The Nesbitt Family: Girls & Curls

I guess now since July is almost over, I will finally blog about our Independence Day shenanigans. This year, the 4th of July fell on a Friday which made for a nice, long weekend to celebrate with family!! We kicked off the festivities over at Grandmommy's and Paw-Paw's (Paw had just gotten a new grill and was feeling all "manly." In the words of Paw, "I just got the new Brinkman Five Burner deluxe grill with electronic starter and featuring a side sear burner. The ultimate man stove. Wieners beware. Augh! Augh! Augh!") Paw may have gotten the "ultimate man stove," but he is an ultimate dork. :) Still, we were so grateful that he "broke in" his new grill on US!!

Always a fun time when Nesbitts and food are involved!!

Ella LOVED the ribs!! :)

Cartwheels. Always.

Trouble.

Ring Around the Rosie. :)

Ashes, ashes....

We all fall down!!!

Of course, no holiday or get-together would be complete without a performance by the Beef Nuggets:

Watering the plants before they leave.

This is how we found Claira when we got home. I swear, I am going to do a blog SOLELY about her addiction to coloring her face with markers.....and I PROMISE I have no idea where she gets them....she's got some hidden stashes!!

That night, Lilah came home with us to spend the night. We kicked off our slumber party by going on a lightning-bug hunt through our neighborhood trails. We came upon a MASSIVE dog named "Bear." The sweetest, largest dog I've ever seen in my life. Good thing, because he could've eaten lil' Henry in one bite!!

Off to hunt fireflies!!!

They were EVERYWHERE!! One of my favorite things about summer!!

So sweet....

Yet, so goofy!!

So proud of their "big catches!!"

We released all of the bugs before leaving. It was better than a firework show (especially for Clairy who is absolutely petrified of fireworks!!)

We came home after our big bug hunt and chilled out with some popcorn and a movie:

But before long, they all looked like THIS on the couch:

However, SOMEHOW, all 4 kids + puppy winded up in our bed before the night was over. So duh, we left the kids in the bed and headed for the couch. :)

The following morning, we attended our neighborhood "Patriot Parade!"

The participants in the parade threw candy to all of the kids. Claira made sure to hide her's whenever she got a handful!! Smart girl :)

Henry enjoyed all the red, white, and blue sights!!

Ella's pile of candy!!

Josh was super-excited about this car in the parade that ......I can't really remember where it comes from.....Dukes of Hazard?? It's the "General Lee" or "Robert E. Lee"..... or something???

Later on, the rest of the family joined us to prepare to watch fireworks (our neighborhood has a KILLER firework show on the 4th each year). Fun times!!

Clairy introducing Matthew to Henry :)

Paw and Nora, both in a pie coma :)

Paw doing a little "dance" before heading out to the big show:

Grandmama and I opted to stay home with Claira and Henry since they are both pretty terrorized by fireworks (I DID, however, get to chauffeur the rest of the family around in my new, awesome mini-van!! I totally turn heads while driving it!) Anywho, everyone got a great view of the fireworks from our boat!! (*side note* ~ I had reminded Josh a bajillion times to take the camera with him, but he has selective hearing. He did take some pictures with his phone, so it's okay. Still, what a lame-o. :)