Let's Talk: Red White and Blue

Happy Almost 4th of July! Today Andrea and Erika are asking about anything red, white and blue. I wanted to do a 4th of July wreath, but time has escaped me and I didn't get to the store to buy anything. While at Hobby Lobby buying for my summer wreath I tried to buy the stuff for a 4th of July wreath but nothing was on sale and I refuse to buy when it's not on sale, because I know it will go on sale, it's just a matter of time...

Anyway, I thought I would talk about traditions. My Dad has 3 brothers, between the 4 brothers there are 12 kids, so I have a bunch of cousins, plus most of them (9 of the 12) are married now with kids of their own, so it's crazy trying to find a time when we can all get together. For whatever reason we've made 4th of July that time. It's hard with the holidays because everyone is switching off between Mom's side and Dad's side of the family, you know how it is. So probably 20 years ago the 4 brother and the 12 kids all went to Santa Barbara and stayed 3 nights, we would all stay in rooms next to each other and we would all watch the fireworks over the pier from our room or on the grassy part in front of our rooms

...well fast forward many, many years...2006 an one of the cousins got married 4th of July weekend, so that one was out, the following year another cousin got married the weekend before, actually at the same hotel we were staying at, but a week prior, so that year was out too. Then the following year it just got too expensive, so my Uncle decided a few years later to host 4th of July at his house, he gets amazing seats to watch the fireworks because he is on city council...so we all head there and most of the cousins go. It's such a blast. I love seeing my kids with my cousins kids, it's so sweet and reminds me so much of when I was growing up with my cousins, getting together every opportunity we got.

2012

2013

July 2014

July 2015

Now this year, and we're doing it again! So excited to see everyone in just a week or so.

Do you have any family traditions?

Totally bonus pictures...for our yearly calendar for our parents, I tried to dress the kids up for each holiday...yep I was THAT mom...

Baby Fox

Mini Fox....

Linking up here

$10 Target Haul: June Edition

Hello Foxy Friends. I had a nice long weekend, full of friends and good times. Baby Fox finished Kindergarten on Friday and we couldn't be more proud of him. Today, I'm joining a bunch of awesome ladies for our $10 Target Haul! I do have a full confession to make, but will make it a bit later. Let's first get onto catching the BEST day ever at Target. Seriously, I never catch it when the just put out the fresh stock...but today was our lucky day. This whole thing on all sides was full of 4th of July things.

I had decorated for Spring, which I don't think I ever took a picture of it for you. Oh well. I decided since 4th of July is at the beginning of the month I was going to make the most of it and make it last from Memorial Day through 4th of July. Cause why not? Mini Fox went with me and let me tell you how hard it was for me to say not to this adorable hat on Mini Fox. I die it's so cute on her...but alas, I knew she wouldn't really wear it and I didn't really want it, so back on the shelf it went.

Then we came across these, so I texted my cousin to see if she wanted them. She did so I bought 5 of them for her. We do a pretty big 4th of July celebration with my family, so she was stocking up for the party. For $1 for 6, such a great deal.

Then I thought, this would be pretty awesome, pre kids...haha. And it was a little over our price range, but not too much, so I thought I could get away with it, hehe.

Finally we settled on this.

Okay here is where my confession comes in. Yes I bought this, and yes each thing was $3, but I needed to fill up a whole mantel worth of stuff, so this just wasn't going to cut it...so I bought some more stuff. Here is my whole mantel, all done with $3 Target bin stuff.

I definitely cheated this time around, but you know what I don't regret it at all. Perhaps next month I'll actually stick to the budget. I could have totally lied, but I really wanted to show you how it turned out, hehe. Does that ever happen to you? You go in thinking you're going to just get this, and then walk out with a whole mantel full of stuff? This happened again a few weeks before this, when I walked into Hobby Lobby and found all this cute Summer stuff I could use on the mantel...so I have everything all set to go for the summer mantel after this. Stay tuned for that, don't worry I won't pretend it was only $10, because heaven knows it wasn't anything close to that. Note to self, need to stay away from Target and Hobby Lobby near holidays.

There's the cakes stand from last month, proving to be a good $3 buy.

Now go check out what some of the other ladies bought with their $10, and link up yours below.

Stephanie @ Wife Mommy Me  | Beth @ Our Pretty Little Girls| Becky  @ ByBMG | Tif  @ Bright On A Budget | Christine  @ Sword Fight and Starry Nights | Ashley @ Ashley Newell | Emily  @ Three Boys And A Girl Blog| ​Shani @ Sunshine and Munchkins | Sarah @ Foxy's Domestic Side  | Stephanie @ The Gifty Girl |  Kristyn @ Everyone's Sleeping But Mom | Danielle @ Sparkles and Lattes | Jess @ Secrets of a SAHMom 

An InLinkz Link-up

4th Of July Fun

Hi Foxy Friends! I was feeling pretty awful today, basically slept the entire day...but feeling slightly better. Hopefully on the mend....Advil Cold and Sinus is my best friend right now. Anyway, I thought I would dedicate a post to our 4th of July fun! That way I have it all in one post. So let's get started.

