Independence Day

I love the fourth of July.  I love Summer time holidays. I love grilled burgers, watermelon and American flags.  I love spending the day by the water and watching the fireworks light up the night sky.  I love it all!

We snuck out of the office a little early Friday afternoon and went to the zoo.  We saw the monkeys and elephants before we called it a hot day and headed home.  Barrett wouldn't let AveryAnn ride in the stroller and she was too hot in the carrier so we threw in the towel and headed home.  (Thankful for a zoo membership so we can go, spend and hour and not feel guilty.  It's already paid for itself several times over and we're only half way through the year.)

I bought a used bumbo for AveryAnn and she's a fan for short periods of time. 

Saturday brought another coordinating outfit before heading to the Moore's house for a day by the pool!  We're going to be so sad when they move and don't have a pool anymore.  But we're excited they're moving closer to us!

Jeremy made the boys so me frozen strawberry lemonade, they pretty much thought it was the coolest thing ever.

This girl will sleep anywhere.  She was so good all day long.  She's just the best baby ever.

Sunday we put on another matching red, white and blue outfit and headed to the lake for the day.  Barrett  had a blast swimming and throwing rocks.  It was a fun day.  We headed back home in time to go to the fireworks at the high school.  This is the first year they've done this and it was so much fun!

This is a terrible picture but you get the idea!

This girl loved the fireworks, Barrett did not.

He was all smiles until they started.

His first shoulder ride.  We were walking by their high school and it made me all emotional.  I know the years will fly by and it'll be no time until we're making that same trek on Friday nights for football games!

We had no plans for Monday and it worked out perfectly.  We were able to get some things done and take naps and just relax.  The boys went to Patrick's parents house for the afternoon to visit.  AveryAnn and I stayed home and did laundry.

I had to get a picture of my little firecracker on her first fourth of July.  We love a good long weekend but Tuesday, man Tuesday was a doozie.  I've never been happier to see Patrick walk in the door from work. 

Friday Favorites: Its SUMMER!!!

It's officially summer in Alabama!  This week the temps are approaching 90 and the humidity has made its presence known.  We are so ready, even though our summers don't look much different that the other seasons as far as our daily routine. Our Mother's Day Out program goes through the summer (thank goodness!) and I'm still working but we will try to sneak in as many trips as we can to the splash pad, the lake and any pool our friends invite us. So to help kick off summer I thought I'd share some of my summer favorites!

First up

These sandals!

I'm loving that Birkenstocks are back in style.  Last summer I wore my vintage ones circa 2000 (I can't believe that was 16 years ago, blows my mind) and I loved them so much I decided to look for a more fun pair.  I love these gold ones
  they are so comfortable.
Here's a picture of them on they are just so cute!

Next up,

I don't know about you but I hate washing my hair.

This Dry Shampoo

is life changing.  I wash my hair 2 times a week.  I use this on the days I don't wash and I just style as I normally would.  I know I'm like the last person on earth to figure this out but just incase you're in the dark like I was go buy this, you won't be disappointed.

(sorry for the selfie but this is my hair this morning and I haven't washed it since Monday, that's 4 days of sleeping 10-15 minutes later. May not seem like much but it is to me)

We're planning on taking advantage of Patrick's 3 day weekends and spending some time at the lake. I love this place and it is so fun getting to take my kids now.  Because our house as water all the way around it, the rule is you don't leave the deck without wearing your life jacket.  Barrett uses his trusty  Puddle Jumper .  This thing is way better than the life jackets we wore as kids.

This is the one we have and Barrett never complains about wearing it.  He is my shy timid kid but he's so comfortable in the water with this on.


I've gone a little crazy already with clothes for the kids.  They have several matching outfits and nicer stuff but I still needed some everyday play clothes.  So I made this cute pineapple bubble for AveryAnn.  It turned out so stinking cute.

Of course I went to order more and they are sold out of the blanks.

And finally my guilty pleasure of the summer...

The Bachelorette!  (and Big Brother but it hasn't started yet).

This year we made it interesting and all filled out a bracket.  I'm a tiny bit competitive so this was right up my alley. 

Any one else fill out a Bachelorette bracket? Have any other summer favorites I need to try?