we enjoyed january 1, 2010 by sharing a candle lit dinner with our kids.
we even ate in the actual dining room.
with the christmas plates and glasses.
sean set the table with a tablecloth and got to light the candles…by himself!
(that is pretty exciting stuff if you are 9)
talby made place cards and made the seating arrangement.
everyone was in charge of making one dish each…whatever they wanted.
(craig and i helped them)
the good kind.
velveeta brand…nothing but the best for a fancy dinner.
we made these on new years eve so made another batch last night too.
ALL fancy dinners have hot wings. (pioneer woman recipe)
since she was in charge there was no cheese on top…because she doesn't like melted cheese.
she likes cheese…but not when it melts…except on pizza…that melted cheese is ok. 
i had to push the fruit.
our kids would eat starch and sugar 24 -7 if we let them.
(and so would i)
everyone was cooking at once.
annie chose PANCAKES as her dish.
craig helped her make 6 chocolate chip pancakes….mmmm. 
the kind from the store…in the milk section.
TREAT!
fancy dinners also have napkins bibs…and tiaras.
and you know what?
there were no spills.
no fights.
no mean words.
and no crying.
it was a LOVELY meal.
i am sure this is a tradition we keep.
(ps: lauren wanted NOTHING to do with us. she took a plate of food & ate alone in her room by choice)
*************************************************************************************************************************
i finally made some blog post categories!
i have gone through all of 2009 posts and assigned them categories.
and i will go back through rest soon.
now when you need a waffle fix you can click on "WAFFLE the wonder dog" & see all the pics of him!
at least all the pics of him in 2009.
so if you are new here…go have fun clicking through the categories.
Rachel / cREaTe - that is HYSTERICAL. 1st photo & text, i thought this was indeed a big fancy, formal event. then as the menu played out my smile just got bigger. hilarious. your kids will remember that forever. 🙂 so fun to let kids be kids and run the show once in awhile.
Diana - I would have helped Talby with those mashed taters! They look scrumptious! {I don’t like cheese melted on anything but pizza either… well, maybe on cheeseburgers, too.}
LOVELY family, LOVELY meal… such LOVE!
Happy New Year to all of you!
the inadvertent farmer - Raising my glass of chocolate rice milk in your direction…cheers! Have a happy, healthy, and blessed new year, Kim
Logan - You are a fun mom. I know it isn’t perfection all the time, but you are creating wonderful memories for your kids and I love reading about your adventures and seeing the pictures. Thanks for sharing your life with us!
Laura Phelps - we got a hamster and a case of beer on New Years Day.
hmmm….
I am feeling like I have fallen a little short here…
Amanda Garrett - Your family is too cute. I always enjoy reading your blog. Happy New Year!
Amy - What a great idea! So cute! 🙂
Vicki - How wonderful to live in a house where the hum in the background is filled with laughter, happy busy chatter (okay, maybe a fight or two now and then, and memory making. You gotta feel the love, just gots too. Even if your not sitting at the table but up in your room, you still feel it. That’s the stuff that you take with you when you leave home and go out into the world on your own. When you start a family of your own and some how automatically know what it means to be a family. It’s cause your mom did stuff like this.
I think we started a tradition at our house too this year. We have little ones so we did a brunch for New Years day with family and friends. It was so much better than staying up late with little kiddos and having them be grumpy all day. Think we’ll do it next year. Happy New Year!
Jenn Grigoryev - i can’t wait till my three boys are big enough to try this idea out. what a fun mom you are.
amy jupin - this looks fun!
too bad lauren didn’t want to join y’all…one day that too will change! 🙂
happy happy new year, my friend!
jessica - Oops! Typo. You make my day with “your posts”…..not no posts. You are the best! Thanks for inspiration and smiles!!
Jessica, Alabama
jessica - Can’t stand it anymore. Had to comment! I have been a long-time blog stalker. I just love it!!! You made my day with no posts and always make me smile. After reading this post I had to tell you…..you are seriously the best mommy on the planet. I cannot believe you balance five kiddos so well, and you are just a spring chicken yourself. Kuddos to you, your beautiful family, and all of your fabulous ideas. Cheers and Happy New Year!!!
-Jessica, Alabama
WizzyTheStick - I tried family dinner on my birthday. The results was sad or hilarious, depends on if you are a cup half full or half empty kinda person. From reading this post I’m guessing you fall into the former category. Great share. Loved this peek into your family life.
aubrey - You have such a lot of really good ideas and I really like this one. When my kid are big enough to do their own cooking, I think I’ll try this one. Maybe by then we’ll have a dining room too. 😉
Oh, and I feel like a jerk that I didn’t buy chocolate milk for any meals over the holidays–I’ll have to remember to do that next year. It’s so nice when the little ones are so easily satisfied. 😉
I have to say (even though I haven’t had teenagers yet, but stil remember being one)–it’s kind of cool that you let Lauren have her space and exercise her independence (within reason it looks like). My parents didn’t let me and I resented it sometimes, but I came around anyway. I think you’re doing a really really good job as a mom.
