Friday, July 08, 2011

Independence Day 2011

Hope everyone had a happy Independence Day!! We had a cookout with family... fun and low-key. The fireworks got rained out... well, they did get set off, but late, after Chris and Caroline had given up because it was after 9:30. Maybe next year...

Cecilia helped make some red, white, and blue fruit kabobs using strawberries, blueberries, and mini marshmallows.

concentration

determination

and...

...success!

Caroline helped make a few of them as well!

We had appetizers first, around 1:00, and then had our big meal mid-afternoon: burgers and hotdogs, potato salad, and the fruit kabobs. I made the cheese ball appetizer above... first time ever making one from scratch, and I don't think I will ever buy one again! It was so easy: 2 packages of cream cheese, a half cup of diced black olives (mixed together and formed into a ball), and then rolled in 1/3 cup diced walnuts mixed with a tablespoon of dried parsley. So easy and tastes great with Trader Joe's multigrain entertainment crackers (even better than with Triscuit-sttyle crackers, the traditional cheese ball cracker)!

My mom brought salsa and Trader Joe's red, white, and blue corn chips!

We mostly hung out in the sunroom... too hot outside! And Uncle Tim didn't set off any fireworks this year... well, maybe that is a good thing because it means we didn't lose any bowls this year. ;)

I finally used the red, white, and blue ribbon that I'd had in a drawer for a couple years! Both the girls got pigtails to go with their red-white, and blue shirts!

Cecilia was being goofy with Grampa...

Caroline wanted to pose for pictures with Gramma...

...and Grampa. They wore red and blue, and Tim wore white - how patriotic, and probably unplanned! ;) Chris wore his Old Navy American flag shirt (from the year 2000, it says on the front!), and I wore... a green sundress. Hey, I'm pregnant and it is hot! ;)

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