a fabulous fourth (and fifth).

Oh, what a wonderful Fourth of July weekend we had! We got back from Big Cedar in Branson on Tuesday and then headed to the lake the very next day. We kicked off our Fourth of July celebrations by going to a t-shirt art camp at Paint the Town in Seminole. The kids always love Miss April's projects and they couldn't wait to design their own shirts! Since we're always on the go and my life is crazy with three children, I forgot to put the time of the camp in my calendar so we showed up thirty minutes early. Thankfully, that was a blessing in disguise because I didn't realize that we needed to bring our own white t-shirts and the extra time allowed for me to run to Walmart and get some shirts! We ran into the dollar store next door first, but they didn't have any white shirts so we headed to the most dreadful of places! With about 15 minutes until camp started, I put the baby carrier in a basket and quickly hauled all three kids into Seminole Walmart to look for shirts. The kids decided they wanted Baby Rush to have a shirt too, so I grabbed a white onesie on the way out. If you have three small children (one being a new baby), then you know how exhausting it is getting everyone in and out of the car a million times during the day, especially when you are in a hurry. After the dollar store, Walmart, and art camp that afternoon (and that was after a busy, hectic morning) I was exhausted! 

When we got out to the lake that evening, the kids couldn't wait for Jeb to get there so we could go buy firecrackers. I knew exactly how excited they were because going to buy firecrackers was one of my favorite childhood memories growing up. Papa Glenn would give each of the cousins $20 and we got to fill up a brown paper sack with snakes, sparklers, Panda Bears, and Roman candles! They wanted to wear their new shirts, and as soon as Jeb pulled into the drive they were dressed and ready to go to Bonnie's firework stand in Seminole. 

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How cute are these two? 

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And these three?!

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Before we left the lake, Papa Glenn gave each of them $20 to spend. We told them we were only going to buy small things and weren't going to spend very much because they were going to go with Papa Kelbo the next day to buy their big stuff. Well…$126 later we had two big sacks and a family pack and were headed back to the lake house! The kids were super pumped, so Jeb helped them light some of them before bed. LilliAnn loved the fountains and the hanging lantern, while Reid loved the rockets, M-200s, and saturn missiles, of course! 

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LilliAnn had been complaining of some urinary symptoms for about a week, so Thursday morning we ran over to the clinic so I could check a UA. Thankfully, her urine was clear so we headed back to the lake to eat lunch with Grandma, Papa, Lacee, Jett, and Josslynn. The kids wanted to dress in red, white, and blue since it was the day before the Fourth, and couldn't wait for me to take some pictures of them! 

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I'm so glad we were able to get another year out of this outfit because I think it is absolutely ADORABLE…or maybe it's the little girl wearing it! 

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She is such a little model lately! And I LOVE it! 

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I mean LOOK at that face! 

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Rushy had to wear his red, white, and blue too! He is obsessed with his hands right now and loves watching them and putting them in his mouth. 

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He's seriously the BEST baby! He rarely cries, and he loves watching his big brother. There's something about Reid that captivates him, and he always smiles or laughs when Reid talks to him. 

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I thought that his eyes may be blue, but they just seem to be getting darker and darker! I'm thinking they may be brown like Reid's. 

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The morning of the 4th of July, I made the kids sit on the stairs outside the lake house for some patriotic pictures. Rush was getting hungry and would not sit still, but I still got a couple of decent shots. 

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Granny Carol bought him this "My First 4th" shirt. She thought it may be too small since he weighs over 14 pounds now, but it fit perfectly! 

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I love LilliAnn's hair in these pictures. We trimmed it last week and cut quite a bit off of the back to try to even it all out. It looks so much fuller and healthier now! 

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Rush is going to have some major abs because he sits himself all the way up in this bouncy seat! I have to make sure to strap him in because he can wiggle and lift himself out of the entire thing! 

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I should have done a separate post for LilliAnn's patriotic pictures! She was really into wrapping up in the flag and loved doing lots of posing! 

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sweet American girl. 

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my heart. 

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Like I mentioned earlier, I didn't choose the best time to take cute pictures of Rush, but the big kids were ready to go tubing so I had to snap them while I had them all together! I finally got a few smiles out of Rush and they were the CUTEST smiles ever!! 

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That afternoon we were all super hot, so we decided to load up in the Ranger and head over to the public area of the lake for some sno-cones. I wanted us to look extra festive (I loooove themes!), so I added a few garlands and a patriotic wind sock to dress up the Ranger a bit! Oh, and I made Kass wear the Uncle Sam hat! 

