A Family that Cooks TOGETHER...EATS TOGETHER!

We've been trying to involve the kids more in our everyday lives lately. That means that most things take lots of extra time, but we've enjoyed doing things together and working together. We've been trying to teach the girls simple household chores such as laundry folding, sweeping, dusting, cleaning the ol' commode. The girls love to have their own "jurisdictions"(yeah, I snagged that term from the Duggar family but they got it from someone else too.) to do. Olivia does the more complicated jobs like sweeping up crumbs after meals, while Addison puts water bottles in the fridge and Emma Claire wipes off all the counters. Addison and Isaiah(well, you know Isaiah doesn't really help, but he thinks he does) help Scotty put up dishes. Addison is GREAT at putting back silverware and stacking plastic stuff into my storage areas. Emma Claire LOVES to help in the kitchen with setting the table, so we usually put her on that duty.
It may seem like we're stealing their childhood or keeping them from playing, but without a TV there is only so much time that they even WANT to play with their millions of toys. Eventually they want to do something else, and we thought we'd see if they liked helping out in our home and it turns out that they do. Even if they didn't, they need to learn that a family of our size has to work together to get the job done right. It's been great fun for all of us with the exception of Scotty and I getting a little twitchy when things are QUITE as clean as we'd like them or done to the perfection that they once were. I mean, for crying out loud, when we first got married I insisted that all the towels and wash cloths line up with their hems in the same direction. It's true, ask my poor husband!=)
ANYWAY, all of that to say that one of the things that we've decided to start trying to do more of is cooking together. This takes a LOT of extra time, but it really is fun. I usually get all my ingredients out and do them out cooking show style all measured out in their own little bowls. Then, when I get it all set up I call everyone in and we work together to get it ready for cooking and/or eating. Over Christmas break we made several different yummy snacks and desserts, but cooking real meals that we can sit down and enjoy together is the most rewarding.
Here are some pictures of our recent fun. Some of them are just of our food, but it looks good too!=)