4th of July Barbeque

On the 4th of July we had my sister's family and the neighbors across the street over for a bbq and swimming.  It was a lot of fun and I tried out a new chicken marinade I made "from scratch" and we had a bunch of chicken on the grill.  Kim made her famous potato salad and Brad made a fabulous crab pasta salad, among other food items of course.  The great thing about our house is we have a large empty field across the street that makes it easy to see quite a few fireworks displays from our tree house.  They are a little far away, but the kids love it and it saves us from having to drive and find a parking spot to watch fireworks.  The other part of the day was spent with Mark at Ikea where he purchased some new furniture items for the kid's rooms as we continue our attempt to fit four children into three rooms with all of their belongings and "junk" they can't part with.  Markie, do you really need your nametag from preschool???  Anyways, Mark came home with a load of bookshelves and dressers that take about a thousand hours to assemble.  Lizzie does enjoy helping, which makes it more fun for Mark.