Dinnertime

I've always heard how important it is to have dinner together with your family. I'm not sure who to cite here, probably church leaders, Reader's Digest or public service announcements, but I have discovered that our most memorable moments as a family seem to come when eating dinner together.

For instance...

Annie just told us tonight at dinner that her butt (I've taught her to say bum) had a crack in it and she needs to go to the doctor.

Jake has discussed at length our insurance. He's concerned with who our carrier is (it's USAA if anyone cares). Should he go with Progressive who is cheaper or State Farm who has more customers? It is a true dilemma for a 9 year old. And obvious that he watches too much TV. If I had to choose based on commercials, I'd go with Flo at Progressive. She cracks me up.

Last night at dinner we were talking about the recent kidnapping in the area. We discussed stranger danger and what to do. Hannah told us that if someone tried to take her she would "Handcuff his feet and handcuff his arms, put jelly on his head, then lemonade and then let Bodgie eat him." Jeremy was recording the conversation so that is a direct quote. It's a little extreme, and not at all what we told her to do. Hopefully if the situation ever comes (heaven forbid it will) she will follow our advice, not her own ideas. (Which reminds me - Last year Alex and I had a friend of hers stage a kidnapping in the neighborhood. He pulled up and asked the kids if they wanted to help him look for his dog. Hannah, Annie and Maddix almost got in the car with him. It made me sick and broke my heart. Luckily, the older kids in the neighborhood had better sense and wouldn't let them get in the car)

Abby just told us this evening that there is a new girl on the bus named Kaylee. She told the family that Jake likes her. He obviously, very adamantly disagreed. Then Abby told us she can tell he likes her because he tries to act cool around her. How does he try to act cool? He acts like he has a baby in his tummy by using his soccer ball. He laughed, denied it and then turned beet red. Oh, nine year old crushes.

Speaking of "cool", I have learned that cool does not mean awesome or rad as I used to. Really it means - Constipated, Overweighted, Out of style, Loser. I thank Ty Chesley for that one, but it surfaces every night at dinner. We now have to be careful and call everyone awesome or neat just to avoid any further discussions on what COOL really means. (See above with the new girl Kaylee. It seems Jake really was acting "cool".)

I love dinnertime. It's the best time of the day for me. (Then, immediately after that is when I hit the wall). Always a surprise and always a treat.