Dinner at our house, for the curious

Dinner at our house runs the spectrum from boring mundane to ridiculous comedy.  Of course, some of that comedy is only funny because at the end of the day hysteria tends to run a little wild.  In the interest of historical documentation (and entertainment), I present to you three separate accounts of "Dinner, at our house."

Monday
To properly appreciate the irony of the night, you must understand that on Sunday I, unusually, planned four weeks worth of meals.  This would take much of the drama out of the dinner hour, I hoped, making our family night run more smoothly.  The plan for Monday was a chicken casserole (half of which had broccoli).  I carefully put it all together after lunch.  I put it in the oven early.  Dinner time comes and the chicken is not cooked.  We all sit down and start on the salad, the fruit, and the sweet potatoes...I check the casserole every fifteen minutes or so.  After twenty minutes or more, the kids are tired of salad and fruit.  As the casserole is still not done, we read scriptures around the table.  Then we start family night, we finish the song, prayer, and lesson before the chicken finally passes my scrutiny.  By now the kids are rather rambunctious.  Enough so that suddenly, with no warning, Young M hollers, "Squawk like a chicken."  Young A adds loudly, "Quack like a duck."  Miss E chimes in, "Moo like a cow."  With in three minutes, they've collaborated with few words to write the chant/song:  (note.  Each line is chanted/sung by a different child)
"Squawk like a chicken.
Meow like a cat.
Quack like a duck.
Just like that."
A variety of alternative lines, many quite silly, have also been put forth.  And I have laughed like crazy.  Thankfully, we can finish dinner.  (Followed by our "activity", eating rice krispy treats, and our "treat", playing some rousing rounds of Pit.  The children loudly request (and are denied) the pleasure of playing with the gas cards so they can "have gas" and "pass gas" during the game.)

Tuesday
Tuesday's dinner was supposed to be the easiest of the week: Good Sport Night (also known as leftovers.)  I didn't prepare much because it was all waiting in the fridge.  The Professor was running a little late and had told me to start without him if needs be.  The kids were happily playing, and I was reading a book.  Consequently, I didn't realize quite how late it had gotten. The Professor was later than either of us expected.  When he got home, we threw dinner on the table.  I just had time to eat before heading out the door to a church activity.  Oops.

Wednesday
Young A turns 9 next month.  The Professor really wants to help him earn his Wolf (maybe?) badge in cub scouts before then.  We realized a week or so ago that one of his requirements is to help plan and make an outdoor meal.  Oops.  This is January in Utah.  The last week or so has been crazy cold (for Utah).  Today was supposed to be warmer (maybe get up to freezing), so we decided to take care of it today.  Young A wanted to make pizza to eat on our back deck.  While he helped with that, Miss M (with help from Young M and Young T) grated carrots for a carrot salad.  We had lots of carrots in the bowl, and on the table, and on the chair, and on the floor.  We also had an apple pie with dinner.  (It didn't fit in the freezer after the Costco trip today.)  At dinner, the Professor, Young A, Young T, and Miss E all ate a few bites of dinner outside.  Whew!  Another requirement complete.

During dinner, the following conversations and snippets were heard:

"Well, sniffle my britches."
Young M:  "Sniffle my under-britches."

"What do you call your teacher at Math Circle?"
Young A:  "Sometimes we say,'...Uhhhmmm....'"

Young E reporting on Math Circle:
"The teacher said, 'Choose a number between 0 and 10.  Now multiply it by 9.'
Young A said, 'What if we can't?'  and the teacher said, 'Choose a whole number between 0 and 10.'  I think Young A chose pi."  Young A admitted that she was right.


At least the chaos has been entertaining lately!