MBIAJ Queen Mother's BIG Italian/American 4th of July birthday party !!!!

Good morning Blogland Neighborhood ! Well we've been busy here at MBIAJ Headquarters over the past couple of weeks getting ready for (and then cleaning up from) .....




.......our MBIAJ Queen Mother's BIG 80th BIRTHDAY SURPRISE Pary !!!







....Mom was born July 4th, 1930 to.....












.....Italian immigrants Harry and Maria Mondell (Mandarello)

















.......and here are those Mondell kids !
Nancy (Annunciata) the birthday girl, Irma her younger sister, and Anthony (Tony) her little brother...








......and a BIG BIRTHDAY SMOOCH from her hubby George (aka Dad) !




The MBIAJ Decorating Dept went with Italian flag colors green, white and red (they bought 6 yards of each color fabric at Walmart for $1.97/yd) and draped it by pinning it to the umbrella and the blue canapy (pinned on with big safety pins ) ...... then they cut out red and white striped fabric triangles and used clothespins to attach to clothesline for the pennant style banner (they had every intention to sew something more permanent however, as usual the decorating came down to zero hour (as in guests were arriving) so safety pins and clothespins to the rescue!)




.....and since the theme was Italian (as in Under the Tuscan Sun )...





.....there were lots of fresh flowers (especially sunflowers) and candles on the tables (eat your heart out Martha Stewart !)









..... so, a wonderful day was had by all .... and as the sun began to go down and the guests began to leave, Aunt Irma bid us all a fond farewell and a Fourth of July salute to the USA and her sister Nancy on their birthdays!!!! (oh, and Aunt Irma has a purse to match those shoes !!! )





Hope you all had a good holiday !



Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)