Anyone else out there loving Pinterest? I literally had just bought a three-ring binder with dividers with the intent of printing out great ideas when I see them and filing them in an orderly way at the very moment that someone finally convinced me to get on Pinterest. Thanks for pushing me over the edge, Jennifer! {She blogs over at Love, Laughter, and Lyrics, and she’s kinda fantastic. You should go see some of the birthday parties she’s put together for her kids. Bananas.}

{Gobs of fun links in this post. Just click on the interesting ones and they’ll open in another window so you can read on here and see them too. Two fer! Neat!}

Wow, hello Pinterest. I think I love you. Can we be BFFs and braid each other’s hair? That would be fantastic.

I love that someone like me (someone with the memory of a goldfish) can see something in March and pin it to my CHRISTmas board for December. Awesomeness. Not only is it a great place to organize, store, and retrieve great ideas, but it’s also a great place to find inspiration in what others have pinned! {Thanks, y’all!}

So here’s what we’re doing today that came directly from or inspired by pins on my 4th of July Pinterest board:

The boys asked for sparklers, and even though they usually go to bed about two or three hours before it’s dark in the summer, I couldn’t refuse. I saw this handy-dandy tip on pinterest: using plastic cups as a sparkler shield. Simple. Effective. Genius. {Thank you brilliant blogging mom who first that that one up.}

And we are going to have a cookout later, so of course we need a flag-shaped fruit & cheese tray, right? I drew inspiration from a couple of the food flags on Pinterest and used watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, mozzarella, and cherry tomatoes.

My eldest child loves watermelon, but I do not love what a mess it can be to cut! Never fear, my friend Diane has a great tip for no-mess watermelon cutting: just cut it inside a clean trash bag. The mess is contained and ready to be tossed when you’re done cutting!

And duh, there’s a reason for the saying “as American as apple pie,” right?! I totally love making an apple pie from scratch for two reasons: 1) it’s almost mind-numbingly easy and 2) it looks all impressive and difficult. Bonus. I didn’t actually see these mini pies on Pinterest, but I did see a pie with a flag-shaped top crust that inspired me to cut a few stars for the tops of these!

Okay… so for those of you who know me well… you might also know that I am not actually a U.S. citizen… I am in fact a British citizen living in America. You might find it a little odd that I am celebrating a day that marks when The United States defeated my motherland…

But what’s a girl to do when a good theme and a great country come along?! So wheeeee! {Umm… this photo is actually from last year… ’cause today the boys are dressed in Star Wars, knight, and secret agent gear… not so much matching theme-wear.}  🙂

And never fear, if you saw any ideas here, over on Pinterest, or on other links that are perfect for a 4th of July celebration, just pin ’em to a board for next year! Done!

So, what’re y’all doin’ for the 4th?