what we like wednesday: Dinner Parties

It's so easy to hunker down at home and just go through the motions of the ins and outs of our daily lives. I find myself doing this, especially during those dreary winter months. After awhile, you can get lost in this and forget how much fun it is to have friends over for dinner and a bit of social time. Well with Spring here, things are changing...it's time for some fun dinner parties and when the weather gets even nicer, we'll move those parties outside.

The boys just love it when we have friends over...and it really does draw out their personalities. Just watching them with their friends really demonstrates what social beings we are and what a positive impact time with friends has on children. We recently had friends over for a little play time and dinner (I was babysitting) and everyone was so excited. Liam was so chatty and it just made me smile to here him say to everyone, with much excitement "Come on guys, let's go play in my room!" Watching Miles bring out his favorite toys to show and share with everyone was just so telling of his kind and caring nature. And Aidan...well he loves to direct the kids and has lots of ideas as to what they should be doing ( yeah some might call it a little bossy).

Best of all is when we sat down for dinner. They all were so pleased to be having dinner together. It was taco night, a meal that allows them lots of Independence and choices. They all got to fix their own tacos and decide what they wanted on them. It was such an empowering moment for them all to be able to make choices and share and encourage each other to try different foods. Truth be told, my kids aren't the best eaters, they're picky but with their peers, they ate the best I've seen them eat in a long time. So there's something to be said about dinner time with friends.