Independence Day

On July 4th, we had a big Independence Day party. This was to celebrate both
1. the anniversary of our country's independence from tyranny and
2. my independence from work.

You see, I've quite my job to be a stay-at-home mom, and July 4th was my first day! It's all VERY exciting.

Here's a few pics of the general festivity:

Good friends will hold your sweaty baby when it's 100 degrees outside.
And notice the fancy sparkler straws!

More good friends! And look! I threw some festive streamers in that tree!
Now, you know it was a party.

Did you know that a slip-n-slide will keep eleven kids occupied for three hours?
Did you also know that a slip-n-slide will make a giant muddy trench in your yard?
It's a trade-off.

Some things I wish I'd taken pictures of:

1. Everybody (grownups included) riding the Perkins' scooter up and down the street

2. The gorgeous patriotic chalk art that everyone drew on our driveway with sidewalk chalk. Did you know sidewalk chalk is a great backup for when the slip-n-slide gets old?

3. The other twenty people that came to the party.

Did I mention what we ate? We did a build-your-own grilled pizza party. We grilled the crusts and let everybody choose their own toppings. Here's the recipe:

Grilled Pizza
It's shameful how easy this is. And it looks cool.

The dough:
2 cups flour + more for rolling
1 pkg RAPID RISE yeast
1 tsp salt
1 cup very warm water
2 TB olive oil

Combine the 2 cups of flour with everything else & stir to make the dough. Add more flour if you think it needs it. Knead on floured surface until smooth, about 5 minutes. Cover & let rest for 10 minutes while you go fix the toppings.

For grilled pizza, we usually top with grilled chicken or smoked sausage and a tomato-basil-olive-oil thing, kinda like bruschetta. I don't know how to spell bruschetta. But do whatever makes your skirt fly up.

Roll or stretch out the dough. You can do 6-8 mini pizzas or one big pizza (Make sure it will fit on your grill! Ask me why I mention that you should check that. Ha.).

Eat. Enjoy. Yumma yumma.