yesterday.

It’s the 4th of July, Parker saved us pool chairs early this morning, Sophia and Pearl have already gone down to the art center and have made their ‘message in a bottle’ and Ethan is making French toast.....

Yesterday Sophia made her famous blueberry pancakes which she loves and chocolate chip ones for pretty much everybody else.

We did a quick swimsuit change and I applied sunscreen to 10 little and not-so little bodys. Several of the middles went to the pool ahead of us and got an early start in the pool.

I love seeing my kiddos pair up on their own with one of their siblings and are best friends for the day. Jasper and Ruby stuck together and went on the slide over and over and over and over....  They loved it. I even saw the lifeguard chuckle at how much they were digging it.

The bigger kids drifted over to where Chris and I were on the big pool steps-- they were looking for some good old fashion dunking and throwing. I was really happy as a mommy when Parker and Sophia took a liking to giving Tallulah boat rides in her pirate ship.

We broke for snacks, then continued with some more of the slide while the bigger kids headed to the arcade and Ethan and Parker entered a bingo contest. where Ethan actually won a round when Parker pointed out to him that he had ‘bingo’. That’s what big brothers are for!

Later, when the Littles were down for naps, Chris took the seven oldest kids for decoupage at the kid’s area. At first, we really had no idea what it was and Parker wasn’t interested until his Dad called and told us what they were making. He grabbed his chanclas and headed over to make something.

We ended the day with a late night swim-- it was still 98º at 9pm and Pearl hosted her “Swim Ninja Club” with her siblings 6 and under as her students.

Sophia is hoping to enter the dance contest tonight... We’ll see. And apparently, there’s a pudding eating contest later this afternoon which all the kids want to be in. Oh gosh!

We all made sure we brought our red, white and blue clothes. Happy Birthday America! We can’t wait for the fireworks show tonight.