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What is dinner time like at your house?

Do you wrestle your kids to the table or are they there waiting for the food when it comes out of the oven.

Do you gravitate towards quick meals or do you enjoy cooking extravigant meals for your family?

Do you talk at the table or is everyone to busy eating to talk?

Does your meal-time take forever or are your teenagers up an at em once their stomachs are full?

Usually getting to the table is a challenge at our house. Once we're there, there's lots of conversation and lots of eating (except for Elizabeth, she's being picky lately). Our meals take forever and either my DH or I are up starting to clean the kitchen before the kids are done. I def. make quick meals. Usually 30 minutes or less to make.

Um, lately w/ school it's been DH warming up frozen meals my mom cooked.
Normally if it's non-school time, I cook all homemade meals. Not extravagant but not boxed foods. (My grandmom writes cookbooks and my mom could cook a full, homemade 3-course meal at the age of 8, so I have some shoes to fill, lol. I made a pumpkin cheesecake one year in college and never heard the end of it that I'd used a pre-made graham cracker crust, which I haven't done since. )
Our meals are pretty fast once we eat b/c Jodi is ready for bath and bed and once she's getting sleepy will start messing around at the table -- adding food to the water, etc... which means that time is over and if we didn't finish we'll finish later.

I love to cook, and I pretty much do so every night. Almost everything is made from scratch, but I tend to pick things on the easier side on nights DH isn't home (the life of a Fireman's wife) anyways, all 4 kids are usually standing at the baby gates waiting for dinner as soon as it comes out. And it is very easy to get them all to their respectve places for dinner. No fighting in my house.

What is dinner time like at your house?
I try to get dinner on the table between 5:30 and 6:30

Do you wrestle your kids to the table or are they there waiting for the food when it comes out of the oven.
Mine are usually waiting and whining because they are "starving"

Do you gravitate towards quick meals or do you enjoy cooking extravigant meals for your family?
I don't do fancy, it would be a waste of time. My littlest boy is soooo picky. I like quick and easy meals. I do try a new recipe or two each week to shake things up a bit.

Do you talk at the table or is everyone to busy eating to talk?
We talk. My hubby likes to watch the news-which I hate during dinner. He usually just wants to see the weather but still. The boys like to watch America's Funniest. I'd like a quiet dinner with daily chats.

Does your meal-time take forever or are your teenagers up an at em once their stomachs are full?No teenagers. Mealtime is about 30 minutes or so. Whoever cooks doesn't clean the kitchen or table but they have to go bathe the kids.

What is dinner time like at your house?

I try to get everything out and ready at 6ish.

Do you wrestle your kids to the table or are they there waiting for the food when it comes out of the oven.

Normally I have been hearing for at least an hour that they are "starving"! LOL So no there is no fighting to get to the table they are normally fighting about someone being in their way! LOL

Do you gravitate towards quick meals or do you enjoy cooking extravigant meals for your family?

I do both. I love to cook but some nights I am just not feeling it or we have something going on. Most nights I cook a full-fledged meal though. In fact, if I take too many nights off it is noticed and both boys are asking when mom is gonna cook again!

Do you talk at the table or is everyone to busy eating to talk?

No t.v. and we talk. We talk about their school day and what they did. If nothing comes to mind (seeing as I do have a pre-teen in the house) we prod them by asking things like, "If you could be any animal what would it be and why?" or "If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be and why?" Our main concerns as parents is to just get them talking.

Does your meal-time take forever or are your teenagers up an at em once their stomachs are full?

Me and my oldest eat fast. But DH and youngest son are SLOW eaters. No teens YET...Mealtime takes around 30 minutes I guess. (ok thanks Elizabeth, now I am going to be watching the time! LOL)

What is dinner time like at your house?
*Its usually around 6:00 or shortly there after.

Do you wrestle your kids to the table or are they there waiting for the food when it comes out of the oven.
*Usually Christopher is waiting anxiously for dinner.

Do you gravitate towards quick meals or do you enjoy cooking extravigant meals for your family?
*I go for quick meals during the week, but they're from scratch, with the help of the occasional can of soup or veggies - but no preservatives. And I love my crockpot!!! On the weekends, I'll do the longer to prepare meals, like roasted chicken or pork roast, but that'll give me leftovers to use during the week in casseroles and such.

Do you talk at the table or is everyone to busy eating to talk?
*Most of the time we talk about the day, but sometimes we'll watch something that we recorded that's family oriented.

Does your meal-time take forever or are your teenagers up an at em once their stomachs are full?
*Mealtime is about 20 minutes or so.

What is dinner time like at your house?

During the school year I try to have dinner ready about 630ish on weekends and summertime I try to wait till my hubby is home at 730.

Do you wrestle your kids to the table or are they there waiting for the food when it comes out of the oven.

Shes always in and out of the kitchen "mom im hungry, whens dinner, Im starving" i have the 9yr old DRAMA QUEEN.. red hair and firey attitude to match, lol

Do you gravitate towards quick meals or do you enjoy cooking extravigant meals for your family?

Depends on my day and how I feel, but my mom didnt teach me how to cook, so im learning alot still, hubby teaches me and his mom lives next door so shes helping too.

Do you talk at the table or is everyone to busy eating to talk?

Again depends on moods, we try to talk unless we have oscar the grouch and drama queen, then i want peace and quiet, no crabbiness...lol

Does your meal-time take forever or are your teenagers up an at em once their stomachs are full? No teenagers, but once shes done plate in the sink and when im done i clean up. if hubby isnt home i will make his plate and stick it in the oven

We are a little different at our house. My husband is an officer so we do things backwards, bath routine then dinner so we can eat with him when he comes home late (usually the 8 o'clock hour)and all we have to do is eat dinner and bed time routine.

My 3yoa helps cook dinner and set the table. We cook quick meals for that reason but use fresh ingriedients (you want your officer in good shape, right We use this as family time, so no TV but sometimes we play music in the background if lil miss is cranky. Sometimes, lil one maybe in a "mood" and we use the "when we are finished, you are finished method." Mostly, it is a nice time to end our day.