Dinner is served!

Ahh, summer.  The kids are almost out of school.  I think this is the longest school year ever, but I'm OK with that.  I fear that I won't have enough structure for my crew, but I have faith that we'll have tons of fun anyway.

A few years ago, I was reading a blog authored by a woman with grown kids.  She said that when her kids were little and it was too hot to cook, she would serve fruit for dinner.  Then, she'd let the kids dig in, get all sticky and then go outside and "rinse off" in the kiddie pool.  My favorite line was "leave the fruit on the table in all of its sugary juice to attract all kinds of ants".

I've always been one to try to balance my kids' meals, but I still thought this was an extremely creative idea.  I've done it before, but I would also put out cold cuts or at least string cheese (gotta have protein, right?).  Last night, though, I threw caution to the wind and I simply cut up a watermelon.  To satisfy my own savory desire, I made Stove Top stuffing in the microwave too!

Those are paint stains on my table from my ultra-creative children (and a potholder under the stuffing bowl).  I need to find my tablecloth, but they do use plates at least so there won't be any contamination of nutritional needs with artistic abilities.

My kids are too big for kiddie pools now, but that didn't stop us.  It wasn't too hot, I was just being lazy.  Dad's been away all week.  Although Dad is not a demanding type at all when it comes to meals, stuffing with a side of melon just wouldn't fill him up!  Here was my opportunity!

The watermelon was as PERFECT as it could be!  Sweet, juicy, cool and wonderful.  I ended up eating the lion's share of the stuffing.  The boys found some popcorn left over from after school snack.  Lilly won't touch popcorn or stuffing, but she did partake of the melon.

Bonus!  No ants!  Malcolm did ask for a sandwich later though (I guess it didn't fill him up either).  My kids have big appetites.  It was too late to make a whole sandwich, but I offered him cheese.  He didn't bite.  Off to bed.

I also have to share how my dear boys picked clovers from our yard and brought them into me too!  The single violet is from Andy.  It's holding up well from two days ago!