God Shake and Bake on Me

When I was little, I thought the words to "America, the Beautiful" were "God shake and bake on me" instead of "God shed his grace on thee." That's apropos of nothing, other than a funny title for a summary of our July 4th party two weekends ago.

Jesse and I have, over the years, tried to create a pattern of parties. We picked holidays, and have consistently hosted a party on that holiday (New Years, Halloween, and July 4th). Our goal was that our friends would become accustomed to coming to our house for those holidays. Then, we hoped that our friends would have children around the same time we did, and that we'd continue having parties that our friends and their children would attend, and our children would grow up as friends too. My nefarious plan is coming to fruition, as our friends and family (and their children) all got together for some burgers, dogs, sausage, and other delicious foods on this past July 4th. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but suffice it to say that people arrived as early as 11:30am, and didn't leave until 10:00ish.

In attendance were my sister Tara and brother in law Terry, and their children Dylan (5) and Brody (2). My brother in law Kelsie, his wife Regina, and their children Mary (3) and son to be named later (in utero). I got a great snapshot of Dylan and Mary playing together in our back yard - so sweet!




Jesse's coworker Meredith surprised us by showing up, along with her husband Carl and son Corson (3+months).









Jesse's kung fu friends Ian and Christie, and their children Julia (2) and son Alex (1month). A picture of Alex can be found below - none of Ian unfortunately...








Our friends John and Duffy from Carlisle PA were there (fingers crossed - their soon to be adopted son Coltrane on the way).








Nikki Bartle (unfortunately without husband Greg) and son Desmond (1).










Then we had our non-breeder friends Jake and Stephanie, Sean and Liz, and David and fiancee Jenn (I predict babies 2 years from now). Jesse's folks were there, as was my momma, and Daniel (Jesse's younger brother), Kate, and Dana. Liz's parents even dropped in for a bit! The picture is Liz and Sean, and Liz's parents.



Jesse served as "Grillmaster J" - he cooked up the delicious foods. Of course, we have to give mad props to our friends who brought lots of delicious side dishes, snacks, and desserts.







All in all, it was a great day, with lots of little crumb-snatchers hanging out. Jesse and I are unsure if we're going to give Jackson a sibling, so we're really glad that he'll have a lot of friends to grow up with. Plus, it's "forced" sharing of his toys. He's already sharing - Alex got to take a ride in Jackson's swing!