Family Dinner Night!

Nikki and I have been talking for a while about starting to cook some of our own meals to eat healthier and to give the kids an opportunity to try some different foods.

We typically just eat the food that is cooked downstairs for everyone in the home.  It's a whole lot of rice and curry though and on the days we feel like we can't eat another plate of rice we either eat out, order pizza, or just skip the meal and snack on chocolate and popsicles.  None of which are very good options...

 A few weeks ago we decided to stop talking about it and actually do something.

Thanks to the generosity of our friends and family we now have a kitchen stocked with a microwave, coffee pot, blender, stove, and lots of yummy foods.

We've been making loads of smoothies and I am loving being able to make popcorn for movie nights (or just any nights!).  I can bless the volunteers who come to work with our kids with a cup of coffee which I am so grateful for.  I have been drinking way too much coffee myself though (but saving money on Starbucks makes it okay, right? ;) ).

The biggest thing we've been waiting for though is the gas hookup for our stove so we could start cooking real meals.

Thanks to our awesome staff we got it all set up this week.  Nikki and I took Nolan, Lily, and Kumar (our ayah's son) shopping for groceries with us and last night had our first real family dinner.

It was such a small thing but I can not even put into words how special it was to me.

We decided to make fajitas and all 6 of the school kids (Lily, Molly, Nolan, Theo, Louise, and Selah) helped.

We stopped therapy early to get started and the kids were giddy with excitement.

Gathered around the table, Nikki and I went around and helped them each cut the peppers and onions, open the can of beans, and season and cut the chicken.

All 3 of the little ones insisted that the peppers were apples, Nolan kept asking to shake the seasonings on the chicken, and all 6 were hilarious trying the raw onions and then fake gagging and yelling, "yuck!"  Theo was definitely the MVP of cutting, going at everything with strength and determination (and almost cutting Nikki and my fingers off in the process! :P).

Once everything was prepped we moved to the kitchen to start cooking.

They all brought their chairs in and sat expectantly waiting their turn to come up and stir.  There was no lack of excitement as they all sat there in a row screaming, "yay!!!" and clapping for every little thing.

Selah figured something so exciting and special must mean it was a birthday and started singing, "birthday birthday to you" which just made us laugh even harder.

I hadn't realized how much I've missed cooking and doing it for the first real time in India with my crazy Indian family was all I could have hoped for and more.

The cooking part was definitely enjoyed more by the kids than the eating part but for the most part they all ate it and at least somewhat liked it.  Louise, Theo, and Selah were the only ones able to eat the fajitas whole but they decided taking them apart and eating the tortilla separately like Indian chapati was a much better way.  Molly, Lily, and Charlotte had theirs mixed up in a bowl to make it easier for them to eat and while Mol and Lily loved it, Charlotte was not much of a fan.  Nolan is normally g-tube fed but we let him eat a little of the chicken by mouth and he was thrilled.  The rest of the kids we knew wouldn't even try it so we just hid some chicken, salsa, and tortilla in their rice and curry which they ate without knowing the difference.

The ayahs all tried our fajitas as well and after a little training on the proper way to eat them, did quite well.  It was so fun to see them all getting excited about eating "American food."

All in all I think the night was a success!

The kids definitely need to work on eating different kinds of foods so Nikki and I are planning on making family dinners a weekly thing.  I already can't wait for dinner night next week!

At one point I looked around at all of us gathered in the kitchen, making dinner together, grins on every face and was overwhelmed with love and gratitude.  We are not a group home.  We are not an orphanage.

We are a family.

And there is no group of people I'd rather live life here and have crazy fajita dinners with.

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