Happy 4th of July!

I hope y'all had a wonderful 4th of July, ours started on Thursday. As you may know, Leslie came by last Tuesday night and picked up the television, we gave to her and Whitney for their apartment. Would you believe that 31" tube fit in Leslie's Ford Focus? We kept asking her and Susan, if they had some muscle men to move this TV into the apartment. They swore up and down, they did. Anyway, we had the 31" in our bedroom and the 28" TV temporarily in Katie's room. Doug was ready to put his TV back in our bedroom. Millard and Peggy kept saying that Katie was going to miss having a television in her room. So Thursday, we all piled into Millard and Peggy's car and went to B'ham. Doug found a good deal at Sam's Club, so we went there first and picked up a 22" Vizio TV for Katie. We left there and went to the Galleria. We went to the Disney Store and luckily they were still having their sale. I got a couple of PJs and a Mermaid Coverup for $4.99 each. I was so excited! They had their flip flops for $2.99 and sunglasses for $1.99. Katie was too busy looking around that she would never pick out a pair, she would like for next year. They had their swimming suits for $4.99 as well. I picked out a Tinkerbell bikini for next year (size 4) and Peggy wanted to get it for her. Would you believe that suit fits her now? Ugh! Now, I wished I had picked out a size 5 as well. They had some dolls and accessories on sale as well. I picked up a Belle with accessories for $6.99 and got an extra outfit & accessories set for $3.99. With all the stuff I got, my total was $28. I was so surprised! We left there and went to Libby Lu's for a little bit. Katie's out of her glittery lip gloss with a wand, so I thought I could get one at Libby Lu's. All they had were combination packs that would have one lip gloss wand. Ugh! Oh well, I didn't get anything because I can get it at Walmart. By this time, I was getting a little hungry. I told Peggy about the Hagan Daas shop's Strawberry-Banana Smoothies. Yummy! I don't consider myself a big smoothie person, but I love that smoothie. On our way back to Belk, to pick up the guys, I bought a smoothie and let Peggy try it. She agreed that it was good. I paid close attention this time as to how they made this Strawberry-Banana Smoothie. Would you believe they put cranberry juice and vanilla ice cream in it? Mmm! It's good anyway. We left the mall and went to The Cheesecake Factory for supper. Oh that was so good. I had the Teriyaki Chicken and a Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake for dessert. Yummy! On the way home, we stopped off at Academy Sports to get Katie her swim belt for June and Pat's pool on the 4th of July.

Here's a picture of my new flip flops, I got at Belk. I love them! I've heard a lot of good things about "Yellow Box" brandname flip flops, but never have owned a pair until now. Tehe!

Don't you think they match my nail polish perfect? Tehe!

Katie couldn't understand me taking a picture of my new flip flops that she wanted me to take a picture of her Mermaid flip flops. Ha! Ha!

At home, Doug got Katie's new television all hooked up and working. Oh, she loves it! She was a little confused though. She couldn't understand why her TV was in our bedroom and she had a new smaller TV. Now, she refers to her new TV as her "little TV". Too cute!



Friday, I got Katie all dressed up and we went to visit Mom for a little bit. Mom seems to be improving every time I visit her (at least once a week). She looked so good. I took her a bouquet of my "Starburst Lilies" from my flowerbed. She has always loved those lilies, so I told her that they are her fireworks for the day. Can you believe she is using a walker more? She can get from her bed, to her walker, to her scooter and visa versa. Yay! She is walking with a walker up to 40 ft and on the special device up to 80 ft. I'm so proud of her and the effort, she has put forth. She really wanted to come home for a little bit for the 4th of July, but since her Medicare was renewed, it started the 20 days process again. Ugh! Poor thing! Her and Dad's anniversary is the 31st of July and she really wants to come home then, but we don't know if the 20 days will be up by then. I think Dad is going to check into it. She began asking me questions about what has happened to her these past few months. I guess I have to say; fortunately, she doesn't remember a whole lot about what has happened to her. She couldn't understand the serious shape, she was in. She wanted me to tell her the symptoms of C. difficule and how she could have gotten it. She didn't know that she nearly died a few times because of the infection. She didn't know that doctors and nurses prayed over her bedside for God to heal her body. She was just amazed with all the stories, we had told her.
Here Katie is swimming with Jodi in the pool. She was playing with the intertubes. I hate it that you can't see the swim belt.

