Family Time

I know, I know – you were expecting this last night. But I spent all day Saturday and yesterday cooking – same meal, two different days. I will not see the boys (Ryan and Callum) before Halloween – next weekend I am in Monterey, CA for the Visual Communications Industry Group conference and I will not return until Thursday, October 25th. Gerard and the boys will be going to Delaware to visit Gerry on the Friday and will not return until the Tuesday before Halloween – hence my not seeing them. I wanted to ensure that we celebrated Halloween, that they had their “trick or treat” bags and the other items I had bought for them.

So why did I end up cooking a family dinner two days in a row? It was necessary to have Gerard and the boys over on Saturday because Ryan who plays hockey had a game on Saturday at 7:30PM; but, the game on Sunday was at 4:15PM. Siobhan and Matt were going to come but she had a slight viral stomach bug and did not feel comfortable leaving the house. I was actually quite proud of myself as after Aqua Aerobics I went to the bakery and picked up the cake I had ordered. I went home and read the Saturday papers and then began prepping to cook. Oh, and on Friday night I had set the table, put together the boys Halloween bags and had done the grocery shopping. Although I had bought a cake for desert – I decided that I would make pumpkin bread because Callum eats it. He has food issues with taste and texture so whenever I find out that he will eat something I make sure I have it on hand for him. I tackled this first since it takes an hour in the oven. Out it came and the house smelled of autumn with the pumpkin, cinnamon and vanilla. Pretty proud of myself. Since I had bought enough food to feed a small army I decided that I would just go ahead and just cook half of everything. Gerard had stated that he wanted to eat at 3PM, so at 1 I began chopping onions, tomatoes, garlic and then I started to brown the meat. I was making Mexican – we would have nachos, salsa, guacamole and then Mexican lasagna. I was so satisfied with myself – by the time Gerard arrived with the boys – the nachos were in the microwave ready to be nuked to melt the cheese. The Mexican lasagna was made and just needed to be placed in the oven to warm up and melt the cheese on top and I was busily mashing avocados to make the guacamole; not only that the dishes were washed that I had used.

I put out the appetizers and Gerard informed me that we did not have to eat until 5PM. For the first time in having a family dinner I was able to sit down and just enjoy talking to him and the boys and catching up – most often I am in the kitchen cooking and missing everything. We ate at 5PM and everyone enjoyed it. Callum will not leave the house until he has his dessert or cake. So I brought it out and everyone had a small sliver except for Ryan who did not want any. However, Callum wanted a second piece – I let him know that I was sending it home and he could have a second piece at home. They were gone at 6 and by 6:10 – the dishes were in the dishwasher, the table was back to normal and the house had been vacuumed. But, by 7:30 I was tired and I went to bed at 8. I have decided that I am becoming a fuddy-duddy as I need more rest lately.

Sunday I was off to Zumba and Matt and Siobhan were coming over for dinner. Well the menu was going to be the same; but, I needed to get dessert since the cake I had yesterday and it was a special order from the bakery. From the gym I stopped at the cleaners, then the grocery store and picked up a dessert from them. I decided to do the same thing and prep the entire meal before they came – this time even the guacamole was done by they walked in the door. I enjoyed just sitting and catching up with them while we first watched the Jets and then the Yankees on TV. We had dinner – I packed a goodie bag for them to take home and I gave them the dessert. Again in 10 minutes I had the dishes in the dishwasher, the dining room table back to order, the garbage out and the living and dining room vacuumed. But, tonight I was sleepy just my body was tired. I was able to stay up until 10PM and was very proud of myself. I don’t know about you – but in our family we make an effort to get together every month, be it to celebrate a birthday, a holiday or like in September there are no birthdays or holidays just to get together as a family and break bread.

I enjoy these times as too soon the boys will grow up and be on their merry way; do the same - ENJOY!!! P.S. Next week I will be at the Visual Communications Group conference hoping for an excellent turnout and will not be doing a blog - stay tuned next one will be October 28th!