The weekend of the 4th of July - Saturday

So here we go....with the weekend of the 4th.

Let's start at the beginning, this being Saturday!

Saturday morning we woke up. (ha, see, wonderful stuff, huh?!) We did the usual cleaning/picking up - Saturday mornings at our house are dedicated to picking up the floors, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping and getting the main level of the house cleaned and organized. Hubby did most of this for me, although the kids and I had worked on some of it on Friday. I was left to do costumes. For the play. The King and I. argh. I think that next time, I will have to lay some hard-set ground rules - like NO last-minute stuff! I don't mind helping and sewing costumes, but this last minute stuff really must end. So, 8 pairs of pants got finished and 10 dresses left to go! (those got finished today - Monday).

During baby's nap, hubby took the kids outside and made some awesome tin-can luminaries. They were all pretty excited to do them and even Son decided to do one - although that could be, in part, due to the fact that he got to use a drill!!

After baby got up from her nap, we went to my brother's house for potluck and fireworks. We brought along another craft (check Moneyless Momma's later this week or early next) - Fourth of July Flip Flops! The girls had a great time making these and even wore them to church on Sunday. I had been to Hancock Fabrics early in the week and had obtained their "bags of ribbon" for only 49 cents each - normally $1.99 (each bag has approximately 30 yards of ribbon, cut into 2 yard sections - all colors and widths)!! We used the ribbon for the flip flops, but I expect to see many, many more uses of ribbon come out of this house in the next few months.....the creative juices are flowing!

We had a wonderful spread of things - including a bean salsa that I'll post on Moneyless Momma's sometime this week or next. Hubby and I like it so well that we could eat it plain, but it tastes great on crackers and tortilla chips too.

By the time 7:30 rolled around, Daughter #3 was done. She STILL dislikes loud noises and was NOT looking forward to being there when Uncle lit the fireworks. So, we brought her, baby and Molly-girl home with us.

Father came over for a chat....he had a WONDERFUL service planned for the Fourth - we knew some of what he had planned and he let us in on some more - he also wanted our oldest daughter to learn how to incense for special occasions - so even though they didn't get back until after 9:30 p.m., Hubby and her went to Father's house and practiced. (oh, and she brought home the incense holder home to practice too - which was the talk of EVERYONE - why it was at OUR house and not church!)

Father and I also were able to discuss some school things and he threw a few ideas past me. I am throughly convinced that God has his hand on this man. He is unafraid to push forward, try new things, pull in the reins and return to all of the church traditions....yes, we feel blessed to have him here, in our parish AND to consider him a friend as well.

Hubby chatted with him about tattoos (he had been at our first party) and he said that there are things that the church basically doesn't comment on either way - and as long as the tattoos that we get are in no way damaging ourselves (morally, money-wise or spiritually) there really is no harm in it.

So. I think that was our day. More or less....probably more....cuz I just can't document it all! ;)