RuthAnne would be so proud of Katiebug and her swimming abilities. I strapped that swim belt on her and off she went to the pool. She was kicking those legs and reaching with her arms, but I had to remind her to hum (keeps her mouth closed). Unfortunately, a T-storm came up and we all had to get out of the pool. Man that was a storm and a half. I guess it rain pretty hard for about 15 minutes and the wind was gusty enough to snap one of Pat and June's Dogwood Trees. If I had to guess, it would be like a 5-7 gallon tree. When the storm past, it got cold. Too cold to go back into the pool that's for sure. All the kids went in the house with Katie and changed their clothes. Us ladies were talking about going to the firework display at Smith Lake. We decided to put on some pants, load up two trucks and head over there a little early, so we would be able to get close enough to see the fireworks. From past history, I figured we would be stuck behind some trees and wouldn't be able to see much. I'm so positive. Right? I want to tell you, I followed June over there and she pulled over to our usual spot. Nicholas and I were not too satisfied with the spot because of all the trees in our way. I told June to follow me and see if we can get a little closer. I drove over the bridge and there was a county road off to the left. I asked Nic, if we should take it. "Sure", he said. Okay, here we go. I had no clue as to where we were going. There was a little clearing, but I was afraid to just park onto some one's front yard. Didn't seem very nice. On the left side of the road, there was a clearing next to the water. I told Nic that we could turn around and come back right there. Well, I turned down the next dirt road to the left and was looking for a place to turn around. Well, a few cars followed our trucks down this dirt road. Oh me! I was trying to figure a way to turn around with June right behind me and the string of traffic behind her. Okay, I turned left again in some one's driveway and I put it in reverse to show I was backing up. June was right on my bumper. Then, she drove down the road and asked if I would pay $5 to park and watch the fireworks. "Sure", I told her. She laughed "okay, let's go." If I had just kept going straight, I would have seen the sign that read "$5 per car - firework show parking". I had no idea, but lead our caravan right to the firework's show. Ha! Ha! We laughed and giggled about it. You couldn't have picked a better spot. We were across the lake from Smith Lake Park, where they were having the firework's show. What luck?!? I told Nic, we will have to remember this place the next time. I wished I had taken my camera. The fireworks were awesome! Katie had a blast watching them. To see her face was well worth the $5. We all sat in the beds of the trucks, side by side. We brought some drinks and snacks. We had a very good time. I guess they lasted about an hour. I got tickled at Katie, she would know right when the fireworks would do their big bang. She was our sound effects girl. Her eyes would get real big, she'd suck in her lips real tight and BOOM! BANG! It was a sight. She was almost asleep when we made it back to June and Pat's house.


Saturday, Doug had to buy new tires for the car. They were wore slap out (bald). I've been on him for a while because it is so dangerous to have such slick tires like that. Later that evening, we went to Millard and Peggy's for supper. I got my "butt sandwich"! Tehe! It was so good. Peggy bought me a watermelon because she knows that they are one of my favorite fruits. It was so good and sweet. While, Peggy and I were eating slices of watermelon, I was making homemade vanilla ice cream. I put a little extra vanilla extract and I was surprised how good it tasted and I'm not a vanilla fan. I like vanilla, but I like chocolate syrup or sprinkles of some kind on it. I forgot to take all the fixin' with me to Peggy and Millard's house. Oh well. It was nice enough to sit outside for a little bit before the mosquitoes ate you up. Peggy took Katie to see if their baby birds had hatched yet. Sure enough, there were 4 little baby birds in their nest. Katie was amazed at the babies. She loved watching them. I took a couple of pictures, but it's a little dark.

I would like to Thank God for allowing us to have a day of rest. Rest is exactly what we needed today. Katie and I hit the couches and took nice long naps. Until, I heard the dog barking like crazy. Ugh! Doug decided he would move his truck next to the house and fix the gutters where the roofers put our leaf guard back in a little crazy. It was making the shingles stick out a little and it was bothering Doug.

By the way, I have a conclusion on Paul, the roofer. Friday morning, Doug looked out the back window and noticed something was weird. He looked closer and announced that Paul did show up after all and put the grass seed down on the top soil. Hurray for Paul.