day 13: fancy dinner night

We hereby declare Monday nights as "fancy dinner nights".

I'm all about starting new traditions. Here we go....

This is our third "fancy dinner night" in a row. It all started when I last visited ASC in NC and my mom let the girls use my real tea cups and china plates for dinner, they lit candles, used placemats, and had a fancy dinner. The girls begged me to do that again when I got home.....and it stuck. I figured what use was my nice inherited china if it sat in the china cabinet all the time? Might as well use it - weekly. If it gets a few chips, then it will have a story of its own to tell.

Our "fancy dinner nights" don't require a whole lot more from me than a normal dinner night. I do pull out china plates and either china cups or these fancier glasses. (The past two weeks, I've made smoothies to go along with our supper, hence the need for something larger than a tea cup.) Sometimes placemats. Sometimes candles. But as you can see, attendees are welcome to show up clad in their pajamas.

And no, as you can see, I'm not beyond drinking Mt. Dew from a tea cup. Whatever means necessary to get that caffeine!

Why start something new, you ask? Being without Dad at home means we have to adjust to a new normal....even though we've been in this new normal for almost 5 months now. It gives the kids a routine, something to expect. And what you cannot see beyond these pictures are the other routines the girls have picked up on these nights. Reagan perches herself atop the green plastic foot stool to "announce" us, which means she welcomes us to the Conger Cafe :) before telling us what the menu is for the evening. It is there that she leads us in our prayer before we eat (which happens every evening, just not with her perched atop a footstool), which always includes a prayer for her Daddy.

Tonight's prayer:"God, thank you for today and letting us stay at home and not go to school. It is soooooo good to hear from Daddy and know he is safe. Please keep keeping him safe. Amen."