Table for Five

I'm not talking about the movie by that name with Jon Voight (although it's actually a good movie - tear jerker - you should check it out). No, I am talking about how my dinner table tonight ended up being a table for five (kids that is) and man was it CRAZY!!!! I TOTALLY got a glimpse of what Lee & Christine go through trying to get a meal on the table for 5 kids!

I am not a Susy Homemaker and one of my biggest challenges in the kitchen is getting all the food ready at the same time and ready to eat while still warm. That was multiplied to the umpth degree tonight. I already had a turkey roast in the oven and knew I'd be making tater crowns when we invited the other boys to join us so all I had to do was make extra mashed potatoes and throw in a couple extra ears of corn (the little nibblers). Jace doesn't eat the turkey the greatest and there wouldn't be enough to go around since Brendon & Dallas can eat a whole turkey roast themselves so I also threw the last (3) corn dogs into the microwave. Panic and confusing totally set in when every thing was needing attention at the same time. The turkey needed sliced at the same time the corn needed drained and rinsed at the same time the potatoes needed stirred at the same time some silverware needed washed to eat with. It was all a blurry fog. On top of that, we have a really small dining room table because we have a really small kitchen/dining room. By time you sat (5) kids around it and covered it with turkey roast, mashed potatoes, gravy for the potatoes, tater crowns, corn dogs, ketchup for the tater crowns & corn dogs, corn on the cob, butter for the corn on the cob, not to mention the plates to eat off. It was total chaos!

Finally half way into the chow down, I realized I hadn't offered anyone anything to drink. So, then I grab (5) glasses from the cupboard and start listing all the beverage options. We got, white milk, chocolate milk, green Kool-Aid, red Kool-Aid, lemonade oh and Sunny D. One chose chocolate milk and the other (4) choose green Kool-Aid.

Then I paced back and forth hovering over them so that I could jump into action if someone wanted something else or needed something else or went into anaphylactic shock. I was totally stressed out. I don't know how large families do it night after night.