Our 4th of July

I am really behind on posts, so we are going to rewind and pretend that it is shortly after July 4. Our 4th of July started off with a bang! Wylie put on a show, so Pops and Granna joined us to watch fireworks with Ella. I forgot my camera, so we tried our best to capture a little with our iphones. The pictures aren't great, but they work!

Ella wasn't too sure about the fireworks at first, but soon settled into Daddy's lap and actually fell asleep.

Ella loved her glow neckalce. She wore it home because she didn't want to take it off. The fireworks show was lots of fun. It felt different being at home because we are usually at the lake. The weather was supposed to be bad at the lake and Cory had to work on the 4th, so we decided to stay home this year.

Ella and I joined my family on the 4th out at my Uncle Richard's and Aunt Pam's house. The day started out great and super fun! Ella loves being outdoors, so she had a blast playing.

Here she is sharing rocks with Mommy

Enjoying the country.

I love this picture. She looks so happy!

Ella and her cousin Bryce took a dip in the pool to cool off.

Sprinkler fun!

This picture makes me laugh!

Uh oh! Pops got caught!!




We enjoyed yummy bar-b-que and.....


corn on the cob. This is Emma, Ella's cousin. She loved the corn on the cob!

Pops---caught again, but who can resist homemade ice cream. Yum-yum!


Uncle Matt getting ready to have some fun!

And here is where things started going south. I have never had a fear of fireworks. We always did them growing up and the little ones were always excited about sparklers. So, I thought it would be fun to do some sparklers with Ella. I knew I wasn't going to let her hold them by herself....so no harm right? Wrong!

She stayed right near my side, and I would have my hands above hers on the sparkler stick.

The first one was fine, but the second one didn't end so well. Ella was trying to get the stick and I pulled it away. When I did it broke and Ella grabbed right on the fire part of the sparkler. It of course burned her hand pretty bad. We stuck her hand in the cooler with ice, ran it under cold water, had her hold ice.....nothing was working. She wasn't calming down, and I was starting to freak out. (Side note....my fireman/paramedic husband was not there and I had to call him and tell him what happened....not a phone call that you would want to make, especially to a fireman). So Ella stayed upset for a while, obviously, and we had decided maybe we should take her in so the doctors could give her something to calmed her down. Well, as soon as we got in the car, she fell asleep. She woke up when we got back to my parents' house and we were able to give her some Tylenol. She remained content (thanks to Pops, Granna, Uncle Matt and Aunt T who were going to all ends of the earth to entertain her) and then I was able to get her home. Mom came with me just in case Ella woke up really upset again. Luckily that didn't happen.

Her hand. This is the picture we sent to Daddy so he could get a glimpse of what we were talking about. :(

And this is the face that I got to enjoy the next morning. She slept fine, and woke up like nothing had happened. She played and played and has never once been bothered with her hand. (Notice the glow neckalce at breakfast!) Thank you Lord....mommy learned a good/hard lesson. I know accidents will happen, but I just felt so gulity about this incident. I hurt my baby girl and didn't know how to fix it. Not a great feeling! Her hand is actually healing really well.

I have lots more posting to do to catch back up to date.....and they are all happy Ella posts with no injuries. I will get to those posts very soon!