Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day! It’s going to be a fun one here in the Nation’s Capitol. Hundreds of thousands of people have been out of power for days due to a storm over the weekend, but the festivities will go on. We’ve been super lucky and maintained ours, and we’ve been able to help a couple friends stay cool (and keep their food cold with our freezer space!)

Today we’ll be enjoying a breakfast of star pancakes with strawberries, brown sugar, and greek yogurt. We made the ones pictured last year with a set of stackable star pancake molds my mother-in-law gave us.  Aren’t they fun and festive?! I think that star cookie cutters would do the same trick. Just spray them with non-stick cooking spray before adding the batter, and they’ll be gorgeous! Next we’ll probably play a couple rousing games of Duck, Duck, Goose in the living room. It’s Milo’s new obsession, and we all love it. It will be amazing to have Dave home on a week day to run around the house with us! For lunch we’ll be picnicking at the pool. I’m planning on making red white and green caprese sandwiches (uh…wait a minute…) and eating lots of sweet potato chips. I’m also going to take a few good photos of the swimsuit I made myself yesterday so I can share it with you. It turned out pretty darling. After the pool we’ll come home for nap time. I think Milo, Dave and I will probably watch Madagascar 2 on the couch (Milo’s other current obsession) while Eliot catches some zzz’s. Finally, we’ll pack up more stuff than we could possibly manage to carry and head over to stake a spot amid the masses to watch the fireworks over the Capitol. We’ll definitely be bringing a cooler filled with popsicles, a football, and our own shade in the form of a Sportbrella. The display will be awe-inspiring and emotion-rousing. Then we’ll pack up and sit in traffic for about two hours to travel the 12 miles back to our house. And it will be wonderful. Hey, at least I know what I’m getting into!

I love America. The truth? I love a lot of other countries, too (Argentina, I’m looking at you!) But every time I go away, I always feel so comfortable and blessed coming home. The conveniences and freedoms we enjoy are numerous, and the traditions and culture run deep. I joke a lot about certain “American” things…especially regarding diet (probably a lot due to my involvement with nutrition as an RN Diabetes Educator) but I am really proud of my American heritage. I thank the hard-working, visionary men and women who saw an opportunity for a good, solid, meaningful life for themselves and their families on this young soil, and who grabbed it. I have an apron that was made and cross-stitched by my great grandmother. I think of her every time I put it on (even though I never knew her, and don’t even know much about her!) How different her life must have been in a lot of ways than mine. But I hope, in the ways that matter: supporting and encouraging my husband, loving and teaching my children, working hard towards making our own dreams come true…In those ways, I hope we are very much the same. I want to be a women that my forefathers would be proud of. I’ll be thinking of that today as we celebrate our freedom.