Day 185

Happy 4th of July! We celebrated with a BBQ over at Billie and Keith, with the Paden's, the Deines', and the Huminsky's. It was pretty low key, and a nice afternoon and evening.  As you can see, Kennedy got some much needed pool time...I think she's part fish!  KG and Minnie were pretty much the hit of the get together...two of our favorite girls!

Day 173

A little retail therapy at Kohl's today...getting ready for the 4th of July with placemats and dish towels.  How cute are these?

Day 159

It's a slow Sunday. Not much going on. For lack of anything better or more interesting, I thought I would share one more Fourth of July decoration.

This sweet little bunny was another of my full time decorations back when my house was done in the Americana motif. She's one of things that survived the transition, and I'm thankful, because I like to bring her back out year after year.

Day 145

Here's a sneak peek of what I did today. I put out all of my Fourth of July stuff in preparation for Memorial Day. Two years ago I did this too...had my patriotic stuff out from Memorial Day to July 4th. It's kind of like my summer decor I guess - and what's better than decorating with the old USA??

I wanted to post something I hadn't already in 4th of July's past - so here's a cute little tin Uncle Sam hat. It's actually a lantern of sorts. The top of the hat opens so you can put a candle down inside and then there are punched out stars and slits for the glow to shine through. It's a fun little piece leftover from when my whole house was decorated in Americana.

Happy Memorial Day!

Day 186

Happy Birthday America!  Happy 4th everyone!  Today was a great day...a busy day, full of all kinds of things, so I have a few photos to share (for once!).

First, I started my morning by getting up early to bake a chocolate cake for the cake pops, and then getting the cupcakes in the oven.  I managed to get the two dozen vanilla cupcakes frosted with a chocolate cream cheese frosting and decorated with red, white and blue sprinkles before Rob and I headed out the door to the parade.

 The parade was kind of a bust, like I suspected.  Many people turned out to see it; the streets were lined with families...especially the kids waiting for candy to be thrown.  But it seems that when the holiday falls in the middle of the week like it did, not as many folks turn out to be IN the parade...like bands and floats.  But there was great represetation from Pasco - the one and only float, and the one and only band!

After the parade Rob and I headed back home, and I promptly went back to work...this time on the cake pops.  When I read the directions, they seemed pretty straight forward and actually pretty easy.  But they ended up being a little more of a pain than I had anticipated.  I did learn a few things for next time though.  I guess I had to get the first time done and under my belt. 

I started by making them a little too big, which meant they were too heavy to stay on the stick.  I'm don't think I froze and/or refrigerated them long enough.  I think my candy melts could have been hotter/thinner for a more even coating.  And most importantly, I needed to leave them alone until completely dry!!  I kept pealing them up too soon and leaving coating and cake on the plate!!  With all that said, here's the kicker...they were DELICIOUS!!  I mean seriously...who knew??  I guess I anticipated them tasting like a cupcake, but I think they were better...way better.  And so did everyone at the BBQ.  They were a major hit!

After I completely destroyed the kitchen with my cake pop assembly line, I actually took a quick little nap to rest and regroup  Then Rob and I headed over to Melanie and Jordan's for their annual BBQ.  They had a bit of a rib cookoff...one guy made pork ribs, while the other made beef.  I'm not sure what or whose I had...but they were all so good!  And there was food o'plenty...lots of ribs, salads and beans...YUM!  While all of us grown ups yacked it up, all the kids kept busy in the pool.  It was a great way to end the 4th...thanks Mel and Jordan for the invite!

Because tomorrow is a work day, and because we're old I guess (hehe) Rob and I opted out of the fireworks, and just called it a day and headed home to feed and check on the pups. 

We hope you all had a wonderful 4th...full of fun, food, friends and family too!!

Day 184

Finally...we're ready for the 4th...not a moment too soon.

I've had the house decorated for the 4th since Memorial Day.  But for some reason I just could not get my butt outside and get the bunting on the banister.  With another 'gentle reminder' from Rob tonight, I took off outside to get the job done.  I got the bunting put out, a couple of these larger flags stuck in the ground, and 8 little flags lining the driveway.

