I hosted a summer play date for my homeschool group this week & well I’m pretty sure the kids will be talking about it for a longggg time.

I filled our sand box and our baby pool with organic kid safe soil from Home Depot. I bought 2 bags but 1 would have been enough. Then I filled a huge tub with water. 

Shopping List 

• Organic soil
• Pie tins
• Plastic spoons
• Shovels
• Measuring cups/spoons
• Funnels
• Pitcher
• Mini cups
• Fake flowers
• Glitter for sprinkles
• Shaving cream for whip cream

The key ingredient: WORMS! Yes the real kind. I bought night crawlers from the fishing department at BassPro. 
Everything you see I bought from Dollar Tree other than the soil and worms.

My girl can make even a mudpie pretty 🌸
After I blew up our pool and filled it with water and baby wash so that I could send them home all clean!

And no summer day is complete without popsicles! Popsicle in one hand, worm in the other. My sweet gross boy ❤️

I just had her I swear and just like that it’s almost her first birthday. Every day with her is sweeter than the next. She is the happiest little girl.

Ooooo I could just squish her!

She is officially standing with no hands!

I really could photograph her all day.

And boy does she love her Daddy. Every time he walks in the room she yells Hi Dada! It is so sweet. 

At her check up she weighed 21 pounds and 29.5 inches. She has 6 teeth and is wearing size 4 diapers and 12 month clothes. Still not enough hair for a bow but we are working on it! Mickey Mouse is her main man and it’s bitsy her favorite song. 

She loves the water. This month we took her swimming at Aunt Erica’s and to the beach.

We finally ditched the bath seat and she’s so happy about it.

I’m loving watching her start to play with Timmy and Grace. She just wants to be part of the party now.

The invitation were sent out this week, decorations started, outfits ordered.. We are so excited to celebrate this little blessing. A whole year of all the happiness. We give Him all the glory for entrusting us with this sweet little angel.

Fourth of July was extra sweet this year.

The day before we went and visited a local nursing home with our homeschool group and passed out some of our art, festive necklaces and mini flags to the residents. My kids worked very hard on their little crafts.

And who’s day wouldn’t be made brighter by these cute faces!

Our dogs are terrified of fireworks and not like regular scared dogs more like the eat through your walls type. I wish I was exaggerating but my dogs did literally eat through a door AND a wall one July 4th. This forces us to stay home every year.

We brought all red white and blue to church on Sunday 🇺🇸

We had a really simple day. We visited one of the ladies from church who is in rehab for back surgery. Then we came home and went swimming in our blow up pool and that turned into a family water gun fight. If I could have I would have froze that moment in time. All of laughing and playing made me so happy. When Daddy gets in on the fun it just lights these kids up.

Then we grilled hot dogs, hamburgers and corn. Daddy did a little teaching by talking about all the states that make up our country and telling the kids about which places he’s visited. Then he read them a book about the USA. The kids were so eager for it to get dark so that we could shoot off our very first ever fireworks. This was a big deal for me. I’m paranoid of fireworks. But I admit that it was thrilling and worth all my anxiety because my kids thought it was amazing. 

After our own show we went for a drive to see some more.

The best part of the whole thing… Hearing my kids go on and on about how this was the best day EVER! 

More pictures…