We had a great 4th of July weekend.  We spent most of the day Friday relaxing at home.  Friday evening we headed out to the 4th of July celebration that our church puts on.  It’s a pretty huge party that has had between 15,000 and 20,000 people attending each year.  And it is always tons of fun.

And shockingly, I have pictures to share with you.

There is a stage that has different presentations and singing going on all of the time.  So, we set up our spot before we went to get some fabulous food.  Hailey could see all of the bouncy things they had set up for the kids, so she wasn’t all that thrilled about eating her dinner first.  After bribing Hailey to eat with promises of going to play on the bouncy toys we were off to check out what they had for toddlers.

Hailey having fun bouncing

Hailey loved the bouncy things and had fun collecting all of the balls.

After we finished playing on the bouncy toys Hailey went to get a tattoo.  She picked out the flag to get on her arm.

Hailey stared at the girl who drew her tattoo the entire time.  After she was done getting her tattoo she was very proud of her flag.  I think she was afraid it might come off because if Rich or I tried to touch it she had an absolute fit.  She loved her tattoo so much that we went back later to get another one on her other arm.

While Rich and I watched some of the presentations and enjoyed the singing Hailey danced by her stroller.  She was so good and had so much fun.  We enjoyed too many unhealthy snacks and bought some cotton candy for Hailey.  She had never had it before and she did not like it.

Hailey watching the singing.

As it got closer to the time for the fireworks we headed back to our car.  A couple of years ago the traffic leaving was so bad that it took us 2 hours to get out of the parking lot.  So, last year we watched the fireworks at our car so that we could get out quicker and it worked out great.  We decided to do the same thing this year.  We went back to our car and I got Hailey into her pajamas in case she fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Hailey sitting on the hood of the car waiting for the fireworks to start.

 Pointing out the fireworks to me and telling me that they are pretty.

The excitement of the day proved to be a bit too much.  About 5 minutes into the fireworks show Hailey was sound asleep.  She stayed asleep when I put her into her car seat and when we got home she stayed asleep while I moved her to her bed.  Normally if I walk by her bed room and hit a squeaky floor board she is wide awake, so I know she was tired!

Saturday and Sunday were both great days too.  We had perfect weather all weekend and spent most of our time outside enjoying it.  I hope everyone else had a wonderful 4th of July too!

Hailey is 21 months old today, but I am going to do have that post up tomorrow.  She has her 21 month well visit to the doctor this afternoon so I figured I’d wait so I could add the information from her appointment.

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Last Saturday morning we were visiting my parents house.  We got up bright and early to head off to my cousins wedding.  We were traveling with my parents and my brothers and my sister-in-law.  Hailey did really well in the car and slept for the first half of the trip.  When she woke up she realized that my dad was riding in a different car than she was and had a bit of a fit because she sure does love her “Pa.”  So, we had to stop so he could ride with us.  Other than that little incident Hailey did great.

We checked in to our hotel and got a quick bite to eat then went back to the hotel.  Since Hailey had slept in the car that morning I knew it was going to be a long evening for her at the wedding.  I tried to get her to take a quick nap but she wasn’t having any of that.  She usually only takes one nap a day, so apparently she thought sleeping that morning in the car was her nap.

So we got ready for the wedding.  While Rich and I were getting dressed Hailey decided to help out by getting some shoes on:

Working on filling Daddy’s shoes.

And then we were off to the wedding.

Hailey finally got to meet her cousin Anika.  Anika’s mom- Beka and I used to have an awful lot of fun together when we were teenagers.  We’re hoping that Hailey and Anika will be close too- but we’ll always be  one step ahead of them.  I think that Beka’s hubby Bill got a cute picture of Hailey giving Anika a hug.

The beautiful bride, Melissa, and her dad.

I wasn’t able to get any good pictures during the wedding since we sat near the back just in case Hailey needed to be taken out.  So, here’s a picture of my cousin Brad and his lovely new wife Melissa on their way out of the church just after being pronounced husband and wife.

