Getting ready to celebrate....

I didn't make more pesto yesterday, the day just slipped away (you know how that goes). I did get to the gym again though, which I'm happy about. That's something I think I've been forgetting to mention. Since my surgery and my sister's visit, it was over 7 weeks since I'd been there! Last week I started back with a vengeance. I went 4 days in a row, a few of those times was with my neighbor Cheryl. Now that school is out though it's harder for me to get to the gym in the mornings. I could take Kristen with me and put her in the child care, but it's often very busy and has been known to even have a waiting list! What I usually do now is wait til Jason comes home from work, and go at the weekends too. So far it's working this way for me.

So for the 4th of July we are going next door to our neighbors. She is having some other friends and neighbors over and we've hired an inflatable water slide :-) The temps are due to be over 100 again, so it should help to keep the kids cool while they play out in the back yard. I told Cheryl I would take hotdogs and the 'fixins' for chili cheese dogs. I think she was going to make tacos? but then she decided it would be better to just go 'All American' and do dogs and burgers. We thought it might be fun to do a hot dog station where you can do different fixins. I might try to make some signs that tell the name of the hotdog and how to 'fix it'. For instance Kraftfoods.com has a recipe for 'Steamwhistle Hotdog', it even shows you how to fix it in a video (I love their website). Also from their site, I'm going to try and make this. . . .

It's called a 'Flag Cake', but it's not actually a cake, I'd say it's more like a trifle because it has the jello mixed with the pound cake and fruit, then just the cool whip on top with the fruit to resemble the flag. What's funny is I was looking for a t-shirt in Target yesterday, something I could wear on the 4th and I found one with this exact pattern on! Yes, it had strawberries and blueberries on it in the shape of the flag. I hope to take lots of pics tomorrow to share with you all after the weekend.

I'm taking Kristen to play with a couple of her school friends at their community pool this morning, then I'll be home making potato salad and this cake ready for tomorrow.

*******Have a happy and safe 4th July*******