We did an overnight cousin-swap.
Jackson and Micaela came to our house and Abree went to theirs.
It was getting close to that time... the time where I should figure out what's for dinner. I hadn't made a plan and truthfully really hadn't cooked dinner consistently, since the kids have been out of school. Then I has this idea... Why don't we have a "Hodgepodge Dinner"?
I wish I could say that this was my original idea, but it wasn't. I saw it on TLC's t.v. show "Kate Plus 8".
What's a Hodgepodge Dinner?.. you might ask. I guess it could be done at home with the things you already have on hand, but I went with Kate's idea of going to the grocery store.
First we drew categories; Main dish-Taylee, main side dish-Rylee, Fruit-Jackson, Veggie-Treyson and Dessert-Micaela.
Jackson knew what he wanted to get, even before we got to the store... PEACHES!
Even with other suggestions from the kids and me telling him he could choose anything, he still wanted... PEACHES! (always said in a raised excited voice).
Treyson had no problem picking out his "veggie". He quickly decided on olives. Even though I technically think olives may be a fruit, we went with it. I tried to keep my opinion to myself and not influence their choices (totally not my usual way of doing things). :)
The girls took longer to decide. We went up and down the isles of Winco weighing options, while the boys goofed off with each other and had a great time.
Taylee finally chose fresh/frozen cheese ravioli with Alfredo sauce.
Micaela finally decided on Chocolate Dream Pie.
And Rylee was excited to have fried mozzarella sticks.
Quite an interesting combo, but the kids (and Jason) raved that this was the BEST dinner ever!!!
One thing we didn't do, that I would consider for next time is what Kate called, "Gross Factor". One of the categories her kids chose was "gross factor". They got to pick something they deemed "gross" to try and eat. I think I would change the name to "Try Something New" or "Something I've Never Eaten Before"... taking the gross out of it, because I would want my kids to actually try it, if I spent money on it. :)
This was fun and may become an occasional tradition in our home.
