4th of July

We had a fun, traditional 4th of July in Mississippi.




The day started out with the pledge of allegiance and Charlotte in a themed outfit:

We caught her admiring herself in the mirror:

The VanYperens came over later and there was a water balloon fight, sprinkler fun, and then everyone was enraptured by the "snakes".

You can see by their faces that they are quite pleased with how the snakes are "growing":

Of course, Arabelle decided this was her "baby":

The "Kids" table at the old fashioned barbecue, complete with homemade ice cream:

Noelle in her patriotic outfit:

Charlotte was really excited about helping with the deviled eggs, and she happily peeled all dozen eggs:

Then she ate several of them:

Arabelle was exhausted and fell asleep before fireworks.  We tried to sneak her to her bed, but she heard the commotion and soon re-joined us:

 I thought Noelle looked like a Caribbean baby.  (Her shirt was covered in ice cream and had to be removed):

And the traditional sparklers:

This was before Nicholas burned his finger on a sparkler, and was miserable the rest of the evening:

Papa instructing Charlotte on sparkler usage:

And...Charlotte using a sparkler: