A Dirty 4th of July

This year since my family was in town for the 4th of July, I decided we would combine Piper's second birthday party with the usual 4th of July festivities since she is too young to understand/complain about not having her own party. The weather was fabulous and Piper had a blast entertaining her little pals in our front "yard," which is really more of a small putting green, but it worked. Peter cooked the traditional hamburgers and hot dogs on our mini-weber with a little mesquite on the coals. It might be small, but it is mighty and we are cheap.

Our guests included Grandma and Grandpa Ecker, Grammy Ecker, Nonna and Papa Clark, Mimi and Rah-rah Mullen, Lance and Rosemary Longmore and their twins Lanny and Spencer, Ryan and Erin Longmore, and Neal and Emily Peterson and their daughter Sally. We had a great dinner and loads of desert: a blackberry/blueberry pie, an Elmo cake, and a yellow/jell-o/pudding cake.

After eating the children explored our small area in front of our townhome. The boys soon discovered a dirt pile in the cement used for a planter by people who like to take care of plants. I am not one of those people, so it is just full of dirt. Excitement ensued and before we knew it, dirt that was being tossed about was tossed right at Piper. She was so dirty it was impossible not to laugh.

The evening came to a close shortly after as everyone left to go and enjoy various fireworks displays. Next year we may venture out into that chaos, but this year Peter and I watched the fireworks from our bedroom window. It was a crazy, yet peaceful evening as I actually took the time to contemplate what a fantastic country we live in...even if we can't exercise our freedom to blow up our money in Johnson County...oh, well!