Red, White & Ka-BOOM!

Each 4th of July is a little different in my family, due to the fact that it's my mom's birthday, so I try my best not to have her have to clean the house and prep for all of us to come over...on her own birthday. It was so hot this year, I didn't worry about any outdoor activities, and we have a pretty small place right now, but I'm thankful for a gracious family who is always up for squeezing in and enjoying each other's company! (And enjoying the air conditioning!)

Welcome to our home! (This lovely find came from Hobby Lobby.)

This is my "Holiday Shelf", decorated for Independence Day. If you'd like to see more on the Holiday Shelf, click here!

All of these paper lanterns came from The Dollar Tree. I stacked them how I imagined them, and then basically sewed them together. (This was not the best way to do things - anyone know of a good tutorial for a paper lantern chandelier? I need one!) Ended up looking pretty cool, though. See the tissue paper sticking out of the tops of a couple lanterns? That was a nice spur-of-the-moment filler!

My mother-in-law bought us a bunch of these cool Coke placemats for Christmas last year (my husband loves all things Coke), and they just happened to be red, white and blue, so I decided to use them in the food table decor. Aren't they neat?

As you can probably tell, I'm a HUGE fan of The Dollar Tree (for one-time events). The plates and napkins came from there, and the awesome Coke glasses (that I'm using here for cutlery catchers) came from my mother-in-law, as well!

The main dish was Hawiian Pulled Pork...yummy! It was a hit, and the best thing is that it was a Crock Pot dinner! Wohoo! If you'd like the recipe, click here. (This pic is from when I first put it all together...made the house smell amazing, too!)

The cupcakes were red velvet (although the decorating of the cupcakes leaves a LOT to be desired...guilty! Hey, at least they tasted good...), and the truffles were created by my sister!

And the cake. Ahhh, the cake...

Again with the decorating =( My skills are obviously lacking...I guess I should take a class or something...in my free time...but I digress. I had this idea for the cake right after last year's celebration, and then I started seeing it on Pinterest! So I did it!

Came out pretty cool, huh? The blue really needed to be a bit more blue, but it's okay. I'll know for next time. I had so much fun cutting the first piece!!!

My poor husband is SO used to having his food photographed! He offered this plate up willingly before I even asked him =)

More fun scenes...including mom opening her Kindle Fire, our little CoCo playing in the wrapping paper, group shot and mom blowing out the candles!

Happy Independence Day, from all of us to all of you!