Let's see… Have I mentioned that my entire family frolicked through Italy together over the last week or so? If not, probably because I'm a little bitter! Mitchell is over there doing a Study Abroad/Internship thing, so Mom, Dad, Katie and Jeff headed over to visit him/have the time of their lives. Of course, I can't say much. We kind of had our own amazing trip to Italy two (two?!) years ago!

Anywho, while they were gone my aunts came in town to hang out with Papabear. We had the chance to hang out with them one night once we got back from St. Louis… and I was finally able to give Papabear his Father's Day present! Still can't believe I found this adorable little set. He LOVES it, and has brought it up every time I've seen him since. He even called me later that night to let me know the shirt fit. :)

Compared to last year, our Fourth of July was pretty low key. Of course, I was also 33 weeks pregnant this year, so any type of big party didn't exactly sound appealing anyway. I started the day with my typical breakfast of greek yogurt, berries and granola (borrrrring), and then got a picture from Debbie of some delicious cinnamon rolls she had made. Of course, Adam and I immediately headed for the closest donut shop.

We decided to try a new place up the street - Tip Top Donuts. Adam wasn't too impressed, but I was!

Red, White and Blue… of course.

Since we were out and about, we decided to stop into an Antique Mall by our house to see if we could find a mirror for baby girl's room. Check out this relaxing piece of art! Can you imagine bebe's nightmares if this was in her room?? (We actually did find a mirror - yay! - but I'll hold off on adding a picture until it's up on the wall.)

Speaking of the baby (because when are we not?), Adam finished her adorable headband holder! I love how it turned out.

And we did celebrate America on the Fourth! The Causeys invited us over for a delicious dinner and we got to see some fireworks! Of course, the only picture of us being remotely festive is this one my mom took of us holding the baby's crib bumper she got us. Ha!

Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue!

Let me start by saying it should be ILLEGAL to work the day after the Fourth of July. I'm so tired I think I'm  going cross-eyed. I kept trying to tell myself "You never remember the nights you went to bed early" last night (or something like that, I'm too tired to actually remember it). Going to bed at 2am on a school night? Who do I think I am?! HOWEVER, it was a fabulous day and night!

Per usual, we kicked it off with some pool time. Adam was finishing up a baseball tournament, so he couldn't make it for the pool party, sad day.

How amazing is my shirt? I found it here on Pinterest. 

A couple weeks back I asked my parents if I could have a few people over to their house for the Fourth since you can see so many fireworks from their back deck. Being the giving people they are, they agreed. And then they decided to invite a couple, and then another couple, and then my aunt...one thing led to another and the day before the Fourth it turned out they were having their own little shindig, too. Oh, and Mitchell had people over. Shockingly, it wasn't too hectic. I love to just grill out and have a few drinks with friends - another reason I love summer time!

My fun friend and sorority sister, Whittney, is living in Atlanta for the summer (and hopefully longer!), so she joined us for the day.

Y'all. This is serious. I made so many fun treats for the Fourth of July, and it was so fun! As we all know, I'm not too great in the kitchen, but it's really just because I don't enjoy being in the kitchen. Maybe it's because part of my new title is 'Culinary Events', but I spent a good 2 hours in the kitchen on Monday prepping for the party! And I had fun.

For instance, I made the fun jello shots seen in the picture below! Instead of pouring them into cups, I poured them into limes (Thank you Sarah for the genius idea). The trickiest part was cutting the limes in half and scooping out the insides. The first couple were a disaster - I was sweating, my arms were sore and I was getting super annoyed. BUT I kept trying different ways and finally found out what worked best for me! I have to admit, it was nice not having Adam hovering over me telling me how to do it - it was actually fun to figure it out myself! So obviously, these were quite the labor of love.

I also made this fun punch, which I named 'Red, White and Booze'. Appropriate, right? I saw a picture of the fruit on Pinterest, and just kind of winged it from there. Here's what I did...

1 package of fresh strawberries
1 package of fresh blueberries
1 pineapple (Again, I had to figure out how to cut a pineapple by myself, and was so proud of myself!) I cut the pineapple into thin slices and then used a star cookie cutter to make it patriotic.
Then I poured in some a lot of vodka and let it soak for two days.
About an hour before the party, I poured in 1 liter of Diet Gingerale and 2 cans of Sprite.
TA DA! It was delish, and the fruit had quite the kick.

Finally, I made potatoes. They didn't really look like this picture, but they got rave reviews! I got the recipe here (again, courtesy of Pinterest!) and it was so ridiculously easy.

I am so proud of myself and I got so many compliments for being such a good little hostess - I clearly fooled them all.

Overall, it was just such a fun day! I hope everyone had a great day celebrating with family and friends! And I hope everyone else is suffering through work like me.