Surprise Dinner Party!

In our household, a weekly meal plan is A MUST!  We cannot survive without it.  We've tried.  And failed.  It's not good.  We.must.have.a.meal.plan.  It is the epicenter of our life.  Every day and night, we know what we are going to be eating, and it puts everyone at peace.  Who knew that NOT having a meal plan could take down our routine?

So I took a break from the weekly meal plan because, well, I've been busy!  My husband works every weekend, and I'm off every weekend.  So me and the boys are on our own.  Well, trying to menu plan and create grocery lists are difficult when you have a busy 4 year old and a 5 month old baby that wants to be held 24/7 (not that anything is wrong with that!).  So I decided to get BACK on the bandwagon and make our lives run a little smoother by having our weekly meal plan back in place.  We were excited about one meal in particular...our home made Philly Cheese Steaks!  I tried them once, and now they are a staple!  So one day I was driving to work and chatting with my Mom, and she mentioned that she was coming into town that evening.  As we discussed dinner plans, I mentioned that we were excited about our Philly Cheese Steaks that was on the dinner plan for that evening.  Since I was so excited about it, she invited herself to come for dinner!  The more the merrier!  I was so excited about our impromptu dinner!  Of course we had plenty!  So now dinner was going to be for me, my husband, my sister, Mom, and two 4 year olds.  We got this!  Well, closer to the end of the day, I get a text from my Mom that now my Dad is coming for dinner!  How fun!  Impromptu dinner party!

Immediately, I start thinking about the cleanliness of my house, and what state of destruction it was in (considering the aforementioned 4 year old and 5 month old).  Luckily, my husband was around and could help me go through it like a tornado and pick everything up.  (Not sure why I spent time doing that, since the boys got everything out after dinner)  I left work a few minutes early, ran home, and immediately started blitzing the chores.  My husband took the upstairs, I took the downstairs.  He tackled the vacuuming, and I tackled the few toys left around the house.  All was done in 30 minutes.

Before we knew it, people started filing into the house.  First my Dad, then my Mom and sister, and then my kiddos.  The house was electric with laughter and talking.  I was prepping dinner...our fabulous Philly Cheese Steaks, sweet potato fries baked in the oven, a quick salad, and cheese quesadillas for the young boys...and everyone else kept the kids entertained.  When the food was ready, we all went outside and ate on the back deck.  Everyone dove into their sandwich and sides, and we were enjoying the beautiful weather while music played softly in the background.  It was so perfect!  The adults sat and chatted around the citronella candle, and the 4 year olds ran circles around the table.  Yes, they were literally running in circles around our table.  What was going to be a run-of-the-mill Monday night, ended up being an impromptu dinner party with 1/2 my family!  How fabulous is that?  My smile was extra big that night when I fell asleep.  Gosh, I sure do love this life with these fabulous people that I get to share it with.

Thanks for sharing my memory with me!
Jess