I Suck At Celebrating My Mother-In-Law's Birthday

on sunday, my parents and my in-laws came over for a little celebration. the reason for the celebration: my mother-in-law's birthday. now i suck at celebrating my mother-in-law's birthday. interestingly enough, i had to remind karen about her own mother's birthday. although truth be told, karen has been having a rough past couple of weeks, so it's probably only natural that she forget a few things... like getting her mother a present.

anyway, as is generally the case whenever my parents are around... i get a little stressed. sunday was no different. luckily, i spent most of my mother-in-law's birthday celebration doing things like grilling, cleaning, and playing with my niece (kaleigh) and nephew (pj).

(pictured below is my mother-in-law... with wally.)


for her birthday, my mother-in-law requested grilled chicken. naturally, i fired up the grill to cook the marinaded chicken that karen and i prepared. if the idea of cooking food for everyone wasn't stressful enough, i ran into a slight problem with the grill when the propane tank ran empty. lucky, i averted a possible crisis thanks to my mosquito magnet. (my mosquito magnet uses a propane tank... and thankfully was full of propane.) so with a quick change of propane tanks while the chicken was still cooking, i managed to finish grilling the rest of the chicken.

in addition to the grilled chicken, i prepared the legendary mac 'n cheese for my mother-in-law. for anyone curious, she enjoyed the mac 'n cheese... (let this be a warning to my friend, hot amy... she'll lose the mac 'n cheese challenge...)

my mom was pretty cute on sunday. she spent much of the day playing with kaleigh and pj by chasing them around the house. it's like every time i see my mother now, she has that "want-to-be-grandmother" thing about her. but she seemed to enjoy getting the kids all riled up, much like i do. i told my favorite brother-in-law (pj) that is what my family does... we get his children all excited and riled up... and then leave.

anyway, when all was said and done, the day went pretty well. i think my mother-in-law had a good time and enjoyed the food... which is good because it was her day. happy birthday!