Noelle, Anna Kate, and I picked up Noelle’s friend Emily and met the Horton girls at the splash park one night this week.  We had a little picnic and let the girls splash and play their little hearts out… we had a great time!

Our sweet babies were all over the place… they are getting so big!

Noelle and Emily had so much fun hanging out together!  They were little stick-tights.

 

Rose was really into the food (of course)!  Brylee and Anna Kate were stick-tights too!  The best play dates happen when everyone has someone to play with…  I’ve learned that along the way!

Rose and Cerly were happy to see each other!

 

Wahoo!  Lately I’ve been saying to my girls, “The prettiest girls are the happiest girls!”  They jump up and down and say, “I’m happy, so I’m pretty, right!?!”  I say, “That’s right!”

Emily is such a wonderful friend to Noelle.  They are so incredibly sweet to each other.  I love sitting back and listening to their conversations.  Noelle will say, “Emily, you are so sweet!”  And Emily will say right back, “You too, Noelle.”  It’s so genuine!  Noelle needs sensitive friends, and Emily has always been there for her. 

Rose is really into cutlery these days… forks, knives, spoons, you name it, she’s on it!

 

 

 

We’ve been crafting it up since we’ve been home from our vacation!  Noelle even had the idea to freeze bubbles from their bubble bath just to see what would happen.  They froze almost like a snow cone, but thinner.  It was even fun for me to touch and see what had happened to them after they froze.  Cool idea Noelle!

  

This was the grand finale to the perfect family reunion vacation!

The first boom of the fireworks went off!

 

 

Anna Kate had it in her head that the DVD head phones from our car would make the fireworks not so loud and scary… surprise surprise, it worked!  She loved them!  This was the first year she wasn’t terrified!

Rose was so wiggly but had a great time watching the show!

We got these 3D glasses from Chick-fil-A a couple of years ago, and the girls have fun watching the fireworks with them each year!  It triples the effect!

 

Hope everyone had a “Happy 4th!!!”

                      

Being in the water is such a treat for the girls! Since there are three of them and one of me, we don’t get to swim as often as we would like, so when we do, they love every minute of it!

 

 

 

  

 

I couldn’t help but take these pictures so show what an awesome helper Noelle is… she’s always asking what she can carry and is right by my side to help.

 

The paparazzi found Rose so adorable this afternoon!

 

 

This is my cutie Kate!

Rose is all out in the water… we have to keep such a close eye on her because she knows no fear at all!

Laney and Anna Kate had a great time playing together in the hot tub!

Noelle swam all day and loved every minute of it!

Aww… love this one!

 

Noelle really wanted to push Uncle Jim into the pool, so we staged the moment for her, but she had no clue and got so tickled about it all.

 

I think this is my favorite picture of the whole trip!!! 

Aunt Elsie’s pool overlooks the lake and is just so much fun for everyone!

More splits into the pool… go girl!

Love Mac’s running man!

Cornhole was a big hit!  We really want one for our back yard.  Once you start playing, you can’t stop!

 

Yay!  Here’s the Pond girls with Harper! 

Rose was hamming it up!  

 

After dinner, we couldn’t wait for the fireworks!

 

Noelle has had it in her mind all summer that she wanted to put on a fashion show with her cousins for the family on the 4th of July.  She planned out 3 outfit changes for her and brought lots of extra clothes for everyone else to pick.

Anna Kate went first and did a great job!  Noelle got her dressed and did her make-up.  Rose was excited to have everyone clap for her too, lol!

I had to click some pics fast “back stage” so we could see how cute Laney was because she was too shy to walk out “on stage.”  Noelle was doing their make-up and everything.  It was so cool to see her in action doing what she loves and making the little girls feel so special!

 

Sweet Anna Kate was so timid but definitely enjoyed the spotlight.  We couldn’t get Laney to come out, but I did get a picture of she and Noelle together after her make-over.

  

Here’s Noelle doing her thing.

