4th of July!

After church and a nap for the Stinker, we headed out to celebrate the 4th with the Clarks at their new house. Luke and Jackson had so much fun playing together. They played in the baby pool a bunch and when they got bored with that, soaked the inside of their house with their soggy britches. Luke, as I mentioned before, was enamored of Jackson's vacuum. He pushed it all around, saying "mow, mow..." the whole time. It was so cute because Jackson followed Luke around everywhere doing whatever Luke was doing. This was pretty hilarious to watch because, even though Jackson is several months older than Luke, he is about half the size of the Big Man. Jackson is a tough little guy though, and wasn't intimidated by Luke's giant presence one little bit. He didn't hesitate to push him down or take things away from him, resulting in a few time-outs for Jackson. Luke didn't mind much at all, until Jackson took away a riding toy that Luke had been playing with. Luke screamed and went over to Jackson and hit him in the face. Thankfully I was right there to put an immediate end to it and discipline the little punk, too. It was horrible to watch my child do that to another kiddo, especially one smaller than him. Thankfully, they both got over it quickly and returned to playing, "mowing", and making messes.


Patriotic punkin, dressed for the day.
Why does he look like he's 8 in this picture??


Playing on the slide in the pool and trying so hard to climb up it...

...but sliding right down to the bottom every time.


"Get out of my way. I'm gonna do this thing..."

But then he got distracted...
(That's not sunburn on his face, just rosy Tatum cheeks from the heat!)

"Hmmmm... how am I gonna pick that ball up and still hold these other ones?"

Being helped down the slide by Daddy.
Oh, how I love that belly!

Jackson taking a break to golf a bit.

And admiring his shot.

Luke: "Man, I'm thirsty!"
Mommy and Daddy for the 32nd time: "Noooo!! Don't drink the water!!"

Having conquered the pool, he's off to find something else to do.

MOW!!!!

And can you believe it? The smarty pants saw the neighbor's air conditioning unit and remembered that there are fans inside of air conditioning units. I can't believe he recognized it/remembered. The whole afternoon we had to chase him down because he would run over to it trying to see the fan. He is OBSESSED with fans!!!

And mowers, too. Here he is running off toward the 4-wheeler yelling, "Mow, mow, mow."

Hey, aren't you coming?

Luke had a great time but was more than exhausted when left. It was waaaaay after his bedtime. So much so that not even his nighttime bottle was enough to appease him on the way home. Thank goodness I had a lollipop in my purse! You wouldn't believe how long those things last when you don't bite into them.

All tuckered out, but temporarily revived by a Dum-Dum.