I was feeling lame-o on the 3rd because I had not planned a single thing for the 4th. I was just glad to have Kyle home for the whole day and hadn't thought about what we'd DO all day.

So early the next morning Jax and I made a special alone trip to WalMart (cuz their always open…) and I tried very hard to muster up some patriotic something or other. Here's how the day ended up;

 The boys helped me dipped strawberries. 

 We found something else to dip, with the leftover blue. mr. mannerly said they looked like pillows.

 Homemade cherry limeade pops (and jar for KP) Jax was not happy that they had to go in the freezer first. 3 is a very impatient age...

 Lil Bill (or affectionately "Vader") is shown here enjoying her "popswicle." But more importantly she's enjoying all the food her give her. Exhibit A; that little belly sticking out. This bathing suit came from my amazing sis Mel and even rolled up, the bottoms would promptly fall right off when we first got her. So, we're proud that this fits now!

We had a picnic lunch on the back deck with Dad.

It just so happened to have these fun things in my cake station. We made taco rice for dinner and I made corn bread muffins just so we had something to stick the pinwheels in.

A friend gave jax's a new bedspread and since mr. mannerly was sleeping on a bedspread with flowers and KP felt guilt about it, we bought him on to coordinate with Jax's new one. And we had the idea to let them paint some canvases to put up on the walls. So, the boys sat at the table together and had a blast painting art for their room. KP ended up doing one and so did I, so their room is fully loaded now. (more pics to follow).

We didn't end up making a big effort to go see fireworks because and chill night at home as a family sounded better and a normal bedtime sounded even better. But the kids had a great day and we made some great memories as a family of 5. And that's all that matters.