4th of July Recap

Seems like everyone is sharing their 4th of July fun, so I thought I would, too. I usually buy the kids a shirt, but this year we decided to try tie dye. They look great, right? Too bad they faded to pink! Disappointing, but the kids still liked them, even Blake.


I really don't have any decorations for the 4th, so I whipped up this banner.



Of course, we had lots of yummy food... hot dogs, hamburgers, pulled pork with homemade BBQ sauce... I also made the Snickers cake and this cake, thanks to Make It & Love It. I made their frosting & decorated it their way, but used this method for the layers. I liked it better without the frosting through the blue.

We also did the rainbow pudding pops that I have been seeing around some other blogs, only we did red, white & blue.

There was fun in the pool. (And rain, almost ALL day).

And little red cars.

Cute, curly haired babies.

Chasing falling bottle rockets (please no negative comments regarding safety!)

Cornhole games.

Cupcake thievery.

And of course, sparklers!

And front yard fireworks (thanks to my hubby for getting drenched shooting these off!)

I hope you & your family had a great holiday!!

4th of July Snicker Cake

I thought I'd repost a yummy Snickers cake I shared last year, just in time for the 4th.

I wish I could show this in steps, but I can't make this that far ahead of time due to the fresh fruit. But I wanted to share incase anyone wanted to try it! I make this every year for the 4th of July. I found the recipe here. It's very easy to make & very good!

You need:

vanilla pudding mix

2 frozen pound cakes

Snickers candy bars

Cool Whip

strawberries

blueberries

The recipe says 2 Cups whipped topping, but I have always needed two of the regular size packages. I'm putting in a Pampered Chef rectangular baker. It's always a hit and there is never any left!

What are your plans for the 4th? We are hosting again this year. We got one of those metal frame pools so everyone doesnt melt in the near 100° heat. It wont hold everyone at once and it's not huge, but enough to cool off. Nothing fancy! Of course we'll have yummy food and lots of fireworks. Have a good one!!

Linking to:

Patriotic Parade at Craftaholics Anonymous
Stars & Stripes Party at Centsational Girl

Categorically Crafting at Someday Crafts

Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime w/Chocolate Sundaes

An Upcoming Review & a Winner!

I previously did a review and a giveaway for CSN Stores, and now I will be doing another review! If you havent heard of CSN Stores, you really should check them out. They have SO much to choose from! 200+ stores! Need to update your bedroom? They have everything from headboards to bedding sets, to art for the walls. You could spend all day looking at all the things they have to offer!



Now on to the crayon giveaway. Thank you to those who entered! Only 7 entries, wow! Again, I have no idea how to get the little box to show up, so here is a screen shot... and the winner is... #3, Sheila! Congrats! Send me your shipping info and I will get these in the mail ASAP!

A Giveaway!

I was going to wait until I hit 100 followers, but I decided to go ahead and do a giveaway, to try & help promote my little Etsy shop. I opened my shop awhile back to get rid of some oddball craft things I had, while I tried to decide what to sell. Then I made these crayons back in April for Layla's birthday and knew what I wanted to do. Crayons!

A new little cutie in the works...

As you can see, my shop isnt that big right now, but I'm working on some new things. Now for the giveaway. Want to win a set of two 4th of July crayons?

Just leave me a comment on this post to be entered. Blog about this giveaway for an additional entry. I will keep this open until Monday, June 28, some time in the evening. Good luck!!

**GIVEAWAY CLOSED**

Finally, an Estate Sale!

I NEVER find estate sales here. Sure, there are some listed in the paper, but they really just sound like moving sales. But last week, I noticed a sign for an estate sale at a little house that always has random stuff outside for sale (bikes mostly, but sometimes other things). I REALLY wanted to stop, but with going to Ft. Desoto Saturday, and Ocala Sunday, there wasnt time. So I was pretty happy when I saw in the paper that they were having it this week, too! I stopped, all 3 kids in tow. But it wasnt too bad. The two big ones were distracted by the toy section.



Vintage linens, of course. I love the stripes!

This awesome quilted pillow. It's pretty yellowed though, any good tips on cleaning this? Some of the pointed ends have come loose so I dont want to mess it up.

A chicken scratch apron. I never find aprons.

A vintage Christmas tablecloth. My second this year. It has a few spots, but they arent bad, so hopefully I can get them out.

Pyrex!! The lady who rang up my purchases said she had wanted this Pyrex. I did notice that most of the pieces were out in the front yard where there was only a few things.

This is the largest size mixing bowl, and it was only $1.50!

Another milk glass compote, and two matching plates.

A colorful piece of Glasbake.

Now these arent from the estate sale, but a yardsale from awhile back. I just never got around to taking pictures. Some of these are Beistle, including the groovy looking pilgrims & indian. The two brown turkeys on the top left are Beistle, too. The yellow one on the right isnt marked, but it's a honeycomb. Some of these may be Ebay/Etsy bound.

A few Halloween ones. Some of these are flocked. Some are marked Eureka USA.

This bat is Beistle.

This little kitty isnt marked, but he's so cute!

Some Christmas...

And flocked Easter.

And some more Christmas.

I cant help but wonder what I might have missed last week. Of course, I'm envisioning chenile blankets and boxes of Shiny Brites, but who knows. I probably could have dug a little better this week if I didnt have Morgan attached to my hip. But I think I did pretty good.

Linking up to Today's Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality!

Busy Busy

Tomato sauce to be made...


Crayons to be made.... And a giveaway, coming soon!

Still Harvesting & Growing

Even though we're already canned all the green beans, and removed the plants, there is still a lot happening in our little garden. The peaches are coming along nicely.

We're hoping for success with the tomatoes. I would like to leave them on the vine a little longer, but I don't want them to get eaten or crack.

Bell Peppers have been doing great.

There is more okra growing, but I'm not sure. We tried frying it up the other night, but I had to use flour instead of cornmeal, and the grease was a little too hot. I wasnt in love with it. I guess when the new ones are ready, we'll have to try it again.

We've never had a ton of luck with watermelons, but we have a few that are still going good. We had one last year that got pretty big. We were afraid it was going to crack, so we picked it. It wasnt ready yet though. :(

All the pumpkin plants that came up on their own have been harvested and removed. I just love these little guys!

Speaking of pumpkins... they're part of why I havent been posting. We've been working on our pumpkin field. Mike tilled it and we've been raking. And we got the seeds ordered. 750 to be exact! We ordered a jack-o-lantern style, Jack Be Littles, Lumina, Cinderella and Lil Pump-ke-mon pumpkins, and also some birdhouse gourds. We're hoping this little adventure turns out well!

Since I'm talking about whats growing on around here, I thought I'd share some of our flowers, too. These Lantana's are popping up all over the place. I plan on moving them to along our front fence line. They are so pretty!

And these Zinnia's just don't stop. We planted them from seed three years ago, and every year so far they have come back! Not as many as we originally planted, but I think we've got 6 or 7 growing right now.

Hopefully now that the pumpkin field is coming along, I will be able to get some crafting done. I've had the itch to scrapbook again, but just havent been able to get a chance. And we're taking the kids to Ft. DeSoto this weekend (cant wait!). We're such bad Floridians, we havent been to the beach in 5 years! Gotta hit the gulf beaches before the oil makes its way down here (so sad). Anyway, have a good one!