Friday, July 6, 2012

Our traditional 4th of July BBQ and glowing night celebration


 My parents hosted a beautiful patriotic 4th BBQ, breaking up the middle of our week for some R&R with our family. They had a big, large, gigantic American flag rippling over their balcony and I was in double love with it!


Our flag will always still my soul, bring me back to center, and...



...remind me of our roots and the price Americans have paid throughout history to keep our flag flying.



My Mom's mind is always trying to incorporate learning with every event so as soon as we entered the door we found a bundle of historic 4th of July books and some vintage marbles for the boys to enjoy. 


She set a {picture perfect} table like always! Maybe because she knew her crazy picture-snapping daughter was coming over, OR maybe just maybe she's always set beautiful tables just because we all like it that way. ;) 




 Dinner was 100% traditional!  BBQ hamburgers, check. chips, check.  Potato salad, check.  Baked beans, check. watermelon, check.  Lisa's (that's me) coca cola, check


No, we didn't wrap every single burger so package-perfect.  Umm, I just did it to mine because I wanted to take a picture...
and make it cute...
and make it special...
and the obvious reason: I wanted to be very tidy and allow the paper to catch all my spills...obviously.



Desserts!
My Mom made (according to my Dad on a scale from 1-10, a 20 rated) lemon berry bundt cake with each slice showing off the red and blue colors of the holiday. She is still the very best baker I know!
 

We had homemade ice cream too and cookies to snack on all day.
Her cookies were chocolate covered raisin cookies! Mmmm


I made homemade Payday bars.  I will share the recipe soon!




After our meal, we all went on a big walk.  We also played in the pool and just kicked back for a long summer day.  


We listened to patriotic country music on our YouTube playlist throughout the day and made the boys pause for a few minutes to listen to some of those songs that make us reflective.  They were instantly very solemn and engrossed in the words of the songs:

"Now this nation that I love
Has fallen under attack
A mighty sucker punch came flying in
From somewhere in the back
Soon as we could see clearly
Through our big black eye
Man, we lit up your world
Like the 4th of July

Hey Uncle Sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shaking her fist
And the eagle will fly
And there's gonna be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringing her bell
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Ahhh Brought to you Courtesy of the Red White and Blue"
- TOBY KEITH


We let off our Firework Confetti Balloons since we couldn't do fireworks this year due to the fire ban.  Please see this post for info on how to make these poppers.  We celebrated with a series of POP, POP, POPS, instead of the loud bangs.



I'm pretty sure my Dad will be finding sparkling blue stars in his driveway for a long time.  Sorry Dad!



I also mentioned in this previous post that we would be celebrating with a lot of glow-in-the-dark stuff instead of fireworks because of the fire ban.  It was lots of fun!  




The glow in the dark bubbles made super cool glowing swords BUT the bubbles didn't glow when we blew them. 


The glow in the dark balloons rocked! I want those at every single party I host now, lol.






Dakotah with his hippie hair!






We lit up our 4th of July night with glows of red, white, and blue!


Before we left, the boys read some of the American history stories.  I just LOVE, LOVE watching my boys read!  They always cuddle up together and listen intently to the one reading.  It is precious. 




 I realize that these precious moments will be brief, but that's OKAY.  Each season of life holds new treasures, new things that will make this Mama's heart smile, and new experiences to share with my loves. These ages have been some of my favorites so far but I'm excited for future years too! But for right now, we are loving the NOW, each now, each day, each minute. (Well, not each and every minute, because there are plenty of bad days... but that's ok too!)  


 With love,

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7 comments:

Barbara F. said...

Lisa, this was one of my top 3 fave July 4th celebration posts. I would like to be on your Mom's invite list!! lol Lovely table, great menu, cute kids, loving family: check check check and check! Cool glow in the dark and poppers, too. xo

Kimberly said...

I love the way you write and love reading your posts. Looks like a great time!

Melissa @ LoveBugLiving said...

So much fun. Love the glowing balloons!
Melissa
www.lovebugliving.com

Meaningful Mama said...

The glow stuff is a great alternative to fireworks if there is a ban. Everything looks fabulous at your fourth of July celebration. I love the burger wrapped in the string. Jodi @ www.meaningfulmama.com

Jane said...

OK...now I REALLY want to join your family for one of your celebrations! I loved the glow in the dark balloons! They're a great alternative...and they glowed so much more than I expected. (I will be searching for them to use at our next gathering)

Your foods looked and sounded amazing. I would truly love your mother's lemon berry bundt cake recipe. Does she share???

Hugs,
J

Christine said...

The BBQ looks beautiful but as a veteran(Navy 12 years) I have to share that song by Toby Keith is offensive. There is nothing patriotic about senseless war and all of our hopes ought to be that our leadership exercises sound judgement rather than goes around socking people when it comes to determining whether or not we should utilize force.

Unknown said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful 4th and that your family can throw one heck of a party! I love that you especially dressed up your very own burger for the sake of a photo. :-) I'm sure so many of us relate (i.e. Me, for sure!) and have done the same.

You picked one of my favorite patriotic songs; I just love it when they play it right as soldiers are coming into the gym as they return from deployment and we see them for the first time in months! It's pretty cool and to me means that we have a great sense of national pride... best way to greet my husband as he returns.

Anyway, I'm Erin - hopping over from Foodie Friday, and introducing myself (I was formerly of EKat's Kitchen) as the author of the newly launched SalmonAtSeven.com. I'd love if you stopped by to say hi, and enter in my launch giveaway! xoxoxo