It's Independance Day!

Have I mentioned that I love Independence Day?

And what a day it was this year.

We started bright and early at 6am and did not get home until after 11:00 that night.

We are one tired family today.

We started the day with a healthy dose of exercise. Mr Bird ran the 5K while I walked it (Stubborn knee!). My wonderful nephew Josh and his cute wife Tiffany watched our kids while I walked. I took 2nd place in the walk though, not too shabby.

I know, I know, it's not as cool as 2nd place in the run, but still, there were lots of walkers! I did really well, but today my bum is sore!

After the 5K we all participated in the bike parade. I hauled Dubs and baby Cakes in the decked out wagon while Mr Bird took Doodle and Beano on their bikes.

They get to ride the parade route and they look forward to it every year, as do I.

I love being in the parade!
The city parade was next. The weather was perfect! Most years by 9am we are frying in the hot street like a slice of bacon in a skillet. This year, however, there was a nice breeze and cloud cover and nice cool temperatures.

It just would not be the 4th without getting wet! After lunch Mr Birds hooked the hose to the slide in the back yard and let the kids go to town.

Those nice parade clouds scared me for a while in the afternoon.

They actually started raining on us for a minute. I was all panicked that the fireworks would get rained out.

Luckily, the rain lasted all of 5 minutes, then the clouds broke and it was clear skies the rest of the day.

This is why I love Independence day.

I love being carefree with my kids and my lover and hanging out in the yard, just being together.

Then it was on to Lisa and Brads house for our annual BBQ. Lisa had the horses out and baby insisted that she take him for a ride. It looks like we have another horse freak on our hands!


And of course it just would not be the 4th without a flag cake. Lisa and Jordana did a fantastic job.

See how pretty I am at 10pm after a long day outside? We had a perfect spot for the fireworks thanks to our lovely friends, Rick and Shelly! They got to the park early and pinned down a spot for us. We sure do love those guys.

Baby Cakes loved his first sparklers. He also loved the fireworks. He ooooed and ahhhhhhed with the best of them.

We had such a fun day.

Good family times, good friends, good food and good times!

Let the Celebrations Begin!

I love, love, love Independence Day!

Next to Christmas it's my favorite holiday.

I love all the parades and BBQs and melon and fireworks!

We have been busy little bees this week getting ready for the big day.

We made each of the kids a fun hat out of newspaper and paint and glitter. We also made fun star wavers so they can wave them at the floats as they pass.

For those we used empty cracker boxes that we cut into a star shape and painted and added glitter designs. Then we added cute ribbon and glued it all to sticks we found in our yard. Sometimes it really helps to have a willow tree. We get some pretty cool sticks for the kids to play with and for me to craft with!

If you have not made any 4th of July crafts with your kids, it's not too late. Grab some old newspaper and cereal boxes and get to work! There's still time left before the big day!
Every year our kids love to ride in the bike parade. Since Baby Cakes is still a bit too little to ride, we dressed the wagon for the occasion. Just imagine it with a cute baby waving, dressed from head to toe in red, white and blue. Oh, I just can't wait!

The kids had so much fun decorating their bikes, it took us 2 days to get all the bikes and the wagon in tip top shape.
I can't wait to post pictures of the final product on the day!

Before the bike parade Mr. Bird is running in our city's 5K. I want to run too, but I have 4 heathens to look after. I thought about doing the 5K walk with them all, but we did a practice walk this week and it did not go so well.

After the 5K the kids will start off our city's parade with the bike parade. Hundreds of kids show up with sparkly bikes and wagons and scooters and ride the parade route. It is the highlight of the day for our kids. They talk about it all year long! After the bike parade we stay for our city's parade and oooh and aaaah over all the colorful floats. Since we live so close to the air force base we usually get an F-15 buzz the parade. Although, they are always taking off and landing practically on top of our house, so we usually don't even notice the huge F-15 just feet above our heads. After the parade we head home to get our picnic items ready to have our family BBQ.

This week it will be at dead Aunt Lisa's house.

Yup, you guessed it, after dark we gather at the park with about a million other people to watch the spectacular fireworks display!

The fireworks are my favorite part. I wish they would go on forever!

Let the Parades begin!

Horses are Vegetarians

I was going through some pictures the other day. I do that when I start to feel hormonal. I get really sentimental. I start remembering my life when I only had one child. Life was easy then. She was cute and had no other monsters to get into trouble with. Look how cute and little she was. I was 7 months prego with Beano. I had no idea what adding another child to the mix would do. It's like adding Baking Soda to Vinegar. Want a fun experiment? Try that! Just be prepared to clean up big mess. Most of the time that is what I'm doing, cleaning up big messes

that I didn't make!

I digress. This post is really about the horses. I found these photos from 4th of July, 2003. These are some of my favorite pictures of all times. Time first time I saw them I laughed so hard I cried.