The first dance at the reception.

World wide web- meet my family.  In the front row is me, my mom and my sister-in-law Ellie.  In the back row is Rich holding Hailey, my dad, my brother Mike and my brother Matt.

Hailey dancing with Rich.  She had that serious look on her face all night long.  She smiled a few times.  But, I think for the most part she was just really tired from not having a nap and a little worried about all of the relatives she didn’t know who kept saying, “I get to see your picture on the computer everyday!”  She did really well though and didn’t have any fits.  She was just much quieter than usual.  But I’ll certainly take that over tantrums any day!

Brad singing to Melissa

Apparently someone bought Brad and Melissa a rake so Rich thought this would be a fun pose to get a picture of.  Rich is quite proud of this picture that he took and insisted that I post it.

Here’s the happy couple.  Who are on their honeymoon in Italy. 
(I stole this picture from the mother of the groom.  Hope it’s okay Aunt Ruth!)

Last week we had planned to leave on Wednesday to stay with my parents for a few days. Then we planned to be off to a wedding over the weekend followed by another day spent at my parents house before heading home. So, of course last Monday Hailey came down with a cough followed by a fever and runny nose on Tuesday. Wednesday she wasn’t feeling well at all so we decided to wait until Thursday to leave. She acted much better on Thursday, although still not quite herself, and we headed off to my parents house. Her cold seemed to have cleared up but her cough remained. Hailey had been pretty sick back in December after a cold that had a cough that wouldn’t go away and ended up having some bad wheezing, so I was very worried that the same thing would happen.

Anyhoo, I have to share a few pictures of some of the weekend fun. Some of these are pictures from my dad’s camera, but since he hasn’t updated his blog since July of 2007 (gasp… can you imagine?) I don’t think he’ll mind if I post them.

 Hailey and my dad relaxing by the pool.

On Friday night we went to a nearby park with my parents, brothers, sister-in-law and aunt to have a picnic to celebrate my dad’s birthday. They have a great toddler playground there which Hailey loved.

On Saturday and Sunday we went out of town to go to my cousins wedding. Saturday was a really long day for Hailey but she did great. By Sunday morning Hailey’s cough was worse, so we had to start giving her breathing treatments. I hate it so much when she has an awful cough like this, it’s just so scary. We still had a wonderful time and I’m going to post pictures from that in a separate post since I have several that I want to share.

On Sunday night when we got back from the wedding we went to pick up Dottie (our dog) and Murray (my parent’s dog). The dogs get to be spoiled rotten at a farm that we take them to, owned by a friend of my moms, whenever we go away. Since it is a farm they stay at Hailey got to see some horses when we went to pick up the dogs.

Hailey wasn’t exactly sure what to think of the horses at first. We’ve looked at plenty of pictures of horses and looked at horses on DVD’s, but to see one in real life is a little different.

She warmed up to the horses after a few minutes and even had a few smiles for the horses. Although she kept calling them cows

On Monday Hailey enjoyed a nice swim. I could not get a picture of her smiling. Every time I put the camera away she would smile, but she would not smile for the camera at all.

We had a wonderful time! I always love spending time with family and appreciate all of the time we get to spend with them. I’ll be posting pictures from my cousins wedding too, so be sure to check back for those.

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This week for the Random Recipe Exchange Pam has asked us to post our favorite side dish recipe.  She pointed out that the 4th of July is coming soon and that we could share our favorite side dish for the holiday.  But, I already posted my all time favorite side dish for Potato Salad and I just can’t think of anything else that even comes close to that recipe.

So, instead I am going to share my regular favorite side dish.

Baked Corn Pudding

Ingredients:

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine sugar and flour. Whisk in the eggs, milk, butter, salt and pepper. Stir in the corn and cream-style corn.

Pour into a greased 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Yield: 10 servings

Stop by Pam’s blog to see the rest of the participants.

(Picture taken from Taste of Home.)

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