Bring on the 4th!

Day 164

Let Freedom Ring

A few days ago, I posted one of two Precious Moments I currently have on display...the little guy with a watermelon slice.  Well, here is the second one...in celebration of the upcoming 4th of July, it a little 'Uncle Sam' with a phone...Let Freedom Ring.

I have so many Precious Moments that I love, but this little guy is special; not only is he a sweet and cute boy, but he's patriotic, and who doesn't love that?

Day 148

What's a better way to celebrate Memorial Day than to get out all of your Red, White and Blue?

You all know how I love to decorate for the holidays...and thanks to Pinterest, I'm already excited for the Fourth of July!  With Rob's encouragement, I decided Memorial Day weekend was the perfect time to celebrate our patriotism, and decorate the house.  So today I did just that.  I rearranged the furniture, then got out my tote with the items that remain from my Americana decorating days. 

Thankfully, I hung on to a few of my favorite things, like these USA letters, and am able to use them as decorations for awhile...Memorial Day, Flag Day and the 4th.

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

4th of July

Another Independence Day has come and gone. It was a pretty nice day, very low-key and quite enjoyable. Even the weather cooperated and was more than tolerable - not the usual scorching heat we usually face.

We all gathered at mom's for a BBQ...and had TONS of great food. Fred manned the grill, Emilee and Kennedy ran through the sprinklers and Billie made a great batch of lemonade that we adults turned into a delicious sort of melon cooler.

Once again, I was in charge of the 4th of July cupcakes. I made my usual red, white and blue decorated cupcakes, but also finally had the chance to try out my JUMBO cupcake pan that Billie gave me months back. Not bad for a first crack at it. Can't wait to try it out again.

It was a good day, but just not the same without Dad. I miss him so incredibly much.

4th of July

The last week or so just got away from me. So here I am trying to play catch-up with my posting. Seems like there has been so much going on - car shows, celebrations, parades, bbq's, and camping - I don't know where to start, so I guess I'll start with the 4th.

Jay, Kathy, Fred, Christy and Ms. Kennedy were all in town for the weekend. We started off a very hot day with a trip to the Farmer's Market, followed by Pasco's Grand Ol' Fourth parade. Here's our sweetie pie enjoying her first 4th of July parade.



After a bit of a break - and some time inside with air conditioning - we all headed over to Sharlyn's for what has become our annual 4th of July BBQ. I was directed to bring the cupcakes for the event. I wanted to try out a festive recipe from my Crazy About Cupcakes cookbook, so I made Blueberry / Raspberry Cupcakes, with fresh blueberries and raspberries baked inside and cream cheese frosting. I wasn't sure how they were going to taste, but they turned out to be pretty darned good! I decorated them up with red and blue sprinkles and flags for the occasion.

That was not the end, however, of my baking. Billie requested chocolate cupcakes as well. When asked if she wanted chocolate cake or chocolate frosting - she said BOTH. So, I made another 2 dozen Triple Chocolate Fudge cupcakes with choclate-cream cheese frosting. I thought they were delicious too - even from a non-chocolate lover like myself.

And finally, I had been working on a 4th of July project for over a week or so. I was inspired by a project from Leigh Ann Baird that she entered as a guest on Papertrey Ink's site. I loved the idea, so started out making a template, adding my own twist. I made a dozen, essentially one for each of the gals at the BBQ. Rather than making a greeting card, I decided on these fans, that looked and felt like a card, with a practical element - keeping cool in the 100 degree heat!

Fourth of July

This is a layout I worked on at the Friday night scrap. I got it all set up the way I wanted it, then finished it off today with some Cricut lettering and the journaling block.

It seems awful 'symmetrical', but overall I really like the way it turned out. I tried out my new Marvy square punch, which made it very easy to use a lot of photos in just one layout. And, I think summer, and Fourth of July more specifically, just inherently offers a great color palette. I found that this {My Minds Eye} Confetti Parade Collection was exactly what I was looking for to complete this.