The first summer we were in our house we hosted a 4th of July BBQ.  Three years and thousands of man-hours later, we decided to host another one.  As we prepped for guests, I couldn't help but think just how drastically different the state of our house is.  Things are SOOO much better now.  We even had the time and energy to try to make things feel festive.  I wouldn't mind making this a tradition.....

Knowing we would have lots of cute kids at our house, I tried to find fun things for them to do.  I think I succeeded.  We had a little "kids corner" and there was sidewalk chalk, fancy bubbles, kid-friendly fireworks and we even turned on the sprinklers.   The kids had a blast, which was not only fun to watch but also meant parents got to stick around longer and we actually go to talk to them.  :)

Lee killed it on the gr ill with close to a hundred shish kabobs (veggies, chicken, and steak) and a creative new ice cream cake.  The tradition for my birthday is always the "mint" (mint chip ice cream, fudge, cool whip and a chocolate wafer crust).  This year Lee went out on a limb.  I was a little skeptical, but he nailed it.  The crust and the cool whip layer were the same - but the ice cream was chocolate with peanut butter oreos and a layer of peanut butter.  It was super rich, but oh-so-delicious.  My favorite part though just may have been when Lee had little Abby kick off the "Happy Birthday" singing.  She is such a treat.  I love those girls and was so happy I could celebrate my birthday with them and the other darling kiddos that came yesterday.  (As a side note, Abby was so confused when she got to our house and there weren't hats or balloons out.  She said, "where's the birthday?".  Good thing I had balloons on hand.  Love her.  Absolutely love her.)

We feel like the day was a success and we loved seeing everyone.  Many thanks to those who came and for your friendship.