Around the Dinner Table

We have been trying for several months, now, to make our midday meal the main meal of the day. When we are milking at 5 each evening it is hard to get dinner prepared and eaten in a timely fashion when our goal is a bedtime no later than 8 for pretty much everyone. When you throw in getting baby goats fed, or the dreaded little-league season (which is now upon us) it is pretty much guaranteed that we will not be able to eat together as a family unless it is in the middle of the day.

Besides the meal itself, this break provides us with the opportunity to touch base, catch up with what each one is doing and address issues. These are from today, spoken by mom--"how are you doing with that fence that you are putting up?"

"how is algebra coming today?"

"still planning to build that trebuchet?" (we are studying Medieval warfare, feudal system, etc)

"who do you think will kid next?"

"that kid that was sold today looked tuckered out, how long had it been out playing before Miss_____ arrived?"

from Sara "mom can I use your phone to take pictures of the things that we want to put on Etsy?"

from Timothy "that book I am reading on Gettysburg is cool! There is a picture of a General with blood coming out of his head...I think he might have lived...maybe"

from Katarina "I think we will have a high Feta yield this week"

from Linnea "the next time I burn the food it would be nice if someone told me BEFORE I burned it!"

also from Sara "MOM! Seth is duct taping me to my chair!"

I am not sure if I should envy Tim that he got to enjoy quiet by having to run errands instead of eat with us or feel sorry for him for having missed the chatter. Especially the duct tape escapade.