Celebrating Independence Day

I'm not sure I've known a more patriotic child.

Quinn has asked me to read this book countless times and claims his favorite story book is one we have about Paul Revere.  He talks about red coats and asks questions about this era often.

On the 4th of July, he dressed up like Uncle Sam and asked a zillion more questions.

Later in the day, I found him outside enjoying some alone time with the flag.  Love it!

But earlier in the morning...

Pretty sure the kids ran the Main Street Mile in record time this year.  Too bad someone forgot to start the official clock!  What?!? I was bummed not to know times as the kids crossed the finish line because I don't run with a watch these days.  We must live in a small town...

Jantzen started out but had a breathing episode that required him to stop mid run.  We've had it checked out (Ent Dr.) and looks like there is some blockage/deviated septum stuff we're tracking.

Anna (aka - gazelle) cranked it out and had a visual on the lead female runner the entire time (5:26).  She couldn't see another girl around but since this event is low key, there were no official results to check out.  The top prize was an iPad so there were more participants this year.  Maybe I better start training again - I could use an iPad:).

Fortunately, I convinced Quinn to run without holding my hand the entire race.  He was a speedy little guy and didn't stop to walk once this year.  When he pulled away from Elsie, she didn't like that but he was not to be deterred so I went with him (being the younger of the two).

After the race, I walked the kids back to the parade route where Aaron, Tanner and Brinley were holding our seats in a nice, shady spot (Weber's store front).  

The kids had their candy bags ready to go.

After the parade and lunch, Aaron took Brinley, Jantzen and Anna to clean the office.  I stayed home with the others getting things done.  The afternoon schedule took an interesting twist when Elsie came to me covering her eye in a very concerned manner.  She had had some random bleeding from her left eye recently and Aaron and I were trying to figure out what was going on.  The growth that literally popped out from her bottom eyelid gave us a tremendous clue that something serious was going on.  Hmm, what to do on a Saturday afternoon that happened to be the 4th of July?  I knew the local community care was not the place for answers so we took a picture of her eye and sent it to the only ophthalmologist in town.  I happened to have his cel phone number because he's Jantzen's former soccer coach (that we adore).  Of course, we didn't know whether or not he was in town and felt badly bothering him on the holiday.  Alas, when we didn't hear back from Dr. Fullmer, I took her to community care only for them to tell me she needed to see Dr. Fullmer.  Within 3 minutes of jumping back into the car without any answers, Aaron called to ask how quickly I could meet Dr. Fullmer at his office.  Singing praises to that man!!  Yep, he's really cool like that.  In no time at all, we had a proper diagnoses with surgery scheduled.  We opted not to have emergency surgery (astronomical cost) since she was not in much pain.  He gave us eye drops to keep things in check and we monitored the growth accordingly.  Elsie was really a trooper through everything and waited three days to have the surgery to remove the pyogenic granuloma.  These growths can appear in various places on the body, bleed easily, are not life-threatening but must be surgically removed.  It's uncommon for one to appear in the eye area (Dr. Fullmer sees this only once a year or so).  Nonetheless, we felt confident in his abilities and proceeded without great alarm.  There was some emotional exhaustion associated with the afternoon so I stayed home with Elsie off and on during the evening festivities.

Brenley and Anna

The neighborhood party at the Weber's continues to grow every year.  

It's the place to be for good food and fun and fireworks on July 4th.

Matt S. takes this job seriously.

Very seriously.  

It is a work of art for him and his crew.

Quinn (not liking the camera flash) and the triplets get ready for the fireworks to start.

Haley, Brinley, Elsie

Elsie was back and forth trying to enjoy the evening but the lights and sounds were a bit bothersome. She and I ended up watching the show from our bonus room windows - we could even hear the synchronized music.

Happy Birthday America!