4th of July

"Mama!  Make sure you get the beak!"

He does this every time a camera is pointed at him.  I call it the GQ with a bit of rage look.

Independence Day Shindig.  

July 4th, 2015

 There was face painting, decorations made almost single-handedly by Corynn, a hot dog bar with tons of dressing-up options, a porch full of people and a yard thick with sulfury firework smoke by the end of the night.  Strings of bistro lights (Matt loves calling them that) and perfectly suited red, white and blue flowers from the flower circle to plunk in vases for tables.  Cousins.  Family.  Tattoos.  Fun.

An exhausted eagleboy fell asleep on the couch, where we left him all night (YOU try picking the boy up and carrying him upstairs to bed!), and he woke up swollen with pride at his nighttime accommodations.  I made a quadruple batch of vanilla ice cream along with both strawberry and huckleberry sauces to drizzle on top for dessert- but the evening was so chilly (see sweater photos above) no one was really feeling the ice cream eating.

Oh drat.  A freezer full of ice cream and fruit sauces to boot.  What a dilemma!

A quote that I pondered throughout that day, and often since...

"Fellow citizens, clouds and darkness are round about Him.  His pavilion is dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.  Justice and judgment are the establishment of His throne.  Mercy and truth shall go before His face.  
Fellow citizens, God reigns, e'en o'er a government in Washington-despite all appearances."  

                                                                       ~ James A. Garfield