Happy 4th of July

"I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure
it will cost us to maintain this declaration,
and support and defend these states.
Yet through all the gloom I see the rays
of ravishing light and glory.
I can see that the end is worth all the means.
This is our day of deliverance."
John Adams

We initally didn't have anything planned for the 4th of July except to get the other piece of property fenced in so we can move the cows over on that side. Then a friend invited us over for dinner and fireworks. He also has a swim pool which keeps the kids entertained for hours. So we (by we I mean Coty and Mark) worked on the fence and then hot footed it over to the party.

I did offer to help with the fence on Saturday and got a quizzical look from my son Coty. He then mentioned something about it being hard. I then matched his quizzical look with one of my own and replied "and so your Mom can't do it?". Then he tried to backtrack and only got himself in deeper. I think his defining moment was something about maybe I could bend fence clips. It is a good thing he wasn't there when I pushed my husband's truck on the ice in New York so he could get is started in the freezing cold when I was 6 months pregnant. Or the time I put eletrical wire through my teeth (to hold it) and crawled through the open tresses of our now home to help wire the house (it was 3 stories up). Moved a whole couch into the house by myself. I could go on but then I would feel prideful and then as my brother would say, the only way to get me through the door would be to grease my ears and hold a twinkie in front of me. So I won't just know there is a WHOLE list of other things that I have done that are tough. But I do appreciate the fact he is trying to help his mother out and make life easier for me.

But again, here is a quick recap of our 4th of July.

The buffet supplied by a caterer so we didn't have to do to much cooking.

Here is the cake I made. It turned our really yummy. If you want the recipe, go here.

Another exciting first, Sidney jumped off the diving board all by herself. She kept asking us all night if we were proud of here and if that was "impressive". It is her go to word when she does something really stupendous.

It was fun hanging out with friends in such a beautiful setting.

And the grand finale where the fireworks, most of which was provided by Dave, but was lite off by my pyro Mark and his trusty partner Brandon.

I think my most favorite part of the evening was when we came home and two of our neighbors continued to light off fireworks until 1:30 am with hoops and hollers. It always makes me scratch my head in wonder when they complain that we have cows in our field or how ugly our fence is and then pull that kind of shinanigans. It is good I am a peace loving person and didn't let it bother me as I lay in bed thinking of how early we needed to get up so I could "not" help on the fence in the morning.