we started the morning at the dunwoody 4th of july parade. my bold little girl immediately wanders across the street to start exploring the crowd. she walks up to everyone and says, "hi", in her sweet little voice!
laying on daddy's shoulder and waving to the firetruck!
"i found a chair!"
we were so excited to discover that cosette and harper were at the parade as well! natalie and harper had some fun together...
later that day, we headed over to tyler's house to visit. tyler is natalie's best friend at daycare. they were born one day apart and they really love each other...it is so sweet!
fixing his collar :)
then we were off to the hipp house for the annual affair...we had so much fun! and natalie LOVED flannery's toys...see john deere tractor above.
she went down the slide about 25 times!
natalie and flannery chilling in the chairs...
sweet liam (and kate and billy) came too! i tried to get a picture of them together, but they were both on the go!
thanks to michelle for pushing nat nat around and cosette for sharing! 
show me your teeth...
giving miss ashley a hug after the slide!
we set up shop in the hipp's front yard for the fabulous fireworks show. i couldn't believe natalie made it up that late, but she did great.
she found a buddy just before the fireworks started in miss julia!--------------------------------------------------------------------------
so there we were, my precious family, cuddled up to watch the fireworks on the front yard. it was so fun to see natalie so "grown up" and enjoying the [boom, boom, boom OR boo, boo, boo-as she called it] of the fireworks. i was so thankful for that moment...and for a wonderful day to celebrate our freedom!
the other neat part of the evening was the man who sat just in front of me...one lawn chair up. his story (linked here) is one of a true miracle. and as i watched those fireworks explode, i thanked my God for the miracle and fragility of life and for the simple joys of each day that make this life i live so amazing.
