have you ever seen a cuter firecracker? oh lord...there isn't an outfit this gal can't pull off. not to mention, that even when she's sick, she still pulls off a few looks for the camera.

no seriously...in all sawyer's 8 months, i've never seen her this unhappy. my poor gal. she woke up in great spirits and lasted most of the day of the 4th feeling fine. but once we got her home that evening and for part of sunday...we had a sad sad bitty on our hands. speaking of sunday...she also broke out with what appears to be a heat rash all over the core of her body last night.


i swear...we had it so easy with kaye when it came to the sick department. she's one tough cookie.

our sweet sawyer...she's a bit more on the sensitive side.

i digress...

our 4th of july was patriotic, delicious, and we were in bed by 10:30 pm. perfectly executed to plan.

you see...we have corn, potatoes, and alfalfa that need water. 13,000 gallons a minute to be precise. (yes...per minute. i asked my farmer three times if he was joking about that figure. he asked me why he would joke about something like that. is anyone else shocked? i certainly was.) anyway, so we have water going 24 hours a day seven days a week and someone ALWAYS has to be on and/or near the farm to make sure the water is running and running smoothly.

luckily, we know another fabulous farm family in the same boat.

we headed to amy's for a BBQ, desserts, and sparklers...good friends and the risk of being burned never disappoints.

kaye obviously got appropriately sugared up on cakepops...as in sneakily asked every adult at the BBQ for one...banking a total of at least seven. i blame myself...since i brought them. i also made some rice krispie skewers that didn't really turn out. pinterest fail. anyway, that's when we decided it was a great time to start sparklers.


this is where my parenting of the year award comes in.

NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON A TWO YEAR OLD WITH A SPARKLER.

this is a rule of thumb. a lesson learned after i was singed on the back of my knee by my beloved kaye. girlfriend swung around in all her sugary-highness with sparkler-a-blazing and caught me on the back of the leg before i had a chance to two-step out of the way. 

this my friends...is painful. 

obviously, this wasn't her fault. she's just too damn cute to blame. luckily, she didn't miss a beat and certainly didn't notice my smoking skin. my gal was way too busy flirting it up with her main man, brody...
or was it beckam?
or was it brody?
she can't decide, so she won't. she'll just flirt with all three johnson boys. amy might have something to say about this.
regardless, it was a super fun evening spent with good friends and yummy food. but naturally, by the end, i was exhausted. thank god sawyer is a bitty and still provides and excuse to get home and get the kids to bed. 

(now...the rest of the photos.)



i hope everyone had a super safe and fun celebration!