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Little firecracker with her wedding cake sno-cone! 

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sweet Josslynn.

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I mean, what's better than driving around eating a sno-cone in an Uncle Sam hat and a decorated Ranger when you're 23?!

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Papa Glenn sampling the catfish that my dad brought for lunch. It's from a gas station in Wewoka and my dad thinks it's the best fried catfish in the state! 

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These sweet "sistas" have so much fun playing together. They are just five months apart and get along so well. I hope they always stay this close! 

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She loves water balloons. I hate them. 

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feeling patriotic?

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Tubing…next to fishing, this has been Reid's favorite thing to do this summer! He loves going fast and falling off…especially falling off on purpose! 

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We went on lots of pontoon boat rides! The boys ride the tube. The girls dance to Frozen songs. And us parents get to visit and r.e.l.a.x.!

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My kids love sour stuff…especially Twang lemon-lime salt. They get that from their mama! I love putting it on my salty dog sno-cones! 

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Sis even tubed a bit this weekend…with her daddy of course! 

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Wewoka Lake always has their Fourth of July celebration on the Saturday night of Fourth of July weekend, so we celebrated on July 5th too! We got all dressed up on Saturday morning for our annual family patriotic pic! The kids were really excited to go play, so it was quite challenging to get them to cooperate! 

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Luckily, we got a few good ones! 

Happy 4th of July from the Rollins Ruckus! 

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This year, Wewoka Lake and Wewoka Chamber of Commerce decided to make the 4th of July celebrations a little bigger this year. They encouraged everyone to decorate their boats and docks, and even put together a boat parade the evening of the firework display. I love any reason to celebrate and decorate, so Cook Cove was not going to be left out! Our family usually has a fish fry on the Fourth, so we decided to really decorate our lake place! Papa Glenn hung lights on the pavilion, I strung blue metallic garland, and Lacee helped me hang flags. We even hung flag banners across our entire dock and hung flags and patriotic wind socks! 

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No one was as "into" the boat parade as I was, therefore no one really wanted to help me decorate the boat. Everyone was busy with the kids and getting the food ready for the fish fry, so I decided to do it myself. I gathered all of the flags and red, white, and blue stuff I could find and headed to Kassidy's MasterCraft. It was already blue so I knew that it would look the best in the parade. Jeb and Uncle Tommy came down to help me wrap the banners around the boat, and I made sure everyone that was going to ride in the parade had excessive amount of patriotic gear! My Grandma Lucy let us use the giant flag from her brother's funeral to fly in the parade. Kass made a huge PVC pipe holder and the flag looked amazing flying in the wind as we jetted down the lake! 

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Sweet cousin Amy all ready for the parade! 

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Reid and Lil were so excited! Reid kept asking, "Are we gonna win the parade? We HAVE to be the best boat!"

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 I love how my awesome husband always participates and gets excited because he knows how happy it makes me! 

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our captain! 

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There were about 8-10 boats in the parade and several wave runners. It was so neat to see all of the boats decorated and going around the lake. Since our boat has a super loud sound system and we had a giant flag, they asked our boat to lead the parade and play the patriotic CD. We started with the Call of Colors, then play the Star Spangled Banner, then God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood and America the Beautiful by Ray Charles, and finally Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen. It was absolutely wonderful. I even teared up at one point because I was overwhelmed by God's blessings, our freedom, and my beautiful family. 

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Katie and Aunt Gayla were the best boat float riders! 

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No one got a pic of the giant flag actually flying when we were going, but it was truly breathtaking! 

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When we drove past our pavilion and dock, everyone at the fish fry cheered and clapped for us. It was so much fun! 

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America. 

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the aftermath of a 4th of July boat parade

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After we ate some fried catfish, hushpuppies, brown beans, caesar salad, macaroni and cheese, cookies, chocolate cake, brownies, and homemade ice-cream, it was time for the firework show! 

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We stayed on the bank instead of getting out in the boat this year, but the view was still amazing!

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After the show, Reid and his cousin Emma finished up the fireworks we had left. They don't get to play that often, so they enjoyed putting on glow necklaces and doing fireworks together. 

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As we were walking up the hill to go into the lake house that night, I asked Reid his favorite part of the day (thinking he would say tubing, playing with friends, fishing, or doing fireworks)…instead he replies, "Spending the day with all of my family." It truly was an amazing day…and an amazing weekend. Thank you Lord Jesus for all of our blessings, especially our freedom. God Bless the U.S.A.