Check one off the "bucket list!"

While blog surfing Wednesday evening I read my friend Jenn's latest post. In it she extended a challenge to hold a candlelight dinner complete with tablecloth and nice dishes for your immediate family (a to do on her "bucket list".) Always up for a challenge and a little fun, I decided to take her up on it.

Earlier in the week I had been informed that Taylor and Makayla were receiving awards at the Student of the Month assembly on Friday.

After accepting the challenge I thought, what would be better then a dinner to honor them for receiving these awards? I asked Joe to help me by taking the kids away from the house on Friday afternoon so I could get everything ready. I made an invitation and sent it with Joe and the kids. He gave it to them while they were away and said that the kids got so excited when he read it to them. They could hardly wait to get home. I hurried and made dinner and set the table. The look on the kids faces when they came in made all of the effort worth it.

The Invitation , The Table , The Food, The place setting

I guess I should learn to set the timer on the camera so we can all be in the picture once in awhile.

A few things I learned from this dinner were...

1. We don't own fancy dishes except our Christmas dishes and I couldn't bring myself to bust those babies out in October. (If you look close our fancy dishes are the fanciest plastic I could find at Walmart. Does that count?)

2. Table cloths aren't cheap and since I only own square or oval, neither would work for a rectangle dining room table, hence a lace looking plastic table cloth.

3. In keeping with the Autumn motif I realized I needed fall colored placemats. Who owns those? Hence, fall colored scrapbook paper.

4. Fancy dinners really do invite better manners. (My kids actually asked to be excused after removing their napkins from their laps.)

5. According to the kids it is a really really special dinner if we drink Sparkling Cider!

6. Even under the dim light of candles my kids won't eat certain things.

7. It's a good thing to have three candles for three kids to blow out.

8. I like to do this type of stuff. No question where Taylor gets it from!!

9. This challenge made for fun memories and may have even started a family tradition for Student of the Month recipients.

10. Finally, the last thing I learned is...no matter how fancy the dinner, Ranch and Ketchup are still a MUST!

Thank you Jenn for the fun time. Now I am extending this challenge to all of my blogging buddies that may not read Jenn's blog. Take time and do a special dinner. It is a lot of fun and your family will have a good time. Let me know if you do it!! I can't wait to see pictures. I am putting together my own "bucket list" so beware of challenges to come. Keep them coming Jenn.