A 4th of July to Remember

Our 4th this year took place at our house. It was our 1st 4th of July in our new home! We invited our families over and assigned dishes. The only thing that I made was the flag cake! 

I am learning to delegate so that I am not in pain after events ,since I am still recovering from my MVA.

I will have to say that everyone did a great job bringing their assigned items and everything was delicious!​!!

Here is  our amazing layout of food:

(The things not pictured is Mac&Cheese​, hamburgers​, hot dogs, hot wings, and steak)

 My Sister's boyfriend did all the grilling. I made a new name for him after this day, Chef Boy Our Ray! We(or I should say He) barbecued outside but the majority of us ate inside.

It was 100 degrees outside and 78 degrees inside!

The only time we came out was to watch the kids have their water fun & take family pictures.

After eating we lounged on the couch and watched Tv and a movie.

Later that night my lil Sis and I took our kids to fireworks at the Marina!

The kids could see the fireworks as we were driving to the show and they were so so excited!

I love seeing things through my kids and my nieces eyes!

I was more focused on their reactions to the fireworks than the fireworks.

I knew that the kids were experiencing a piece of magic in these moments !!!

Later that night  I asked them all what was their favorite part of the day & they all had the same answer!

Fireworks!Fireworks!

Fireworks!Fireworks!

I am glad we live in a free country to experience all these special moments with our family and kids!!!

2013 Summer To-Do-List

Summer just began but I feel as if it will go by so fast ! Some of my best memories as a child took place in the summer. One of my goals with my kids is to be intentional about making memories, especially every summer!

We already knocked 2 things off our list . We went to the movies for the 1st time with the kids last week! We also took my 9 year old niece who my kids adore.

We brought my niece so she could be a great example for the kids, on how to sit still during a whole movie. We survived the whole movie but we had some moments that revealed that they are not quite ready. Trial and Error! It was still so cute at experiencing them watch their 1st movie!

We have been in triple digits for our weather so we checked off another to do! We brought out the Lil pool!

The kids loved it and I loved turning off the AC to enjoy some water fun in the backyard! We also realized that we need more toys for the backyard this summer.

It feels good to put a couple check marks on the Summer To-Do-List. I am so excited to keep on checking on!!!

A Bridal Shower for my Sister

Last Saturday my Mom, Sister, and I threw my baby Sister a Bridal Shower!!! It was exciting to celebrate my Sister and her union and also to host my 1st Shower at my house.

I decided to go with Black & White decor since the Brides dress is usually white and the Groom usually wears black.

To keep it simple but nice we decided to go with Salads for our main food options.

Fruit Salad

Apple & Walnut Green Salad

Brocoli Salad

Tortellini

Veggie & Dips

Wings and Biscuits

Centerpieces were roses from my garden in a lace wrapped mason jar.

For my last 2 parties and this shower I have been enjoying placing dollar store table cloths on the ceiling. I really put my husband to work because he was the one who placed all the decorations up I just directed since I am still having neck pain here and there.

My husband also place this balloons on ceiling after I placed pictures of the bride and groom on them.

The Bride loved it!

Tissue Pom Poms are so fun and easy so I decided to decorate my whole living room with them.

This bridal dress made out of homemade cupcakes also turned out just how envisioned it!

The ladies also thought they were delicious! We made 50 cupcakes for only $10!

My Mom made peacock fans for the shower favors. They turned out so cute and I was quite impressed. The wedding reception them is peacock, so how cute!

For drinks my older Sis made some fruit water out of mint, strawberry, and oranges. We also offered lemonade, limeade, strawberry rita's, and limaritas.

After everyone had something to drink and eat we headed to the deck to play 4 Bridal games.

This game was called the Bridal Dress game:
I gave all the ladies a paper plate to write their names on the back of it. I then instructed them to draw a bridal dress on the top of their head without looking & in 2 minutes.

It was quite funny to see all the dress designs.

I then laid all the dresses out for display after the 2 minutes.

My Sis then picked the dress she would wear to her wedding and thats how the winner was picked.

After all 4 games we went in the house to enjoy the yummy cupcakes and open the gifts!

We all enjoyed seeing the bride open wedding items, 

gift cards,

and of course intimate items!

Last but not least we headed to the front yard for pics,

pics,

and more pics!

This picture is a pic of 2 of my Mom sisters, my mom, my sisters, and 2 cousins!

My Sister cried after opening her gifts because she was overwhelmed by all the love and effort my Mom, Sis, and I put into the shower!

Not only was my Sis satisfied with her Bridal shower but so were the hostessess with the mostessess!!!