We had a BBQ at our house and had tons of left over watermelon rinds and corn on the cob. The horses loved our left overs. Doodle and her Uncle Steve had fun feeding the horses all those yummy left overs.

Until they came to the hot dogs that is.

You see, these hot dogs were your standard super market variety made from pork, chicken and beef. Plus heaven only know what fillers are in there. I don't want to know, thank you. I'm not listening to you! (Fingers in my ears, eyes closed, yelling LALALALALALALA!)

And horses are vegetarians!


They don't eat pork, chicken or beef, thank you VERY much!


Unless a sweet little one year old princess gives it to them!

I just have to say I had never seen a horse make that face before. I was still really new to the horse scene. Like I said I laughed so hard I cried. I have since found out what makes horses do that. Want to know? OK, I'll tell you.
It turns out horses have a very sensitive sense of smell. they also have olfactories (smellers) in their very sensitive lips. When they catch a whiff of something new or offencive they curl their lips like that to get a better smell.

Weird, huh?
There, see, you learn something new everyday!

God Bless the USA

I wanted to post about our 4th of July festivities. I kept thinking about the wonderful day we had. About how we woke up at 6 am and ran in the 5 K. About the parade and the BBQ at our house that lasted 7 hours.

About the fireworks and how Baby Cakes LOVED his first fireworks display. About the fun water fight we had in the back yard. About all the fun and celebrating we did.

But somehow it all felt trivial. But not really. I wanted to write about what this country means to me. I kept thinking about all the men who have fought to defend this great country. I kept thinking of the wives and mothers and children of those men waiting at home for their brave soldiers.

I thought of the ones who never saw their beloved soldier ever again. What pain and tears and yet honor they must have felt.

I thought of the founding Fathers and the great love and respect I have for them. They truly were inspired men with such vision for his blessed land.

I just became overwhelmed with reverence and respect and it started to seem silly to write about our festivities. I have never personally felt the pain of losing a loved one to war. I feel like I have so much that I take for granted every day.

How many soldiers are fighting right this minute so I can be sitting here in my safe home watching fireworks and eating watermelon? I am so thankful for those men.

Then Mr. Bird' s sister sent this email. I read it and cried. Those men were inspired! Thanks Mama Lis!

Independence Day Thought
"If our nation’s Founders could visit us on this, our 232nd Independence Day, what would they make of us? What would they declare of us?
"A hint can be discerned in a letter from John Adams to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776, as the Declaration of Independence had just been approved. 'It ought to be commemorated,' said the man who would become our second president, 'as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Day's Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.'
"Americans have maintained the 'Pomp and Parade' for more than two centuries now, and the 'Bonfires and Illuminations’ are commonplace, but how often do we recognize Independence Day as ‘the Day of Deliverance?’ How often do we honor it with ‘solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty’? How often do we contemplate the cost of our freedom, 'the Toil and Blood and Treasure?'"

So Independence day will continue to be one of my most favorite days of the year. I will continue to eat hamburgers and potato salad and watermelon and flag cake. I will continue to watch the parade with a lump in my throat. I will continue to watch the magnificent firework displays. But to add to the festivities I will thank God for my freedom and for all the men who have made this land free. I will praise God for this beautiful country and try even harder to do my part to make it better for my kids and their kids and on and on. I will say at the top of my voice

GOD BLESS THE USA!

A Little Slice of Heaven

Are you looking for something fancy and festive to make for your 4Th of July BBQ? How 'bout this sweet little number. She is practically perfect in every way. A light flaky crust, fresh juicy succulent strawberries topped with homemade whipped cream. That's right, you heard me, no cool whip here baby. Now don't get me wrong, cool whip has it's place and heaven knows I've eaten my share of it in my day. But for these sweet ripe berries

only real cream will do.

I made this particular pie a couple of weeks ago for our anniversary. Between Mr. Bird, myself and all the kidletts we downed the whole thing in less than 10 minutes. This recipe actually makes 2 pies so you will have plenty to share at a BBQ. And no, we did not eat 2 whole pies, our neighbor across the street had just had her baby so I took one of them over there for them to enjoy. Hope you enjoy it too!

Ingredients:
2 9 inch pie shells, baked
2 lbs strawberries
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup boiling water
1 (3 oz) package strawberry flavored gelatin

In a small pan, mix together the sugar and the corn starch; make sure to blend corn starch in completely or you will have lumps or strings in your filling. Add boiling water and cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mixture, stir until smooth. Let mixture cool to room temperature. Layer strawberries (remove tops and slice in half) and filling in the baked pie shell. Make three layers of each. Place strawberries in the shell being sure to heap in the middle. Refrigerate until set.

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whip cream until almost stiff. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until cream holds peaks.

See, now wasn't that easy?
Add dollops of whipped cream around the perimeter of the pie and one large dollop in the middle. To make it more festive add a blueberry to each whipped cream dollop. Can you tell I like the word dollop? You know what else I really like?

This Pie!