Liesl - How fun! Meg, what are your christmas dishes. They look so fun!! I am looking for holiday/winter tableware . . .
Thanks – I enjoy your posts and your creativity. Happy New year!!
Sarah @ Clover Lane - That fruit salad looks SO good…the other stuff looks good because for once a mother knows it will ALL be eaten! Everyone’s happy, yeah!!!!
Julie - now, THIS is why i love your blog. Incredible family. incredible inspiration. happy new year!
DreamGirlLisa - Love it! Carbs rule!!!!
Lauren will come back to you, teenage years are a challenge, but fun too.
gina - Looks like a great tradition to start! My 15 yo calls most things we do, that she joins “Triple F”. >sigh<
Dena Rooney-Berg (sugarshop) - What a seriously fun dinner!!! Thanks for linking to my Pineapple Vodka post! Not only did it lead me to your site (LOVE it) but it’s been fun to meet some of your readers as well! Can’t wait to see how your Pineapple Vodka turned out and to see if it was a hit. XOXO
julia - in a few years Lauren will say “why aren’t I in any of the pictures???”
Christina - This is so great! I LOVE your fancy dinner. What a fantastic idea…everyone looks like they had such a good time.
When you said the kids would eat sugar/starch 24/7, but so would you I chuckled…the apples never fall far from the tree. It’s true here, too. My youngest has a new play kitchen from Christmas, and she has been cooking these last few days. I think she’s made chicken once (which she doesn’t really eat), and the rest of her creations have been chocolate. 🙂
Dianne Avery - Looks like a perfect evening! Fun pics as usual. 🙂
Kelly - Such fun! I love y’all’s definition of a fancy dinner! I am excited to have fancy dinners with my kids one day! Right now I can tell the baby likes to eat because he/she usually kicks during dinner. 🙂 Kelly
Karen - What a great Mom you are! My two cents says ‘make’ her participate. We had the same troubles w/ our oldest. At one point I mustered everything I had not to push him out of the car on a vacation, but to hear him tell it now, it was THE BEST vacation! Unreal! (Was he on the same vacation with us??? He made it MISERABLE from beginning to end!) Kids. Go figure.
renee cauley - What a great night… Don’t worry bout Lauren, kids do the funniest things…. Mine are all grown now and they want to hang out with us and go on vacations with us… strange… its all good. I just love your blog…Have a happpy 2010
Mrs. - Sorry about Lauren. My oldest is 12 and I am really, REALLY having a hard time LIKING her. I can’t believe that we shared the same food, air and blood for 9 months. She seems so disconnected from me. I imagine soon she will want to eat alone like Lauren as well. *sigh!*
Lorilee - How fun to cook together. I usually cook alone! Sometimes my sweety will help, but the boys run and hide! I’m not sure where I went wrong!
Blessings,
Lorilee
Erin V. - What a great idea! I love the fun stuff you come up with to do with your kids!
Flower Patch Farmgirl - Aw man…I wondered about Lauren. Thought for sure her dish would be something really cool – like sushi or something olivey.
Sounds like good ol’ messy fun! And the menu is to die for.
Christian@Modobject at Home - “…there was no cheese on top…because she doesn’t like melted cheese.
she likes cheese…but not when it melts…except on pizza…that melted cheese is ok.”
My seven year old son’s sentiments EXACTLY.
Lori - Great family time idea. And aren’t teenagers just the best?! If it’s any consolation, our teen daughter was exactly the same. But as she turned 18 and nears the time to go to college, she seems to enjoy some of our family times more than she used to.
Thanks for all of your real, sometimes funny and sometimes touching posts. The present you opened from your parents made me cry too.
Rach - What a fun tradition! Great to get everyone working together.
Vera - This is SO much better than black eyed peas and ham hocks and greens ha! Sounds like a great, fun, and yummy tradition!!
Sue K. - HaPpY NeW yEaR!1! Wow. What a great tradition! I love it…gonna copy this one for sure! So Im wondering, who helped with the cleanup?? That is the worst part by far for me 😛
Blessings to you and your family in 2010.
Shari Barnes - Is that a Jenn Air gas cooktop in the island? We have one and it looks very similiar – LOVE it! 🙂 Looks like a geat meal!!!
jeanne - I love all the sweet things that your family does together!!! I truly believe that someday your “children will rise up and call you blessed”.
Melanie - You are a great mom, Meg! You are the fun mom and your kids will remember these things that you do for them. Sorry about Lauren:( I just don’t know what to say about that. I have a 15 yr. old son and I haven’t had the ‘teen’ thing happen. I know that I am lucky and I wish that for you.
Heather Giustino - How fun!!! Everything you guys made sounds so yummy (especially the Velveeta mac ‘n cheese – my “yucky” treat!) We had a fancy dinner too, and even drank sparkling cider out of champagne glasses : )
Happy New Year to you and your sweet family!
Kate - That all looks lovely!
Eeek, teenagers are vile creatures! heh heh
Tanya - Adorable! Great first post of the year!