My cousin always throws a party the day before, so the kids can decorate their bikes for the parade the following day. We drove the 2 hours out to their house, stopped at our favorite sandwich place and then drove to a park nearby to eat it.

The kids looked at the fish and I got a cute picture.

Oh and I did some fun 4th of July nails too, I just love Color Street!

Soon the cousin were together again. It's been a while since we've seen them in a normal setting, so the kids loved every minute of being together.

I was in charge of the candy bar...red, white and blue theme...I think I did a pretty good job :)

Got a great picture of the girls of some of the kids...I love this age, they really cooperate when you want to take a picture.

The kids discovered the joy of 4 square.

Ate some dinner.

We were having so much fun, we almost forgot to decorate the bikes! But here is the before.

Mini Fox was really getting into it, with some help.

And the after, the kids did a great job! So great that we ended up winning best group! We call ourselves the Firecracker Cousins.

Afterwards we played, Right, Left Middle...but with real money. It was fun.

Everyone really got into it. You should play it at your next party...so fun.

Then we had a massive sleepover.

Breakfast the next day consisted of Flag Waffles.

Off to the parade we went.

Cousins ready for the parade.

First time getting a group shot...with our winning certificate front and center.

Baby Fox did great on his bike...definitely time to upgrade him! I was worried about nothing, he went into the lead and I tried to run to keep up, but couldn't...

Some of the cousins decided they wanted to ride back home instead of taking the cars...I volunteered to take them...it was a lot of running on my part to get them the mile or so home, safely, but they all listened and stopped at streets and waited for me to catch up.

Small party afterwards to eat some more breakfast.

Rested a bit, then headed out for dinner, movie and firework watching. We parked our cars where we were going to watch the fireworks, did dinner and movie and it worked out PERFECT!

Tried to get a shot of everyone watching the movie...

Waiting for the fireworks to start.

Perfect way to end 4th of July extravaganza.

Until next year! How was your week?

Linking up here

4th Of July Outfit

Happy Wednesday! I'm taking the day off and doing a day date with Mr. but I thought I would share my 4th of July outfit with you. I thought this year I'm going plain and simple.

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Shorts (similar here - on sale for $28.80! and here) | USA T-Shirt | Shoes

I decided to go with a simple necklace and a bold lip, cause what's 4th of July without matching red lips to go with?

Funny how when I did my make up for this look, I thought it was so heavy and bold, but now looking at the pictures you can hardly see it...goes to show if you are taking pictures you need to put on WAY more then you think you need if you want it to show up in pictures.

A fun picture for you.

Also linking up with Anne from Anne In Residence and her monthly currently where she gives you the topics to talk about. This month her guest host Stephanie, okay let's get to the topics:

Documenting: Everything I can about the kids, I know I'm going to forget it all and I'm trying to get as much down as I can and take as many pictures as I can...cause moments like these, go by fast and I can barely remember it all.

Accomplishing: My first party of two birthdays this summer. Throwing Baby Fox a half birthday is awesome, but then it makes me throwing two summer birthdays, so now that one is done I'm onto the next. Mini Fox says she wants a Frozen party...at least there's lots out there to buy for that one. Phew.

Enjoying: Summer. I'm loving the long days and the swimming and get together with friends and the staying up late with the kids. It's all so fun and I already know it's going by way too quickly!

Reading: Well besides other people's blogs, not much. I need to get on that. Too much too do, too little time. Like today, I decided instead of doing something productive I wanted to take a nap. Could I have fought through the drowsiness and did something with my afternoon, yes, but did I? No...and it felt darn good.


Spending: Nothing! Woo hoo! I am on my no shopping ban and I haven't spent anything. Actually that's not true, today my Fabletics monthly subscription (referral link) came up and I decided to use it this month because I am in desperate need of some new shorts. I have been wearing the same shorts for at least 10 years...I know. I just can't seem to find any that I really like. I like a wide waist band and the built in underwear...anyone have any leads? I'm hoping these ones will work out, we'll see.

I know tight shorts, but I say, hey if people can wear tight pants to the gym, why not tight shorts? I hope they hold it all in, and I hope I can return them if I don't like...yikes!

So tell me...if you celebrated 4th of July, what time did you get home?

An InLinkz Link-up