Party of Five

This weekend we have the pleasure of having our nieces for the weekend.  They are 12 and 8 and are lots of fun to have around.  However, 5 kids is a lot!  They are very helpful and the kids are all pretty self sufficient, but man.....I have made a lot of food and done a lot of dishes this weekend!  Yikes.  I can't even imagine having 5 kids all of the time.  Hats off to you moms of 5!

Yesterday we wanted to have some fun with the kids so we took them to the sledding hill by my parents house where I have been sledding since I was a kid.  We got to make the first tracks!  The snow was perfect and the sleds were flying!  Sometimes the snow is too thick or slushy and the sleds are slow, but yesterday they were awesome.  Also, all the kids could go down (and more importantly up) the hill all by themselves.  First time in almost 10 years that I haven't had to carry a kid up the sledding hill.  I could hear the angels singing!  We flew down the hill for over 2 hours (with no crying!!!).  It was a good time indeed.

What good is sledding without a jump!

Our girls

McKenzie's "Shawn White" pose.

This is how pre-teens sled these days

'Sup

They were flying!

Snowball fight

A huge train down the hill.  What a blast!

I made it into a picture!

Make that two pictures!

After our sledding adventure (and a ginormous lunch) the kids wanted to build a snowman.  So into the front yard they went.  This is what they came up with.  They named him Cowboys Underpants.  The underpants were found in the front yard amongst the snow.  Don't judge.  No clue how they got there, but to my credit I am pretty sure that they were clean.

Cowboy Underpants

Later in the day I was trying to find things to keep the kids entertained and I decided to make play-dough.  Thanks Pinterest for the idea and the recipe.  We made it with Kool-aid and it was so vibrant and smelled so good that I wanted to eat it (especially the Tropical Punch, that is my favorite).  All five of the kids LOVED it (even the 12 year old)!  The 8 and 9 year olds both whined when I made them finally put it away.  I think we will be pulling that out again today!

Then last night I had a stroke of genius.  I remembered one of my favorite meals as a kid.  So, with Ashlynn's help we made it happen.

When I was a kid (probably late elementary or early middle school age) my parents went to a Sunday School dinner with their friends.  They came home with the funniest story about the dinner they had.  They were pretty excited about it and thought that we would enjoy it as well.  So the next night, they treated us to the same dinner.  Needless to say, this dinner was repeated at many a birthday party with our friends at the Party Palace (aka Coombs house).

My server

Here is how it works.  You make a menu.  Here was our menu for last night.  It is best if you have 12 things on your menu because it is a three course dinner and it is nice to have 4 things to serve for each course. (if you click on the pictures, they will get bigger so you can read all of the writing).

Take note of the healthy items on the menu.  It is always candy bars.  You can choose whatever candy is your favorite.  We tried to keep the majority of our candy options dairy free so the 4 year old with milk allergies was not totally confused.  Then the kids got to choose 4 "candies" per course.  Here is what Jameson chose.

Then the real fun begins.  It is best if your serving area is separate from the kitchen area.  Not possible in our house, but it makes for more fun if your "customers/guests" cannot see what you are doing!  It is time to start preparing your first course.  You must have all of your dinner and dessert ready to go at the beginning of your "meal".  Now, you need the "cheat sheet".  This has your real menu and your candy menu side by side so that you can decipher the order.

Be sure to include forks, spoons, napkins and drinks as a part of your "menu".  It makes for a more interesting meal.  Make sure that you do not have anything on table as the guest will be given what they "order" for each part of the meal.  So no silverware or napkins on the table.  For ease, we used paper plates and used different ones for each course.

Now, let the fun begin.  The person may get some really silly things for their first course.  For example, McKenzie got applesauce, salad, spaghetti sauce and a drink for her first course.  Too bad she didn't order a spoon or fork!

For Tanner's first course he got noodles, bread, applesauce and salad.  Again, no utensils!  They love it!  It is so fun to watch their faces when the plate is put in front of them.

Course #2 for Makai: bread, a straw, a fork and applesauce.  Pretty sure he used the straw to eat the applesauce.

Course #2 for Tanner: ice cream, sauce, a napkin and a spoon.  He thought it would be funny to put the sauce on the ice cream.  And actually ate it (later admitting that it tasted pretty weird).

Jameson got bread, applesauce a napkin and a spoon for his final course.  He gave the dinner a thumbs up.

It is so fun for them to eat a mixed up meal (and eat ice cream before spaghetti) and it is just as funny for the parents to serve the crazy meal.  So next time you are bored at home (or are hosting some friends), you should try this.  It is a real kick in the pants!

*disclaimer.  After the mixed up meal, they were able to have whatever part of the meal they wanted again (except the ice cream and cone).