Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July!

We had an extra special Fourth of July because my sister, Michelle and my niece, Amelia arrived from Texas today.  It has been a whole year since we last saw each other and we have missed them so much!

As you can tell, Liam was so happy to see his aunt again!

I made these fourth of July cupcakes (they were marbled inside, too!) and they were a big hit.  They were pretty simple.  I just made a white cake mix, separated it into three bowls and dyed one blue and one red with a little food coloring.  Then I just plopped equal parts of each color into the cupcake liners and baked it according to the directions.  I forgot to get a picture of the inside, though. Boo.

To make the icing, I added 1 stripe of red food coloring and one stripe of royal blue food coloring to a Ziploc bag.  I cut one tip off, filled it with icing, and then put a swirl on the top of each cupcake. I bought the paper cups and the the decorations in a set from Micheal's for a dollar.

We all swam a lot. Maggie and Amelia had a great time with my Dad and he is such a good sport! we barbecued and just had an awesome time reconnecting.  I love my family so much.

 Oh, and there was lots of cousin time today, too. My mom's boyfriend's granddaughter was there, too, and Liam had such a good time with her.  It was just an awesome day and I am so excited to spend the next two weeks with my sister and niece.