view, but we still saw them and didn't have to deal with the crowds! 

And we found out that both kids like blackberries.

Luke helped us to can!

Oh my goodness. Dillon has talked about this pickled okra all year... I'm probably going to make another batch because it has to last him through until next summer.

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VBS Bear!

Mrs. Melissa gives us direction!

Dillon even got in on the skit! He's such a good sport. He'll do just about anything!

I promise I took pictures of other kids, I'm just posting pics of my kids on here in case someone else doesn't like their children's photo being shared!

Pics are a little out of order. Going to the pool on the Fourth!

This was Thursday morning, after being out late to see fireworks. Usually he's up and at 'em. He got up from bed and went to the couch and promptly back to sleep!

Luke got to go fishing last week at his granddad's house! He swam a little and then fished a little. We're aiming to catch a fish next time!