4th of July and a sad event

This week we didn't take many pictures at all until the 4th, where I took lots. In fact, this first one is the only one I had taken. We'd gotten slurpies (for the first time in..what..a decade?) and Elena was not okay with her daddy's blue tongue, at all. (though, in fact, hers was blue too) Farragut 4th of July parade with Poppy.
And daddy and Cami
She was most impressed with the marching band and the animals in trucks.

Mom and Cami went and got lots of red, white, and blue paraphrenalia and passed it out at the parade. Cami was interested in passing out the flags for awhile, but she looks cute with so many in her hands.
Friday night we went to Ave and Nathan's and made all sorts of deliciousness. Grilled pizzas (barbeque chicken for them and marinated portabellas and eggplant for us), halloumi cheese and nectarines (which was absolutely amazing), strawberry stuff (sprinkle family tradition), as well as all kinds of snacks! Avery told me to bring toys for Leni, but she ended up playing with a cat bed and the sprinkler. Several of them got quite a workout pulling her around the house in the cat bed!
Putting "babies" in the cat bed and covering them up
Playing pillow mountain with aunt Avery.

That's it for the pictures. We did have a sad day yesterday, our cat Jack had to be put down. He had been hiding for longer periods for a couple of days, but yesterday morning he laid in front of his bowls and just cried when I pet him. Chris was leading worship and had rehearsal, so Leni and I took him to the vet. Chris came and got her for church, and the vet came to tell me that he has a chronic condition where fluid builds up in his chest and he can't breathe, and while they could do some painful things to have him live a little longer, it was a fatal disease and he'd feel like he was suffocating in the meantime. We didn't want that, so after going to talk to Chris and calling my dad and Avery, we decided the only humane thing to do was to let him go. It went as well as possible and I was able to be there, and he seemed very comfortable. So, a sad day for us. Elena has "asked" for him a couple of times when she sees a kitty in a book, and it's amazing how much I considered him-just making sure certain doors are closed or that I'm not about to step on him or that he hasn't gotten outside while I bring in groceries. I've caught myself checking for him a couple dozen times, which is hard to be reminded. He was a good cat who was so tolerant of Elena-she loved and hugged and kissed him numerous times a day. So, he'll be missed by us all.