Our Breakfast Club

I can't believe the last time I posted was July!

I'm sure everyone is wanting to hear about the dishwasher. The simple truth is, I caved. As soon as the kids went back to school, it started receiving regular use again. Well, not EVERY DAY regular, but when the dishes are washed, it gets used. I am SO thankful that I live in America, in 2009, and that some dear soul invented paper plates.

Anyway! Sweetie and I have always worked to help our children be self sufficient. When I began working outside of the home, that meant cereal for breakfast most of the time. The kids were SUPPOSED to measure their cereal and milk, but that rarely happened. Eventually, they began asking how to make eggs, and we would allow them to make their own hot breakfast. I am proud of the fact that my boys are not afraid of the kitchen, and are able to take care of themselves. It wasn't a perfect system, but it worked for awhile.

When the school year started in late August, the independent breakfast went the way of the dinosaur. The Unified Command (for those of you not familiar with Star Trek, that's Sweetie and I) decided that if we were to continue to sit down as a family for meals, it was going to have to be in the morning.

I'm naturally a "morning person", but I don't enjoy making breakfast. I'm happy with a bowl of cereal or a breakfast bar, or often, just skipping. I need to get on with the day! Sweetie is not a morning person, AT ALL. But we agreed that if hot breakfast as a family was going to happen, we would do it together, so he gets up with me. We try to eat around 6:30, and the kids have to be dressed for school before coming to the table (except for Dave and Tim on uniform day). It's been about six weeks now, and I have to say, I'm pleased with the results.

My favorite breakfast is granola and yogurt, but most of the time we have eggs of some sort. Mimi loves "scrambled eggs sausage", a favorite from my childhood. Geoff loves sausage gravy/biscuits (I buy frozen biscuits, how did anyone live before them???). We'll have breakfast burritos about once a week. Sweetie and I have also learned how to poach eggs in the oven. It's much easier than doing them in a skillet for a large crowd. We made breakfast pizza once, but the menu is beginning to get stagnant. Toaster waffles didn't work very well. I want little work and high variety, any ideas/recipes would be appreciated. ;~)

Mornings are still crazy, but now, most of the crazy happens before the kids get up. I work to get Sweetie up, and then Sweetie and I work to get breakfast on the table. The kids are better motivated by hot food than mom yelling at them to wake up (Staggering, I know). We spend 20 minutes or so together as a family, before facing the rest of the world. We have a chance to review schedules and after school plans. I've noticed that my stress level is much reduced. The dishes get cleared from the table most of the time, but getting them clean has to wait. I used to always be 15-20 minutes early to work, now I tend to be about 5 minutes late. It's work, but it's worth it.

It's Just Tragic.

Great Tragedy has befallen the King home. Death has touched us. With wailing and gnashing of teeth, we acknowledge that the dishwasher is no more. Well, technically, it's still in the kitchen ( I need the extra counter space), but it no longer functions as it was designed. Dead. I guess it goes with out saying that a woman with 4 kids does not enjoy doing dishes. In fact, after a simple meal of sandwiches, I often feel like my kitchen resembles the photo above! The kids don't yet know how bad it really is.

You see, my sweetie and I have decided NOT to buy a dishwasher. For a time. When we first bought our home, we bought a portable dishwasher, with the intention that it would last until we were able to remodel the kitchen and install a REAL dishwasher, you know, the type that fits under the counter top and is plumbed. Like any mom worth her salt, I'm forever wagging my finger at my kids telling them how easy they've got it. How when I was a girl, I had to do dishes every night, by hand. And I did. I remember my sisters and I standing on chairs, lined up at the sink, one washing, one rinsing, and one drying. We would inspect each dish, looking for a reason to reject it and send it back to the washer. Retribution came when it was our turn to wash.

Well, I'm not anywhere near a kitchen remodel, unless I win one of those $5000 gift cards to Home Depot I'm forever completing online surveys for. So we wash. By hand. After every meal. Mind you, we are just getting started on this "adventure", so the complaining has to this point has really been nonexistent. For that, I'm thankful, but I'm sure that will change. So, why on earth would a busy mom fore go the assistance of an electric dishwasher? In our time, it is considered to be a necessity. My answer: relationships. Our oldest will be 16 in a month (wow, just realized that). In a few short years, the concentrated opportunity we have to speak into the lives of our children will dwindle. We have limited time to share what we've learned, how we've failed, to convey family history, to encourage. To learn of them and from them.

If we had an operational dishwasher, the default activity after dinner would be for everyone to rinse and load their own dinner dishes into the dishwasher. Mom would then (maybe) hand wash the big stuff and wipe the counter tops down. Alone. Standing at the sink, for twenty or thirty minutes at a time with one or more of the kids is a chance I couldn't let pass. I look forward to hearing their dreams. Fears. What they are learning. We live such a fast paced life, this will force us to slow down, together. I'm actually looking forward to it.

Sweetie and I don't want the kids to know our intentions. In fact, he's often said that if our four could agree on anything, they would take over the world. I'm sure, that if they found out that we were INTENTIONALLY not purchasing a dishwasher, a coup would result. You know something like selling their treasures, pooling their resources, and buying mom a KitchenAid dishwasher. A KitchenAid KUDS02FRSS - S Series 24" Dishwasher. Stainless Steel, inside and out.

I'll keep you posted.