Happy Birthday America!! I hope you are all having a great Fourth of July. We had a great cook out last night with a family from our church. We met up a near-by park and ate “milk can dinners”, played softball and watched fireworks. In case you do not live in a place where “milk can dinners” are popular, the meal is basically ham, potatoes, carrots, onions, corn on the cob and cabbage, all put into a large steel “can” with water and heated over a fire. It’s delicious! More than half of my kids actually ate cabbage, which should really tell you it was good. :) I made two cakes, both of which were iced with white cream cheese icing and decorated with blueberries and raspberries to make the cakes look like American flags. They were a big hit!

You can’t beat good food and good company, and we had both. The family we met with is great. Mr. and Mrs. T and have three kids, all of which are between 18 and 26 years old. They love our kids, and we all just had a blast together. At one point the dad, who had been watching the kids run and play, looked at me and said, “Your life must be full of so much fun.” I was really touched because usually people look at me and said, “I don’t know how you do it” or “Better you than me” or some kind of comment on how much “work” my kids must be.

Sure, they are a lot of work. There is lots of laundry and dishes and homework. But the fun and the joy far outweigh the work, and it was really nice to have someone think that way and see that side of my family.

After getting in late last night and sleeping in this morning, we hurried and got cleaned up to make it in time to our town parade. We live in a small town, and parades are a big deal that not many people miss. Call me a sap, but I love parades. I love the horses and the fire trucks and the cheerleaders and the candidates throwing candy and the kids riding their bikes with red, white and blue streamers flying. I love the bands and the tractors and the classic cars. I love seeing so many friends and neighbors.

My kids caught a lion’s share of candy and ice pops and their highlight of the parade was when the fire fighter open-fired on them with a fire hose. Ben loved it all…he had never heard of a parade but quickly figured any event that involves catching candy has to be good. He was as wet at the rest of the boys, shaking his backside at all three fire trucks and reaping his reward. :)

Tonight we have some fireworks to get off which the kids are all excited about. Family, friends, food and fireworks…I hope you all are enjoying the day! Happy Fourth of July!