Fourth of July

July was such a busy month for us (more of that to come), that we were happy to be home on the Fourth of July this year and spend it with friends and family in a low key kind of way.

We had a playdate with some of our favorite friends and celebrated Independence Day with patriotic muffins and a star paint print art project (I've said it before and will say it again: You can take the girl out of the kindergarten classroom, but you can't take the kindergarten out of the girl).

And the night of the 4th we were hoping to go to an outside event with live music and picnic and all that fun stuff, but it's been a tropical rainforest here this summer and once again, it rained.  So we gathered at our house instead and played and "picnicked" on the porch and enjoyed watching the thunderstorm from dry safety.

The girls were delighted with glow bracelets...

We bought some sparklers from a roadside stand in SC on our way home from GA last time.  Those SC sparklers were not normal sparklers.  And maybe these kids aren't quite old enough for sparklers yet.  A few small casualties, one burnst shoe, a couple of tears and zero cute posed sparkler photos later.....  (maybe next year, right?)

Always thankful for a reminder of our hard fought freedoms and what a blessing it is to live in the land of the free.