Saturday was filled with lots of family. It’s not often that Dan’s family gets together. Everyone but us lives in the bay area and occasionally we celebrate Christmas and birthdays – but that’s about it. My sister-in-law and bro-in-law had their second baby on April 14th and are moving to Connecticut in June. My mother in law’s birthday is right around the corner and it gave us the perfect opportunity to have a BBQ.
Dan has 2 sisters and 1 brother. His brother was unable to make the BBQ, but Dan’s parent’s brought his daughter, our niece, Georgia.
She was very happy to be holding her stuffed Toodee – Yo Gabba Gabba! doll. She was not very happy that she couldn’t spend the day in the swimming pool. (It was too cold for swimming)
My niece Freja became fast friends with Higgy. In fact, I think he’s still alseep from all of the activity yesterday.
While the other kids ran around the house chasing Higgy – Baby Odin slept in his carrier, Grandma and Mom’s arms.
It sure felt weird to have a baby and little kids in the house. We entertained them with coasters, entertainment center knobs, dog toys, pillows, mirrors and just about every non-kid friendly item in the house, hah!
Mental note: probably shouldn’t have sold all of the toys, character sippy cups, placemats, plates, etc. that I used to have for my niece Abby.
While everyone was entertaining the kids, I cooked up a storm. I whipped up my Grandpa’s famous BBQ sauce. There is no recipe, he just threw things together in a sauce pot that looked 100 years old. He used to bring everything to the outdoor kitchen/BBQ area and the smells were out of this world. He introduced me to liquid smoke – smoke in a bottle? Are you kidding me? I remember thinking as a kid – that was the coolest thing ever!
I got my onions, celery and oil ready in the pot. I added my rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, worcestershire, ketchup, liquid smoke and a little water. The sauce was bubbling up a storm and the house smells reminded me of my Grandpa’s cookin’.
I got all of the chicken breasts on the grill and set the timer for 5 minutes. On my 5 minute check, I realized that the BBQ was no longer hot. Dan asked if we had enough propane – I assured him that we were fine. Whoops! Dan and his Dad headed to the gas station for propane and I freaked out because I had timed the mac-n-cheese just right. I knew I was going to need to add milk to get it creamy again. Bummer.
Crisis averted. The guys were quick in getting the propane and emergency apple juice for the kids – I got the chicken cooking again and everything turned out fabulous.
On the menu:
BBQ Chicken, Mac-n-Cheese (kid style – nothing fancy), baked beans, green salad and rolls.
I was juggling everything and didn’t have time for Foo style photos…
Mac-n-Cheese
My Mother in law loves anything Disney. She is from Southern California and she has a season pass to Disneyland. My SIL asked if I could get a German Chocolate Cake and do it up Disney style. I ordered the cake from the bakery, headed to Party City and holy kid zone – so much to choose from. I grabbed a couple of Mickey Mouse things and it turned out cute – she really liked it!
All in all, a great family get together. I was exhausted after a long day. I hit the tub for a relaxing soak around 7:30 and I was in bed by 8:30 :). The hostess with the mostess was one tired girl.
There was mention of using Skype for our families to stay more connected. I’m really looking forward to that.
2 comments
The mac & cheese and chicken both look yummy! Glad that the day turned out well! 🙂
What cuties!