'Merica! {Our 4th of July}

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays...next to Christmas and Easter, of course! Our neighborhood association hosts an annual 4th of July parade and an evening concert in the park. Needless to say, I was excited as we approached our Nation's Independence Day!

Leading up to our 4th of July festivities, I had plenty of planning time since the littles were spending the week at their Nana and Granddaddy's.

Chris made plans to pick up the littles in time for them to arrive at home for lunch, since I had a special patriotic lunch planned for us.

I put together a basket of goodies to help make our Fourth a little more festive and fun!

I also decorated our table with some sweet treats.

I found inspiration for my chocolate-covered marshmallows here.

I had originally planned to use the huge camp fire marshmallows, but I found these star-shaped marshmallows in the seasonal section of Wal-Mart.

And, I purchased these adorable "flag" cupcakes at Gigi's Cupcakes.

I didn't have enough room on my cake stand for all of them, but here is a picture of them in the box so you can get the full effect. They were delish!!!

The littles' faces when they got home were priceless! Chloe and Evan love spending time with their Nana and Granddaddy, but I could tell that they were happy to be home, especially when Evan proclaimed, " I'm in MY home!" after walking through our front door. 

We ate our patriotic lunch, rocket dogs, Doritos (these chips just seemed to be the perfect complement to the rocket dogs), bing cherries, and jello stars:)

"Pretty please with a cherry on top!"

The littles converted their rocket dogs into cherry bombs.

 
(For the record, one day I'll be one of those people with an adult patriotic tablescape! I'll have a fabric tablecloth and sunflowers in a milk glass pitcher, but while my children are small, I figure that I'll keep it fun...until it isn't anymore, which I hope is never...)

After lunch, the littles broke into the goodies. The uses for the peel-and-stick mustaches cracked me and Chris up! The laughs were definitely worth the dollar that I paid for them.

I also attempted a cute hairdo on Chloe that I found Pinterest. Can you tell what it's supposed to be? It's a little lopsided.

T

 
Then, we walked down the street to join our neighborhood parade!

The walk was rather nice this year, not nearly as hot as in previous years.

 
I tried keeping up with Chloe on her bike, but she was bound and determined to keep up with the big kids on their bikes. I eventually gave up and told her to stay behind the policemen. I thought that this sight of the kids riding behind the motorcycle cops was funny.

Daddy and Evan walked at a comfortable pace, so I stayed behind with them.

The parade ended at our local park, where we enjoyed some colas and bomb pops.

We listened to a few of our neighbors and veterans give speeches on the importance of this special day in history

When we returned home after the parade, I had my customary front porch photo shoot with the littles!

A few hours later we returned to the park to enjoy the company of our neighbors while barbecuing  and listening to good music.

My neighbor won this beach chair in a CVS drawing. People actually win these things! He thought it would be funny to bring it out to the park. 

My free spirit couldn't help but become one with the music!

Later that night, we broke out our snaps, crackles, and pops! Evan refused to hold the sparklers...always cautious...

Well, that was our 4th of July! I hope that everyone had a safe and happy one! As always, thank you to those who serve and have served to keep this the land of the free and the home of the brave! God bless America!