Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Happy 4th of July!

We are getting ready for the 4th of July!
July Fourth has taken on a much bigger role in the holiday list now that we have moved to the lake.  There are all sorts of activities going on the whole weekend.
The lake looks pretty quiet right now, but come this weekend it will be busy.
Starting off with the lighted boat parade the first night.  This is my favorite, the boats all have different themes and music playing.  We will sit on our balcony and cheer them on with our cow bells as they ride by.
The star of the daytime festivities is the water ski show, complete with pyramids, tricks and lots of flags.
Of course there is a lot of food, drinks and fun.
It is all topped off by a fantastic fireworks display.
We will be sharing all of this fun with family and friends.
I thank God that I live in a country where we can celebrate our freedoms.
God Bless the USA!

I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July! 
Thanks for stopping by,
Ann

I am linking up at the following parties:
The Scoop @ Cedar Hill Farmhouse
Wow Us Wednesday @Savvy Southern Style
Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Baby's First Birthday Party

We celebrated my grandson's first birthday last week with a Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? birthday party! My daughter and I are the Executive Directors for the Miss Akron Canton Scholarship Program, which is a preliminary to Miss Ohio and Miss America.  You ask -what does this have to do with the birthday boy?  Well, last year he was born right in the middle of Miss Ohio week.  Conveniently between the Miss Ohio parade and the first night of preliminaries!!  So of course his first birthday was, once again, in the middle of Miss Ohio Week.  Right now I don't think he really appreciates all the work his mom and grandma put into this program, but maybe one day he will see the benefits!
Everett with Miss Akron Canton Outstanding Teen and Miss Akron Canton!

Now since this was a very busy week for us, we made it easy on ourselves.  My daughter ordered the Brown Bear decorations from Oriental Trading Company.  I added a few embellishments such as the polka dot fabric over some crates to add some height and a few brightly colored snack cups.
All the food was purchased at Sam's Club.  
I had surprised my daughter with this fun birthday garland of the many faces of Everett, that I had seen on Pinterest.

I traced back the original pin to this post -  Baby Birthday Banner .  I just downloaded my baby photos to my Silhouette, resized them there - so that they were all about the same size.  I fussy cut the heads out- I like that term - Fussy Cut - it is fancy for cut them out by hand with a plain old pair of scissors!!  I just cut some cone shaped patterned card stock for the hats.  The fun part was that I bought some cheap party leis and cut them up for the edge of the party hats.  I just glued these all on to a long strip of card stock - and Ta Da - a fun garland!!
  I made my grandson a birthday sign using a black foam core board from the Dollar Tree and a white Jelly Roll pen by Sakura.  I found that to be the easiest pen to write on black paper.  The thicker letters and numbers were cut out with my Silhouette and glued on.  I downloaded some of the characters from the Brown Bear book and fussy cut those out and glued them on.

My daughter had seen these small birthday cakes surrounded by cupcakes at Sam's Club several weeks before the party and thought this would work perfectly for his cake-
and it did!!!
As you can tell, Everett enjoyed a portion of his cake.  It was the first time he really ate anything that sweet, so we let him indulge for a few minutes and then swept it away before he got a tummy ache!
I hope you enjoyed this party post as much as my grandson enjoyed his birthday cake!!!

Thanks for stopping by,
Ann

I am joining the following parties:
A Little Birdie Told Me @ The Life of Jennifer Dawn
Your Party Ideas  @ Bird's Party
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life