An All Day 4th of July

July 4th I honestly thought I could wake up in the morning and take a long, leisurely walk. Ha Ha! I had so much to do. And with Mitch on his 30 mile bike ride, it was up to me to organize.

First thing in the a.m, I made the mint-green tea ice tea, cut the watermelon, mixed and baked the Lemon Blueberry Buckle, made the salad dressings, prepped the ingredients for the crostini, and made the butter cream frosting for the sugar cookie bars (from the Stylish Cuisine blog).

These were so much better than I had ever expected. I found the recipe on tastespotting, and it suggested the Magnolia Bakery butter cream frosting, which I use often. However, I usually add lots more powdered sugar than the recipe calls for as I like a really thick butter cream. This was the perfect large party dessert.

Even though we had over 20 kids and probably 20 adults, there were a lot left over.

As the kids started arriving on their bikes and scooters, the parents started drinking, Mitch started grilling and I sat back, watched and took a bunch of photos.

The highlight of the party was the enormous water slide that graced our lawn. The kids had a ball and couldn't get enough of it. Not looking forward to getting that dreaded "shame on you" letter from the DWP. Oh well, I guess I just won't water my plants the rest of the month!