Naomi - I don’t comment often, but read ALWAYS. What a FUN tradition. Can we borrow and copy it?
Still making that rainbow cake you posted about eons ago!
immyyas - This was really sweet. What a fun idea & a great way to include each kiddo. I might have to steal this idea… : )
H-Mama - you’re such a fun mom. 😉
Mindy - This is so much fun! I am stealing it for our fam! My kids are little though so it might be hard for them to help a lot but at least they could each choose. Don’t worry about Lauren, I was the same way when I was her age and I turned out okay … just takes a while sometimes. You are a great mom!
stef - the chocolate milk part made me LOL. My kids would love fancy dinners at your place 🙂
Happy New Year!
mary - awesome!
and don’t worry a bit about lauren
i remember how i was at that age
and my sister, my cousins, my friends, etc
chocolate milk rocks…and annie is a good pancake chooser(tell her i said that she will giggle)
sandy toe - Sounds perfect.
sandy toe
se7en - Lovely tradition – Oh keep it up!!!
Tiffany Morris - How fun is this! You guys do some really cool things… thanks for sharing ideas with all of us!
Hugs – Tiffany
Keri R. - I am just like Talby! I love cheese but not when its melted! Unless of course on Pizza!!! Happy New Year!
Pineapple Princess - I love how you celebrate! So fun! 🙂
Happy New Year to you and your awesome family!!
Kimberly - What a wonderful idea!!! Happy New Year!
Kimberly
http://yeptheyareallmine.blogspot.com/
Kelly - What fun! And too bad Lauren missed out! It looks like a great time! I love traditions like this! We have a similar one on New Year’s Eve 🙂
And I agree on the chocolate milk from the store. My boys go crazy when we have that stuff in the house! I actually almost got it for our New Year’s Eve bash but opted for orange pop in bottles which was a big hit too. 🙂 Happy New Year!
Courtney Walsh - Seriously agree about the chocolate milk from the store in the fridge section. What is it about that stuff? It’s like dessert. Yum.
I love your fancy dinner. 🙂 Good stuff, Meg!
Jacci - Great fun 🙂 Sorry Lauren was a stinker.
Categories are also great fun! Thanks!!! And Happy New Year 🙂
~Jacci in Ohio
Georgia - Happy new year!
I LOVE the fancy dinner idea, its brilliant!!!
Im the same as Talby, melted cheese is Yukky except on pizza, or Pasta is ok. 🙂 🙂
xxx
Sarah @ Dream In Domestic - Happy New Year, Meg!!! What a beautiful meal with your beautiful family! Thanks for the categories. I’m not new, but I like to go back from time to time to find things, so that will be very helpful!
sarah - So fun!! I love that everyone made a dish, and the chocolate milk in pretty christmas glasses.
I love that Annie made pancakes… since that’s what they chose to eat, when we had enchiladas, when I was her age… or maybe just a few years ago, I probably would have chosen pancakes too!
Dina - What a great New Year tradition! My kids are 5, 3, and 1 and always WANT to help cook … but really I must draw the line:-) … I guess I need to step back and just enjoy the fact that they WANT to take part in meal preparation:-)
Happy New Year!!!!
Nicole Q. - love the idea of the kids each making a dish. good idea . i also bawled at your xmas gift from your dad . . . what a neat gift and so much meaning!!! Happy New Year!
diane - I love this idea!
I totally get Talby and her cheese preferences.
I don’t like cheese but I love queso. My husband likes to point out that what I am really saying is, I don’t like cheese, but I love cheese.
At almost 31, I am starting to branch out though. Maybe in this next decade I can simply say, I like cheese.
Happy New Year!
Holly - That sounds like fun! We actually started off 2010 by having cresent chicken and the kids LOVED it!
Happy New Year to you and your family!
carissa... brown eyed fox - i love it! we have got to get on the kids making a dish thing… seen yall do that before too… i just love that!
now…
raising my coffee mug right now… wait… hold on… okay…
{cheers}
here’s to an awesome year!
and meg… i have to say…
thanks for being such a big inspiration in my life in 09.
you make me laugh… hard.
you make me cry… just yesterday.
you make me want to dance… even if i look like a fool.
thanks girl! big hugs… buckets of blessings!
Becky @ Farmgirl Paints - LOVE IT! What a wonderful way to bring in the New Year. I love everyone in the kitchen making their favorite dish. Great pics of all of you. Just warms my heart:)
Oh and your daughter being a teenager…that just kills me. I swear when my kids get to that stage I’m gonna need a pill or something to help me get through it:0
michelle - so fun Meg! what a great idea and a wonderful memory created. we might have to try it. i think it would be interesting just to see what it would be that my kids would chose as their dish. hmmmm? too bad about Lauren. sadly, i would have probably been just like her. always bucking the system i was. she’ll come around.
happy new year my dear friend!
xoxo
Staci - What a FUN night!!!!!!! I am soooo glad there was no fighting!!! I wish your dear sweet family the Happiest of New Years!!!!!!!!!!!!