liberty day

For the past 24 years, the weekend before the 4th of July Holiday is known as "Liberty Day" in my hometown. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to miss this day! It's big fun with vendors, food, bands, a parade, and fireworks. The celebration started Friday night, they closed off main street and people brought in chairs and sat right in the middle of the street to listen to a band. We took Harper to the festivities Saturday morning, and although it was really HOT, we still had a great time. I'm kicking myself for not getting any pictures of her in her little patriotic dress she wore. We did miss the parade because of the heat. The big event Saturday night is the fireworks. Harper went to bed (grandparents babysitting of course), and Chad and I walked down to watch the fireworks. It's things like that that really make me miss living in a small town where you can just walk to everything. We did have to walk through someone's backyard, which I have been doing all my life... Chad thought I was a little nuts! The fireworks were very pretty and LOUD. We kept saying "ok I'm sure Harper is awake now", and actually she slept through the whole thing. Mom and dad said it rattled the whole house but she slept right through it. That is so strange because she sleeps so hard at night but is a very light sleeper during the day. Anyway, it was a lot of fun.

We also got to spend some time with some good friends - and new friends! Amanda and I grew up as "cousins", although we weren't related you'd think we were. Her daughter Lilly is 2 weeks younger than Harper. We got the girls together so they could play. Lilly is really on the go, I was hoping she'd teach Harper a thing or two. They had on the same dress Sunday morning... totally not planned but too cute!

The only kink to the weekend was that Harper completely boycotted naptime. The only naps she took were with someone rocking/holding her. This is what we fought SO hard to break her of, and she's been napping great for months. I guess it was just being in a new place. She was fine with her crib at night though, and slept great then. Since we've been home she's back on her normal napping schedule.

One thing we have noticed is that Harper has been showing a bit of the "tude" as we call it... as in ATTITUDE. She will pitch a little fit when an object is taken from her or if you don't let her get to something she wants (usually something dangerous). And she's all about MAMA. She cries when I sit her down and has had a hard time going to other people lately. I refuse to blame it on teething because I think we've blamed everything on that to this point. Did I mention she still has NO teeth? Who knows... She acts like she wants to crawl, bouncing, lounging forward, but hasn't figured it out yet. She is doing this though- I try to watch her close but I know a few head bumps are probably inevitable...

Here I go...

Feel the burn...

Excuse the head crop... check out the tip-toes...

maybe she is working to burn these off.