A Scorching 4th of July

heat waves + home renos + girly stuff + grumpy kids + too many late nights= 1 miserable Mama

 It was a memorable 4th, but not in the way I'd expected. Just an all-around bad day. Moving on.

Honestly, I guess it's just been one of those weeks. Not great, overall. But we did salvage some moments.

Delish Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

I tweaked the recipe a little...I'll share later

A couple of days at the beach. No pics to share because it was that hot and I don't think I ever left the water! Everyone loved those days!

Sprucing up the front yard--

 This foundation garden is brand new...and finally finished!

The plan was to get a brand new front door, screen door, and redo that pitiful insanely-orange landing, but...the washer finally let go so we've had to replace that, and so there goes the front landing/door project. In time, in time.

See the kitty in the window to the right? ha ha

 I cursed Pinterest on the 4th when I excitedly gathered the kids to make those cool patriotic layer drinks, and it was a total and complete FAIL. And then of course several of our friends posted their awesome layered drinks all over Facebook so I felt like even more of a loser. Ugh.

At least my girl's adorable 4th of July outfit was, well, just that...adorable!

And so is this shot with big brother Jonah. How can these kids keep growing up SO quickly?

I think I may add some red ribbon bows to the straps like I did this dress.

We kissed the very last of the Ugly Tiles adios!

Bill has really impressed me with the new floors! I'll have lots to brag about and show off soon!

We've been thinking up ways to stay cool, like this idea.  And this one.
Sometimes all you need is a good ol' splash of water, kiddie pool or not, ha!

And it's still hot out today so we're about to go jump in a lake.

Literally.  =)