May I suggest

I want to suggest an easy way to take care of family dinners.

Oh, did you think this was going to be a post on great ways to feed your family?

Because it's not.  And when I say I suggest, I don't really mean it.  (This has been a little crazy.)

I have found that the easiest way to make mealtimes easy is to not have them.

My little cog in the huge wheel that is the production of a musical at Braeden's school is to be the coordinator for the meals.  The last week plus of practice they go late into the night and the parents feed them.  So I've been feeding over a hundred people every night.  Cast, crew, orchestra musicians, parent volunteers, directors.  It's quite a production (and wouldn't be possible without all the monumental help from other parents...here's looking at you, Janet).

Here's who I have not been feeding:  my own family.

Last Friday we started the meals and I have no idea what my own family ate.

Saturday we had an evening adult stake conference session.  I had an apple before we left and Adam and I (and some friends) went out to Applebee's afterward and I had an ice cream sundae.  I don't know what our children ate.  (I know, I know, at this point, you're wishing I were your mom, right?)

Sunday:  we actually had dinner as a family.

Monday:  I brought home some leftover lasagna from the dinner we fed the masses.

Tuesday:  I took everyone to Shake and Go for hamburgers to repay them for the slave labor of helping me serve.

Wednesday:  I think Emma and Mark had fish sticks.  I also brought home a pizza from Little Caesar's because 1) it is on the way home and 2) Mark had called me a few times to tell me the fish sticks weren't doing it for him and 3) I knew when Braeden got home at 10:30 he'd be famished and cold pizza would make him happy.  It did.

Thursday:  I brought home leftover clam chowder because I made about three times too much.

I don't know what else we'll eat this weekend with all the hullabaloo surrounding the performances.  Sunday I am going out on a limb and making dinner, though.  It will be a big moment.  (Assuming I still remember how to make dinner.)

Two good things about all this:  Emma and Mark are remarkably resilient it turns out.  Good kids.  And, we've had very few dishes to wash.

Bonus.