A Happy (and Unphotographed) Fourth

So often I think about taking pictures to commemorate a moment in our lives too late to actually get anything useful.  Yesterday was one of those times.  Granted, it was the 4th of July, when the bulk of the excitement comes after dark, but we had a very busy day leading up to the booming grand finale, and my camera, surprisingly, never crossed my mind. 

I never left the house yesterday.  I sat on the sidewalk in front of our steps to draw a chalk birthday cake in turquoise, purple and orange while singing Happy Birthday to You to Samantha at her request, and I ventured into the back yard to blow up and play in the kiddie pool with her, but never actually left the property.  Which was fine.  Now I'm wondering where the day actually went.

The day started with me making pancakes for Samantha and myself, a nice change from her usual frozen variety.  The cereal posts I've been writing lately have had me thinking...it looks like Cheerios are the most amazingly healthy and delicious cereal out there, so if there's a way for me to incorporate it into Samantha's mornings, I needed to find it.  Not being a very accomplished cook, I certainly have not earned the right to improvise, but I felt I had to, and I felt like my idea could work.  I crushed some Cheerios into a fine-ish powder and substituted it for half of the required flour in the pancake recipe.  Then I added some fresh blueberries, and voila, a brilliantly-crafted new pancake!  Samantha actually asked for more when she was done with what was on her plate.  Success!!!

In preparation for the afternoon visit from Samantha's friend, Lilly, along with our friends Cathleen and Jon, Lilly's parents, I allowed Olivia to babysit Samantha for a bit as I made potato salad, fruit salad and cucumber water (if you've never had this, it's delicious - I had it in a spa once, and it's so refreshing and as easy to make as peeling and slicing some cucumber, then dropping the slices into a jug of water and leaving it for a few hours) and did three loads of laundry (including sheets from a wet post-nap wake-up).

Late afternoon, they arrived, and Samantha was more than happy to show Lilly her toys while we grown-ups talked.  Steve grilled burgers and hot dogs (oops, the remainder of which are still sitting on the covered-up grill...must get rid of them asap...) and overcast conditions and a breeze scuttled the plans I had for Sammi and Lilly to play in the pool.  But the girls did well until dark, managing to push past the cranky stage and into the complacent, sleepy stage that occurs when bedtimes come and go. 

The last two years, since we have been in this house, we have walked the 3 blocks to the lake where the Village fireworks display is set off, on a small island in the middle.  The view from the grass there is spectacular, and there's plenty of room for lots of families to spread out their blankets and lawn chairs and enjoy the show.  Last year, Steve decided to stay home, and Samantha and I went.  He reported back that the view of the fireworks from the deck of our house was perfect, and we thought we'd give it a try this year.  I was a little bit nervous that it would be disappointing, but all I can say is WOW!!!  It was still a bit too loud for the little ones, who prefered to stay inside and peek out the window at the lights (I tried the hands-over-the-ears method with Samantha, but it was still too loud), but after the grand finale, the only thing we could do was clap.  Aaaaamaaaaaaaazing!  I had heard once that our HOA's fireworks display was the best and biggest in our county, and I would not be surprised if that was true.  Now I know where our monthly fees go...  Next year we will charge admission for access to our deck, so get on the wait list now!  ;-)

And before I sign off, can someone puhleeze tell me why, oh why, Samantha can go to bed completely exhausted at 10pm and still wake up at 5:15am this morning?  I am assuming it's because she needed to use the bathroom, and once I put her back in bed with us for another hour, she did fall asleep again until I jumped up at 6:35 and began the rush to get her ready for therapy and school.

Going back to work today after a fun-filled 5-day weekend is not going to be easy...