4th of july

oh, my, and it was almost a week ago! i am slow, slower at blogging than i am at walking/ waddling right now... which is really slow. sparrow has been looking forward to the 4th of july for ages. she is always asking me if we can get out our flags. so that week i did get out their little flags from last year and let them play with them.

the graham clan was gathering at grandma mumma's old house, where jonathan and emi are moving, right down the drive from graham central. we were invited to the party, a bbq and fireworks celebration. the girls brought their bathing suits and played in the sprinklers. and it was a HOT day. i had spent all afternoon baking and cooking up goodies. cupcakes with white frosting and strawberries, two loaves of beer bread, two blueberry tarts, whipped cream. yum! omi had made a beautiful cherry pie too! we all brought stuff to grill. nitrite-free hot dogs for me, marinated chicken for thomas! mmmmm, it was such a good potluck. the five cousins were there too, emi and jonathan, mr and mrs graham...

we could see the saddlebrooke fireworks from the mumma house pretty well, but some of us wanted to go down to saddlebrooke and sit directly under the loud, celebratory blasts. i took sparrow with me, and omi, elizabeth, sp. and i had to HUSTLE cause suddenly the fireworks were starting, and we ran around looking for the right vehicle to take, and which keys were to which car.  we did finally make it to fireworks under the stars, and sparrow was a little wary of the blasting noises at first, but learned to revel in it by the end.

when we got back, i overheard golden telling jonathan's parents all about what she saw: "fire-works! orange! green! boom!" she is such a little story teller.

after all that sugar and late night partying, we had screaming meltdowns at home, plus golden had a rash of cactus or thistle prickers from getting into the car somehow... i didn't even brush her teeth! on the one day it was really necessary... but all in all, my favorite holiday of the year turned out fabulously. it is so good to spend it with friends.