4th of July, part 1

I remember last year's 4th of July clearly. In a nutshell I was so ready to have my daughter home and celebrate by having a big bbq. Click here to check it out. Thanks to my wonderful cousins for hosting and family for participating, it was a dream come true! A lot of my family was in town for a wedding, including my cousin Charles from California (the one who traveled with me to Ethiopia) so I thought it would be fun to also make it a birthday party for Naomi. It was such a fun time!!!

First we went shopping for food to prepare. I made a spinach salad with candied pecans, Gorgonzola cheese and dried cranberries. Yummy. My mom made a pasta salad. I bought some watermelon and purchased a sheet cake to decorate for her birthday.


After shopping we went and picked up Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Sue from the hotel.



We went home and we prepared food and I decorated the cake. My little girl loves doggies so I used her favorite stuffed dog that she sleeps with every night as inspiration for her birthday cake.


I wanted to do a whole doggie themed party with doggie decorations and favors and a cake shaped like a dog but, alas, there is only so much time in the day and only so much energy I can muster. Maybe when I become a stay at home mom in my future? ;-) I was afraid to do the spots on its face cause I was worried she wouldn't recognize it. It wasn't the best but I think it turned out pretty cute.

Then we drove out to Baltimore and had a blast with family! My cousin's house is so gorgeous and when they finish putting in the pool and tennis courts I know where we'll be spending all our time! heehee

Almi flew balloons with her cousin, R...

And colored with her cousin, A.

She tried on sunglasses...

And danced!

Go, Almi! It's your birthday!

We ate a ton of food. My cousins Joey and Yvonne prepared chicken, burgers, hot dogs, tossed salad, potato salad, corn on the cob, baked beans, etc. and I plenty of desserts!! Just what I was hoping for-- but clearly the best part of all was just having fun hanging out with family.


Almi had a great time! She was so happy!

Hope you had a great 4th of July holiday as well!