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.

The Family Dinner, by Laurie David.

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.

More books for kiddos

A reader asked if I had any suggestions for Christmas books for kids. For some reason we only have a few. Now, I will just have to go out and get more. But, here are a few that my kids love to read, even when it's not Christmas.

 

  

  

And a few more of our other favorites to add to the list:

This was Tom's favorite as a kid.

 

The boys have this one memorized and read it to me!

 

I love the bear books. This one is fun to read. I get really excited when they pick this one!

We are building a bigger bookshelf for all these! I just drew up the plans. Can't wait to get started.

My Favorite kids books

We read to the boys every night. Unless of course something comes up and they have stayed up too late. When Tom is home he reads to them, and when he's gone it's my turn. I love that they love books. Porter could read forever and Jack will talk about every single thing on each page and pretend to eat each item. Strange kid, that one.
So, I have a few. Just a few. I think I'll post them on the sidebar too, when I think of more, I'll just keep adding...

 

I love this book and actually cannot get through it without sobbing. Ugly sob. My mom gave it to me....ugly sobbing happening even now...but I adore this book.

How awesome would it be to be able to leave your kids home with the dog?!

All the Llama llama books are great. So fun to read.

  

  

  

  

  

  

I loved this book as a kid. We read it so often that it fell apart....see I remember some things....

PS - I borrowed all these book covers from www.barnesandnoble.com.