Fourth of July Events & Our Dog had Puppies...

It has been such a great summer as a family. We have been doing such fun things together and accomplishing a lot at the same time. This Fourth of July weekend was so wonderful and fun as a family. On Saturday we decided to go to the Cruise-In and invited Mike's family and my sister Stace to come with us. Thanks to Mike's, Mom we had really great seats right close to the road where nobody can seat in front of you and block your view of the cars. It was the perfect spot for Matthew to watch all the cars going by. At first he just sat in his camping chair (thanks to Christin) and watch the normal main street traffic go by as we were waiting for the cruise-in to begin while eating his crackers and bananas thanks to his wonderful Aunt Stacie that loves to feed him. We haven't seen him sit that still for awhile since lately he is always on the go. But he just sat there and watch all the cars go back and forth. Then once the cruise-in started his excitement just went up and he was standing while jumping up and down in our arms. Occasionally he would wave hi, with his hand as the cars would drive by. (This is his new thing lately he will wave hi and say hey or hi and then he will wave goodbye if you tell him to say hi or goodbye. We love it!) His head was constantly moving back and forth.There were two monster trucks that drove by and he was just looking at normal eye level watching all the cars go by and when they went by, his head went up slowly and he was amazed. It was of course way hot but so worth it. We had to from time to time get a cloth wet and rub the coldness all over Matthew's arms, head, and legs to cool him off. We also let him try some sugar-free chocolate yogurt which he loved. Once I gave him the first spoonful he kept rocking back and forth until he would receive another spoonful of it. Then after awhile he was done with it. We took off his helmet so it wasn't so bad for him. Then on the Sunday Mike's grandparents along with his Aunt and her kids which came up to visit Mike's mom and all the grand-kids and great grand-kids. It was a lot of fun visiting with them and enjoying their company. Matthew had fun watching the cousins play around the house. He was very entertained. It was great catching up with them and getting to know them better. They came to our house and held our new puppies. They loved it!

Grandpa Taylor was kind to share his John Deere tractor with Matthew. He let us take it home with us so Matthew could play with it. Later that night he played with it on the floor with Dad. He loves it! He especially loves to push it back and forth on the kitchen forth crawling fast after it. He is all boy. He loves anything that has wheels that he can spin around again and again. Thanks Grandpa!

On Monday we had a relaxing and enjoyable morning as a family and got some errands done. Then that night my sister Sheila and her family came to roast hot dogs and went to the fireworks with us that night. We had such a great time with her family. They would run around the house with their sparklers to see how many times they could run around the house before the sparkler would run out of a flame. They had a blast doing this and it was fun watching them. We ate some yummy chili dogs, played "BANG" the card game, talked, laughed, and enjoyed beautiful fireworks. Matthew loved the fireworks and would squeal really loud each time a firework would go off. It was so cute and hilarious to watch. We caught it on video but all you can see is the fireworks going off with Matthew just a squealing in the background noise. It was too dark for us to see him on the video and if we were to put the light on the camera it was way to blinding for everyone else around and especially Matthew being so close. He loved last night with his cousins. They love playing with him and helping him to walk all around. We gave him a nap just before we left for the fireworks so it worked out perfectly for him. We thought for sure he would fall asleep on the car ride to the fireworks but he was wide awake when we took him out of his car seat. He slept in this morning from staying up late. What a happy and pleasant little guy we are so very blessed to have in our family. We love him so very much.So our dog Lady had her puppies on June 19. She had 7 puppies. Then on June 27, sadly we lost one of her puppies due to maggots inside of the puppy. We almost lost another puppy that Mike said we should name Lucky because she is "lucky" to be alive. We had to called our vet that night because she had maggots eating her and was malnourished. He gave us a supplement of milk to feed to her through a syringe which was enjoyable to do and we had to give her some antibiotics to help heal her wounds from the maggots eating her. She is now doing really well and starting to fatten up. We now have 3 boys and 3 girls. They are now all doing really great and are healthy. Some have really fatten up and you can sure tell which ones are getting the most milk. The chubby ones our my favorite. They opened their eyes on Thursday, June 30. There eyes are so beautiful. I love each of their faces and love holding them to cuddle with one of them. I love having puppies and seeing the joy it brings too so many that are around us. Matthew likes to touch their head with his hands. He loves to still watch Buddy and Lady chase each other around the yard and starts laughing.