4th of July

Mabes was really excited for the 4th of July. Partly because she gets excited for any holiday or birthday, but particularly for 4th of July because it's starting to make more sense. She's been watching Liberty's Kids on Netflix streaming and while I don't know how much of the history she's retaining, she's got a better idea of what happened and the significance of the Declaration of Independence. She'll tell you all about the Redcoats and why she likes to call the British "the Brattish." (I have made sure she knows we like Britain now--I mean, they gave us Cadbury, Colin Firth, and Harry Potter!)

I like that everyone is smiling, and that the Redcoat forgot his
red coat and is wearing a top hat.

In preparation for the 4th, Mabes had been coloring flags for decorations and drawing pictures and writing sentences. So I decided to make a red, white, and blue breakfast beyond our typical Belgian waffles with strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream (because let's face it, if I'm going to make waffles, I'd rather put spekuloos on them!). And this is why I'm not a food blogger. Well, this and the fact that I can't blog regularly to save my life. And because anyone outside my family would get bored with pictures of ice cream and popcorn. Okay, so there are lots of reasons why I'm not a food blogger, and here is one of them:


Blueberry & Strawberry Baked French Toast. I overwhipped the cream. I *almost* called my mom and asked her how she makes hers so good, but I didn't think she'd appreciate a call at 5:30 am on a holiday. And also, what kind of idiot needs directions on whipping cream? Me, apparently. But despite the overwhipped cream and the patriotic colors baking into a purpley mess, it was good. And since I usually dislike baked fruit, that's quite high praise.

One of these days, we'll work on spelling. The Kindergarten
teachers were big on letting them sound out words and spell them
how they want to. I think I'll do the same, starting with "colonel."

And judging by this picture, I'm thinking Mabes may be preparing to declare her own independence. She's got the crown and the pledge of allegiance worked out already:

If only she had a little confidence...