Happy 4th of July!

Our 4th of July included a little festive baking (patriotic cheesecake flag and red/white/blue cookies), two parties, sparklers, and just enough fireworks to keep a 3 year old thrilled beyond belief! :)

It was a roller coaster kinda day with my poor munchkin. To summarize for documenting reasons---Let's just say the first pool party was pretty rough.  It went a little like this:

Connor hopped in the pool for about 5 minutes-

Giant lightning stuck very close by-

Mean Mama made the munchkin take cover & hop out of the pool against his will-

 Connor was heart broken from not being able to swim-

The tears continued to flow when Connor noted he was hungry & didn't like the food at the party-

 Storm cleared enough to let Connor go back in the pool-

 My munchkin was happy as a clam in the pool for about 15 minutes before he slipped on the rainy deck & slammed the back of his head on the ground-

More tears & a heart broken Mama-

Connor dried his eyes & headed back in for a swim all for about another 5 minutes before the lightning stuck close by again...

So that was about it!  Mama was burnt out at that point, so we packed on up & headed to par-tay numero dos at Debbie's house!

Connor had moments of mini-emotional-speed bumps, but he was completely content once the sun went down & it was time for sparklers & fireworks!  Before we got started on the sparklers, Connor insisted on a picture with Lilly :).  Connor & Lil have a love-hate relationship...this was a love moment.

We moved the pups to safer grounds while the fire twirling toddler showed off his tricks!  Matt was giving Connor a one-on-one lesson on sparkler safety.

Connor requested Debbie's attendance at his sparkler party!

We decided to move the festivities outside, so we could light a few of our 'fancy fireworks.'  I was so proud of my last minute $2 Walmart special fireworks I picked up at the grocery story.  They shot off bright colors, made fun 'showering' noises, and lasted quite a while.  Connor got a kick out of them, so thats all that mattered!

We ended the night on a high note!  We were so happy to celebrate with the Gillette ladies :).

Happy birthday America!