Keenan and Daddy having lunch together.
“A family who eats together, stays together.”
My mom and grandma used to say this when I was younger. Sitting down at the table to have meals together has always been an everyday tradition in my family. It was a time for all of us to come together and share about our days, worries, frustrations, ideas, goals and plans. Even when we were all busy, we still made sitting down for dinner a priority. Even now that we are all grown and have our own families, we still make sitting down for meals a priority when we are all together. It is something we all value. In fact, dinners in our family tend to last a while, because we like to solve the world’s problems! But, sitting down at a table and taking a while to eat can actually be good for your health, too! By eating slowly, you are less likely to overeat because you are more mindful of when you are full. By sitting in front of the TV to eat, you are more in tune to what you are watching than what you are putting in your mouth, thus you are more likely to overeat (also the commercials for juicy hamburgers or mouth-watering pizza might tempt you to indulge in more unhealthy foods…, i.e. late night fast food runs). Where do you and your family eat your meals? Do you find it important to eat together as a family?
My husband grew up with the same tradition, so when we got married seven years ago (I still can’t believe it has been that long!), we made sitting down at the table for dinner together a priority. When we had Keenan, we knew we wanted to instill this value on him, thus we eat dinner together as a family almost every night. We ask Keenan what he did during the day and what he liked best about it, which helps encourage conversation with him, so he learns that dinner is a time for sharing (and also enjoying your food!). He enjoys talking with us and eating like my husband and me (using his utensils, a skill we are still perfecting!). My husband and I also try to have one “at-home date night,” either Friday or Saturday each week, where we open a bottle of wine, cook a special meal and eat dinner together after Keenan goes to bed. It is nice after a busy week to look forward to our little date night, where we can slowly make dinner and talk uninterrupted. What do you do for date nights? How often do you have date nights?
Today, Keenan and I shared our “usual” breakfast with fresh strawberries, and I enjoyed a latte with a little sugar-free Brown Sugar and Vanilla Torani Syrup. It was SO good! After not sleeping very well last night (I don’t know why…maybe in anticipation of our upcoming vacation), I definitely needed it! I only had a small cup, so I saved the rest for an iced coffee after lunch, which was also very yummy! For my iced coffee, I pour the coffee (espresso, since I use my stove-top percolator) over ice into my glass, add a couple tablespoons of non-fat milk and a splash of sugar-free syrup, and mix! It is the perfect balance of bitter and sweet! It’s also great to enjoy an ice-cold coffee on a hot Summer day, like today (I think it’s still 90 degrees outside, yikes!).
After Keenan woke up from his nap (he finally fell asleep after his little peeing escapade: taking off his diaper and his sleep sack, thus peeing on his mattress while yelling at the top of his lungs for me!), we headed to CrossFit to work our tails off again. Dinner was leftovers and now it is time for some relaxing and catching-up on “So You Think You Can Dance!”
