4th of July!

We had a really quiet, but wonderful 4th of July. Originally we intended on bringing out Keira's big pool and having a few families over but none of that came to pass.  On Thursday Keira suddenly came down with 102 fever and instead of coming home early to start the long weekend, I was coming home to take baby girl to the doctor.  It ended up being strep throat... again!  It's the second time this year with the diagnosis.  I'm beginning to think strep will be her weakness.  We'll have to keep an eye on the pattern.  It's too early to tell, but tonsil removal may be in her future.

The good thing about strep (if there is a good thing) is that we know how to treat it.  I wasted no time picking up her prescription at the pharmacy, she took a good nap and was almost back to her normal self (minus the fever) before bedtime.  I didn't want to risk passing her sickness on to any of her friends so our little get together ended up being rather intimate.  Just us and our favorite neighbor, who Keira calls Uncle Daniel. 

The fever unfortunately did not subside on Friday and for the first time in her life Keira could verbalize her discomfort.  We've reached another milestone.  She can finally tell us what's wrong and I've got to say, it's a little heart breaking!  She'd point to her little neck and cry, "My throat hurts!" every time she attempted to eat.  I mistakenly gave her apple juice and instead of soothing her throat it burned.  I also gave her crackers.  Rookie mistakes on my part!  For the rest of the day she had milk, ice cream and watermelon.

Other than being warm to the touch and not being able to eat, she was in a really good mood! I dressed her in her 4th of July outfit and we took some pictures on the back porch as we waited for the start of our tiny get-together.... but not before some coloring in the kitchen.

She's really taken to coloring lately.  She'll let you know what she's drawn, and even though it looks nothing like daddy or a house or a flower, it's nice to know that she's beginning to use her imagination.  Soon enough her doodles will turn into pictures.  For now, though, I could listen to her explain her drawings to us forever!  It's so adorable!

I loved the stars and stripes details on her dress!

Pigtails seemed appropriate and she happened to already have the bows to match.

I may or may not have bribed her to take these photos!

 This is my favorite picture of the day!  She can be such a ham.

We're slowly adding things to our back porch!  We picked up the cot last summer at the Screen Door and it was the only piece of furniture we had out back for almost a year. In March, I changed the bed spread from white to green and bought some pillows.  The big one came from Walmart and the little two I bought from Burntshirt Vineyards in Hendersonville for $4.99 each!  At first I was only going to take one home and when the cashier said they were less than $5, I said, "I'll talk two!" I couldn't believe it.  I even asked to be sure it wasn't a mistake and they weren't supposed to be $49.99 like most outdoor pillows.  To be honest, I'm still not sure. I think I stole them!  The outdoor carpet also came from Walmart.  It's super soft and great for Keira to play on. And the tiny red table and chairs... also from Walmart!  It's perfect for the three of us and I love it.  We try to eat outside whenever we can. For about $200 our back porch has come along way!

With a little help from Keira, Ryan got the grill ready at about 5 o'clock.

She could care less about the grill when the bubbles came out!

 

 

Uncle Daniel came over and was a good sport. He held the bubble bottle for her! They were both very soapy.

They also played with marbles, one of Keira's favorite pastimes.  Clearly, Dutchie also loved the attention. We are so lucky to have such an awesome neighbor.  He's always there for us when we need a hand and our kids love him!  It was awesome to spend the holiday together.

Meanwhile, Ryan had the food going on the grill!  Bratwurst, bison hotdogs, peppers & corn were on the menu.  Daniel brought twice-baked baked potato and mac & cheese.  We had enough food to feed an army!

It was all very delicious.  Keira didn't eat much, but we were stuffed!  We had some time to kill before the fireworks show at Lake Julian so we started to watch Coming to America on Netflix.  Ha!  Daniel had never seen it.  I've always watched it on TV, so I didn't realized the choice language which all of a sudden becomes blatant when you have a two year old that repeats everything.  Ear muffs were in full effect!  It's still one of my favorite movies... definitely an 80's classic!

 

As soon as it got dark we put Keira in her wagon and headed outside.  We can see the Lake Julian fireworks from our neighborhood and while the view is possible from our house, it's even better down the street.  It was awesome to see our other neighbors out too!  Our whole street was full of activity. 

Kids and adults alike were playing with sparklers and fireworks.  The bright lights and booms kind of freaked Keira out.  She covered her eyes the entire way down the street!  She even said, "Let's go back home now!" 

We eventually convinced her to open her eyes and got settled a few minutes before the big show. The Lake Julian Fireworks were great and were far enough away not to scare Keira!  In fact, she's been asking about fireworks ever since.

By the time we walked back to house it was a little after 10 o'clock... way past Keira's bedtime!  The neighborhood was still celebrating so I was worried she wouldn't fall asleep, but she did, booms and all.

The adults ended the night with a few root beer floats.  Perfection! We also finished Coming to America. What's more American than that?!?  It wasn't totally what we had planned but it was exactly how it should have been. Happy 4th of July, indeed!

Update:  Keira's fever and sore throat were gone by Saturday. Praise God!  We even made a quick trip to the pool this weekend.  She's a very resilient young girl!