Reluctant Entertainer

As summer is winding down, it really does make sense to consider why we started calling these days the “Lazy Days of Summer.”

I find that my kids are getting bored. That they’re actually ready to start back to school. To be honest, I don’t want summer to end. I love the long, hot days. Late family dinners and not having a tight schedule. It’s actually sad to me when summer ends.

But, on a more domestic note, I am finding jobs for my kids. Outside chores are essential (water the plants, clean the pool, mow the lawns, weed the beds). But inside jobs, other than Kitchen Duty, bathrooms and picking up their rooms, I have to think up ideas for them.

One job for my daughter is to iron my cloth dinner napkins! Easy and quick.

The other thing is for them to help me out by making jam. The recipe that I posted here is a cinch! Even kids can make it!

I ask my kids to pick the berries, wash and stem them, and then follow through with the recipe.

To make it easier, I’ve taped this Kraft Foods recipe inside my kitchen cupboard door. Easy access!

One job that I really dislike, and I agreed to pay $5 for, was to clean the fridge in the garage. Sparkling clean! I remember in past years paying a teen friend of ours to help with chores (like the fridge). Now my kids have grown into my helpers!

Are your kids getting bored with summer and ready for school? What jobs are on your list?

(Yes, we still have a bumper crop of strawberries, which came on very late this year! My hands are dirty and wet as I type … just picking a beautiful bowl of berries.)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, friends! Tomorrow I will be sharing what this button is all about, so make sure and come back!

During our kitchen remodel last summer, I actually got sentimental as Paul and the boys took the “old green wall” down between the kitchen and the dining room.

(1/2 of it’s down!)

We talked about it as a family – what were the conversations this wall had heard?

Do you know how many dinner parties we’ve had next to this wall?

(Carrying out the wall!)

Good conversation is essential to a successful dinner party. Some may say the food is the most important to “wow” your guests, or some may say the atmosphere or ambience is the key, but I say that actually bad conversation can ruin the time spent together!

(Before)

We surround ourselves with good company. And hopefully we inspire and spur each other on to a better life.

(After)

If your walls could talk, what would they say about past dinners held around your table?

And are you having a special St. Patrick’s Day dinner tonight with your family?

(Don’t forget the generous Bush’s Beans GIVEAWAY going on right now. Enter to win as I’ll be announcing the winner on Friday! And next week I’ll be giving away 5 copies of my husband’s new book, 5 Secrets Great Dads Know – yes, 5 copies! And read about last year’s St. Paddy’s Connection, here.