A little extra pop at the table.

Man - tonight's family dinner was a HUGE success. First of all, my husband did the grocery store run. That was like gold. He said it was crazy as we have winter weather coming in. For me grocery shopping is one of the major barriers to homecooked meals. I hate it. So THANK YOU to Jay for taking that off my plate.

With ingredients delivered, I made Lentil Stew (aka Health in a Bowl) and popped a loaf of store bought French bread into the oven. No big deal. I was really focusing tonight on making family dinner about the TIME more than the FOOD.

Here comes the divine intervention.

My daughter's best buddy, Caroline, was here after their girls Bible study. She walked in the door and said, "It smells SO good in here!" Well if that doesn't deserve a dinner invite I don't know what does. I asked, she said she'd LOVE to stay for dinner, her mom said OK, and we added a bowl to the table. My youngest was so excited to have our first "friends welcome" night of Family Dinner.

Caroline can sing. And apparently she likes to sing at the table. She doesn't sing songs at the table, she just adds melody to regular phrases like "pass the butter" and "this soup is hot!" How fun is that?!

We sat, we ate, no one complained or even pouted. Annie said she thought she'd tasted candy in her soup. Fennel. We all learned what fennel is and Sam said it gives the soup a little extra "pop".