Fourth of July roundup

Saturday evening, we went to watch fireworks

which was a good thing, because yesterday it rained cats and dogs from early afternoon on into the middle of the night. Watching fireworks in a downpour while sitting on wet grass is not my idea of a good time, so we were doubly glad we'd gone the night before.

In between rain showers yesterday evening, we went outside and Daddy introduced Maren to the fun of Pop-Its:

And then Maren got to do sparklers for the first time as well!

Check out her patriotic outfit--she picked it out all by herself! It was sent to me in a swap last summer by Cheryl and this summer it she grew tall enough that it fits.

We had some friends over for dinner to celebrate. I was tickled to be able to use the vintage patriotic paper napkins that I found at an estate sale on Friday!

I made these red and white striped cupcakes. They were a total pain in the neck and I won't be making them again, but they were cute with the sprinkles and little red pinwheel picks!

My Fourth of July decorating was small this year. Normally I love to decorate with my red, white and blue stuff, but for some reason this year I felt very uninspired.

As usual, I did a display atop my china cabinet, but I kept it pretty spare.

The only new things this year were the red scalloped cake pedestal (after Christmas clearance at Target) and the Campfire Girls candy box that I bought at an estate sale in May (I almost typed Fireside Girls instead of Campfire Girls. Too much Phineas + Ferb, eh?)

I tried something new on my mirror as well--instead of vintage postcards, I used my tiny clothespins to hang a vintage bingo card, a vintage card of embroidered star patches (it's so cute--it even says "Be Patriotic" on the top!) and the center object is an altered prize ribbon I made using an old horse show ribbon, a jumbo Maya Road bottle cap, an old milk cap and some fun striped ribbon. (click on the photo to see a larger view)

I did use the quirky vintage pitcher with the presidents that I found a few weeks ago, but I didn't get to decorate my little white bench like I did last year because Porter would have destroyed it in seconds. (I have a feeling it will have to be empty next year as well, for that matter.) You've already seen my muffin tin table, and a few other patriotic things sprinkled here and there but most of my decor items stayed in their plastic tub this year. Funny--I probably have more holiday decor than most people but to me it feels like hardly anything!