Dinner at the Duncans'

It's just another typical dinner at our house: Heath, Jacob and Annabelle are sitting around the table. I'm standing at the sink filling the dishwasher and washing a pile of dishes the size of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The menu? Baked fish, baby carrots and mashed potatoes. But.....the fish didn't quite turn out how I'd hoped (new recipe), so...tonight, we're going vegan. Annabelle has already climbed down from her chair and run into the living room at least twice. Heath grabs her, again, and straps her in good this time. Jacob is singing a song he has, no doubt, made up himself: "There arrrrrrrre sooooooo many chiiiiiildren around the world......children aaaaaalllllllll oooooover the wooooooorld..." Heath ignores the singing and tries to talk to me about something going on in the news. I can't hear a word he's saying. The faucet is running, Jacob is singing and Annabelle is now yelling, "Mooooooh cawots, peeeaaaase (More carrots, please)!!!!! About that time, Jacob stops singing and looks down at the untouched plate of food that's been on the table in front of him for at least seven minutes. "Hey, this looks like Christmas tree food!" he says. Heath asks, "What? Christmas tree food?" "Yeah, it looks like it came from the Christmas tree," Jacob replies very matter-of-factly. He was referring to the dill weed on the carrots. (Nothing fancy, believe me. I just used the recipe on the back of the carrot bag.) "Yes, Jacob," I say, laughing. "I guess dill does resemble Christmas tree needles." A few bites later, Jacob picks up Annabelle's fork, trying to feed her like a baby. He makes airplane sounds and zooms a Mickey Mouse fork full of mashed potatoes through the air in front of her. This does not make Annabelle happy. She yells and screams like she is being tortured: "Noooooooooooooo!!!!!!" I tell Jacob, "Put her fork down and feed yourself!" Jacob says, "I will. Mommy, I am a vacuum." "Good," I say. "Then eat." Annabelle decides she doesn't need her fork anyway and begins eating her potatoes with her hands, squeezing a fistful before licking them off her fingers. Heath has a fit. "Annabelle, use your fork", he exclaims. "That's what forks are for!"

As I continue to wash dishes, Jacob and Annabelle get busy eating...finally. Both of them clean their plates and Annabelle has seconds. "Hmmmm," I think to myself. "Perhaps we shoud go vegan more often." Jacob never eats mashed potatoes. Well, never, until tonight. Of course, in the middle of their last bites, both kids start asking for dessert. Heath gives them a few tiny gingerbread cookies and that is good enough for them. My dish mountain is now a small anthill. Then, Jacob runs over and throws his dinner plate, fork and spoon in the sink. "Here, Mommy!" He runs off to play, talking a mile a minute, while Heath takes Annabelle straight to the bathtub.

Yep...just a typical dinner at the Duncans'. Noisy. Crazy. Chaotic. Song-filled. A little temper-tantrum here and there. Laughter. Random conversation. Good recipes gone bad. This is the stuff of life...and I love it.