 

At the end, Mac did Rara’s make-up and Noelle was doing a little touch-up.  He was the stage manager!  I got a quick picture of Laney… she was all dolled up!

  

Noelle and Mac were proud of Rara’s make-up!  I caught Mike loving on Noelle, telling her how proud he was of her, and I clicked a quick pic of the moment.

Great job on your first fashion show, Noelle!  At the age of 6, I would not have thought that up.  It was wild and crazy and FUN!  You did a great job and your Daddy is right, we are so proud of you for being creative and having fun!

We always have fun the morning of the 4th dressing up and being in the parade!

Before the kids got into their swimming suits, we were lucky enough to snap this picture after the parade.  They are sitting from youngest to oldest: Coco, Rose, Laney, Anna Kate, Mac, and Noelle.  Gran would be so thrilled about this!

                      

I can’t help lining my girls up to capture the moment… they are growing so fast, and it’s now or never.  My friend Cindy said make the effort to take the pictures now, and work on them later.  Just to have the pictures are so important to me because I never want to forget this time in our lives! 

 

Rose and Rara enjoyed watching the parade with Mike, while Anna Kate, Noelle and I were in the parade with Hunter, Mac, and Laney.  It was my first year to be in the parade… It was a blast!

Throughout the parade, Noelle kept yelling “Happy 4th!!!” to the parade goers and waving as big as she could.  The crowd would yell it back, “Happy 4th!” and then we’d say it again to the next bunch.  All the kids joined in, and their little voices were so cute saying, “Happy 4th!”  I so wish I had gotten that on video.  It was awesome!

I love this picture because you can see our bubble machine in action!  The kids on the side of the street had a blast chasing the bubbles.  They were definitely a hit again this year!

And we were off to wish the next group of people, “Happy 4th!!!”

 

 

Here’s Aunt Elsie and Uncle Fred with their family!  So great to see everyone together!

Here’s Hunter and Emily with their kiddos!

And then after lunch, we had a melt-down, so it was time for naps!  Wahoo!

Here’s super dad helping his princesses get to bed! 

I wanted to do a compare picture of Rose from last year to the year… she has grown a lot!

This is me with 4 month old baby Rose last July 4th!

She’s coming into her own!

 

The kids decorated the golf cart the night before for the parade and went on a practice ride with Aunt E!  We had our bubble machine on the back of the cart, so the kids had fun with that!

 

Harper had the sweetest first birthday on July 3rd… can’t believe she is already 1!

  

Noelle was so excited to help Harper try on her new purse that we gave her… fashionista in the making!  I love this curious look on Harper’s face; she’s so cute!

Harper didn’t know what to think about her cupcake!

 

Party goers, Noelle (6) and Mac (5)

 

Anna Kate and Laney (both 3)

 

Rose and Coco (both 17 months)

Emily (Hunter’s wife) and Laney were the first to go tubing!

 

Noelle was a little nervous but wanted to give it a go!  Anna Kate was content to enjoy the ride on the boat! 

Once Noelle got out there, she turned into a wild woman and kept doing the thumbs up sign for faster!

 

This is Piper with Anna Kate… love this sweet pic.  Piper’s mom, Janie (in the blue), is holding Piper’s daughter, Hollynn in the next picture.  Janie is Uncle Fred’s sister.  We always enjoy getting to hang out with his side of the family too. 

After Noelle tried it out with her Daddy, she was ready to go ride the waves with her cousin and new buddy, Mac.

They were so cute out there!  They were in conversation the whole time.  It was cracking us up.  They were just chatting it up! 

Mac, Emily, Laney, Noelle, and Mike had fun swimming in the lake!

Noelle was enjoying the way her life jacket let her float!

Here’s my cousin Hunter (Rara’s sister, Elsie’s son) with his cousin Piper’s little girl, Hollynn.

Noelle was getting adventurous in the lake this year!  So happy to see her so happy!