Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day! This morning John marched in our neighborhood parade. To clarify, we carried him along the one-mile loop around the block with a bunch of other neighborhood kids with their bikes and scooters festooned with patriotic colors. In years past the parade was led by a local fire engine, but apparently this year the fire engines must stand their posts at the fire houses because of the terrible drought. You will note John's all-American outfit of white sun hat, red and white check shirt, and dark blue shorts.

After the morning parade, we enjoyed a taco luncheon at the neighborhood pool before the extended family convened at Tim & Holly's home for a cookout. There were eight kids seven years old and under, six of them in the big blow-up pool, so the law of the land was every man for himself.

John tried riding in a kiddie swing for the first time. I may have been mistaken, but it didn't feel quite stable, as if he could flip over the front, so I kept my hand on him at all times.

He was enjoying himself and not scared, so I gave him a bigger, better swinging motion by setting him on my lap in the big kid swing. John was so relaxed in my lap, he was like Jell-o.
John pulled up for the first time a few days ago. He was crawling around, "wrestling" on the bed with Daddy. He crawled up to the top of the bed and walked his hands up a pillow propped against the wall till he was standing fully. Tonight was the first time he has part-way pulled up against furniture. He can now reach the second shelf of our media center. (Notice the cardboard barrier I constructed for the first shelf.)

What's Cookin'? This morning I tried making a tater tot casserole. I made two half casseroles, one with pork sausage and one with textured soy protein. It was pretty good, but I was once again struck by how middle-American I have become. I judge a recipe as "good" by how many basic pantry ingredients in contains and if its contents are inexpensive. A one-dish meal is fantastic, so I'm an increasingly big fan of casseroles. Gone are the days when I only cooked when trying to impress guests, so one meal might call for many exotic ingredients and cost as much as a meal at an expensive restaurant!