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A Little Bit of Sanity and A Lot of Chaos: Family Dinner

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Family Dinner

One of the things I'd like to do this year is really get into family dinners. Although the boys always eat lunch and dinner at the dining room table, they are often the only ones sitting there. They eat supper about 5 or 5:30 and Tom isn't home by then, and I'm constantly up getting things for them.

So, we are taking charge of dinnertime in our house. Fortunately I have a mother-in-law that reads minds and got this book for all the families at Christmas.



This book came at just the right time. Like many of you, I've been setting goals, purging junk, moving things around, packing things up and getting ready for the year. 

The book gives great ideas and suggestions for making dinnertime family time. It also gives some easy-peasy recipes and some hints to get your kids to eat veggies! I love it. Simple ideas and suggestions. Just what we need.

The first thing I did was make a dining room. If you've been reading for awhile, you may remember that we have been using our dining room as a catch-all for everything under the sun.


It's the dining room/transition room/office/playroom. Uhh-huh.

This is the best picture I could find of our dining room/kitchen eating area.


The kitchen is closest to us in this photo and the formal dining room is to the left of the kitchen....if that makes sense....

So, I took that table, and moved it to the front room...eh-hem...the dining room.



There are a few things that need to be done. the computer is still connected in this room because we haven't hooked up the cable in the other room. And the light from the other room needs to go in here. Tom likes that light, and so it is staying with the table, BUT, I am already liking the new set up.

This is the current state of the eat-in kitchen. And I like it. It hides the junk from the front of the house. That makes me happy. It makes it easy for me to see the boys playing when I'm in the kitchen and once the computer goes on that table, it will be a nice place for computer time.


Umm...this photo was taken this morning. That's right. Two diet cokes. One was from yesterday. The black chandelier is going over to the dining room and a school house light is going in here. Something like this:


Or this:


Or this:


All three of these are from school house electric. AND, they are each under $75. Which I thought was fairly reasonable. I could probably find one at ReStore as well. And may have to make a trip over there. BUT, I like to buy new lighting, that way I don't have to do any rewiring.

We've put in place a rule of no electronics in the dining room. No tv, no phone, no leapsters, no toys, nothing but eating during dinner. And it is going great. In addition, the boys are helping with dinner preparation. Taking things to the table, helping cook a little. For the last three days...hee-hee...it's been fun.

I'll keep you posted on the dinners and the state of each of our rooms!

Happy Thursday.


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8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ooooohhhhhh. I love the top one! The fun color combo and shape are fab. I'd choose that one for sure!!! Good luck with your re-do. I'm gonna look for that book too.

January 6, 2011 at 9:07 AM  
Blogger Ann Marie @ Twice Lovely said...

Great ideas, Kirsty! My trick for getting the kids to eat veggies is putting some olive oil, parmesan cheese an garlic salt on them. Then they love em!

January 6, 2011 at 9:25 AM  
Blogger Kara's Cuisine said...

Looks good Kirstin! We struggle trying to all eat at the same time during the week as well. . .snacking on an assortment of veggies/fruit when we get home seems to help Jack hold out til 6:30. Good luck!

January 6, 2011 at 9:33 AM  
Blogger KLM said...

I was talking about this last night with my Hubby. I mentioned how this year I really want to focus on 'sitting down as a family' for dinner. years before we were so used to either eating in the living room, or Jayden eating earlier, in his high chair.

I think it's great to really focus on 'family dinner time'. I also think it's healthy for the entire family and really brings everyone that much closer together.

I think your 'new' dining room is coming along great! :)

January 6, 2011 at 9:46 AM  
Blogger Rosebriars said...

Love the new setup. Glad it's going well...I know what it feels like to feed the kids before hubby comes home and spend the entire meal getting stuff. We've made an effort to make sure the table is fully set with condiments, drinks and everything before dinner is ready and it's helped. I think i'm also going to start bringing an extra set of utensils to each meal, there's guaranteed to be someone who drops theirs!

January 6, 2011 at 1:41 PM  
Blogger Anita @ GoingALittleCoastal said...

This sounds like a great plan. I like anyone of those lights. All very cute.

We have always been big on eating dinner together. There were always the crazy nights with baseball practice but for the most part we ate together. Now the kids are older and when they are all here it's still great to sit around the table and chat. Even after the meal is over. Funny thing is that it's usually hubby that gets up first. We're always like, Where ya going?

January 6, 2011 at 3:20 PM  
Blogger Keeping Life Fun with one Craft at a Time said...

I am hosting a Friday Family Night party. I would love for you to send some pictures of what you do with your family!

http://keepinglifefunwithonecraftatatime.blogspot.com/2011/01/blog-post_07.html

January 7, 2011 at 2:09 PM  
Blogger The Stucco Bungalow said...

I was lucky enough to find a schoolhouse style fixture off the shelf @ Lowes for about $45. It's also available online @ Lowes: "Checkolite International Ceiling Semi-Flushmount".

January 8, 2011 at 9:19 AM  

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