Happy 4th of July

I love the Fourth of July!  I love our country and I am so grateful for the freedoms we enjoy here. I think it is so fun to celebrate this great nation with food and fireworks!  Eric and my mom had the day off on Friday, so it was so much fun to hang out without a set schedule.  On Saturday we had the ward's traditional pancake breakfast and then the girls headed over to the community parade.  Poor Brent had been sick and running a fever so Eric stayed home with him.  After the parade we crashed Eric's parents house and had a BBQ and swam for the rest of the day.  His parents were in Dallas with Summer and her family.  Summer just had a new baby, Conner, Congrats Summer!  

Since I've been feeling crafty these days I decided to make the kids 4th of July shirts.  I did the same applicae technique from the onesies that I made the other week. (previous post)  It was so much fun and they loved them.  

We ended our day by watching the fireworks...  It was a great day!

I made the girls matching shirts... the bows were gifts from Aunt Sarah from last year, so I can't take credit for those :)

Cute little Peyton... she got her two bottom teeth last week, so she's still getting used to them and keeps biting her bottom lip and licking her chops... so adorable....

You can't tell... but it was hot out!

Brent... feeling a little better, and up to posing for mom in his airplane shirt

We made star cookies and decorated them...

Brent and Taylor had their own ideas on how to decorate them

So I watched my sister make one of these 'edible arrangements' on Easter and it looked like so much fun... so I thought I'd try it...

It turned out so cute... and it was easy

Here's how I did it:

Supplies:

-pot of some type (got my at Wally-World aka.. Walmart on clearance for $3)

-skewers

-cookie cutters;  I used a flower, star, and butterfly

- fruit in season:  I used cantelope, oranges, fresh pineapple, strawberries and grapes

- some chocolate to accent it-  my mom had some chocolate covered cinnamon bears- they worked

- iceburg lettuce for the bottom of the pot.  All the skewers are anchored in it

- green leafy lettuce to garnish

- a ribbon for a bow, if you'd like

Assembly:

-Wash and cut all your fruit first

-Place the iceburg lettuce head in the bottom of your pot/ you might have to trim it to fit

-make your flowers, stars, etc and I tried to space those out

- start from the outside and work your way in

- spearing the fruit and arrange 

(I had an edible arrangement brochure to cheat and look for ideas)  They also dip alot of their fruit in chocolate... hey it's July in Houston.. I knew that wasn't gonna work.  Maybe for the fall..  

The kids loved it and it made for a great centerpeice for the BBQ!

Eric made delicious BBQ chicken basted with his famous 'Sweet Heat' BBQ sauce

... next time I'll remember to take pictures of the food...