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What were you able to accomplish this month that is moving you towards a September to remember? For me, it's been waking up earlier. It's been a game changer!

Download these FREE printables HERE!

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I love Memorial Day Weekend.  It's the official kick off to summer fun.  But more importantly it's a day to remember what was lost to enjoy our freedom.

We usually start our day at the cemetery, bringing flowers to our daughter, Aria's grave.  (Her story here.)  I LOVE the cemetery she is buried at.  Before her, we would drive by this hilly cemetery and I always commented on how beautiful it was.  Now it's even more beautiful to me because a part of my heart is there, between the fourth and fifth tree.

I like to add a little bit of seasonal decor to my home, to help my family feel festive.  Sometimes I go all out, like on Halloween and Christmas.  But for occasions like Memorial Day, I just like to add subtle touches.  I'll get out my red cake stand, I'll display a few flags, I have a few fun patriotic pieces, but nothing too over bearing.

This year, I designed this "Land of the free because of the brave" printable to add to our gallery wall.
Adding something as simple as a printable to your decor can help you embrace the season.

I know you want this framed for your home too, so I created a free 8x10 that you can download for yourself.  You're Welcome!

We picked up these cute little burlap bags and black and white tags at Target - Dollar Spot.
We put a Chap Stick, Breath Mints, and a few Chocolate Kisses in each bag then wrote on the tag,
"Kiss Me At Midnight".  We had these little Kiss goodie bags for each of our guests.




We used a glass vase from the Dollar Store that we taped off and then spray painted Gold Stripes to hold the props for our Photo Booth.  An inexpensive way to make an elegant statement, don't you agree?  The Cute little Chalk Board Easel we picked up at Target - Dollar Spot, Score!

Photo Booth Props of Fun    A Photo Booth is easy to set up and guests of all ages have fun with it.  Just make sure to have lots of fun props to choose from.  We picked up a pack at Walmart that had a bunch of props in it for around $4.00 bucks. Most of all cut loose and be Silly! Beverage Bar    We covered our Sparkling Cider bottles with some gold glitter paper for a touch of sparkle.  (on a side note we covered our table with left over wrapping paper from Christmas) We picked up the paper straws with Tags at Target - Dollar Spot, and we put them into a mug that we picked up on clearance at Target.   We served Sparkling Cider and Sprite with garnishments to add to the glass like; frozen cranberries, lemon and lime wedges, assorted frozen berries and frozen peaches and mangos.   We also had some Cranberry juice to make "Mocktails" we mix 2/3 Cider or Sprite to 1/3 Cranberry Juice over ice or and add a wedge of Lime.  So Yummy!   Paper Fortune Cookies   We used the tutorial in the link above to make our Paper Fortune Cookies.  But instead of already having the fortunes in the cookies, we used it as a fun game.  We had slips of paper already cut and we gave one to each guest as they arrived and asked them to right a prediction for 2016 then place it in a cookie.  Later in the evening we read them out loud as guest tried to guest who wrote the prediction. (the link has printables for fortunes if you want to use those)