I'll Be the First to Admit...

OK...I'll be the first to admit that I am a dinosaur! And, most of the time I am proud to admit that! As I am today. So, let's go back a bit...a long bit. Ever since our first daughter started school, it has been a tradition to do something special after the first day-usually dinner out to talk about things and then a trip to a local store to buy any necessity we might have missed-or that might have changed since the last time we were at said store...like whose picture was on the front of the Trapper Keeper.  Lol

Those days continued throughout my girls' school lives. And then came the grands. In most cases we weren't there for their first days because they lived out of town but, as soon as we could, we would gather and do the same thing with Nana and Papa taking them on shopping sprees to buy anything still needed or perhaps just "wanted"...we were the grandparents after all. It is our job to spoil them.

Ans then, thirteen years ago daughter #3 and her family moved to town-literally about 7 minutes away. And, once again we were privy to first days-although sometimes we did postpone them to Friday nights when bedtime and homework didn't come into play. Many years the kids would spend their last few days before school started here at our house and we would do all of the preparation. Of course, as they got older and had so many more extra circulars, it came down to Nana doing all of the prep and just inviting the family over for dinner.

And now, we are at one more cross road. Our oldest grandson is now at the US Coast Guard Academy so he will not be here to share in our tradition but, fingers crossed the rest of the family will.

My brother and sister-in-law will be here overnight so I thought it might be fun to get the party together. Since daughter #3 and family just got back from NYC and a very exciting but tiring 5 days, I haven't quite asked if we will be able to pull this off this year but I am hopeful! And so,  my dinosaur and "hoarder" sides come into play.

And, so does this blog and one of the many reasons that I continue to do it. It is my family journal-especially since I don't really remember what I did yesterday. It just took a few clicks of the keys and I found documentation of lots of our previous dinners. I was kind of wondering what I served and I definitely always leaned towards "easy" to serve with not a lot of kitchen time once the fam was here.

Here are just a few of our past dinners.

Now that the kids are older, I think I have narrowed it down to chicken tetrazinni or chicken dumpling casserole...I'll ask them. Then we'll add a panzanella salad, broccoli, some kind of bread and Paula Deen brownies and ice-cream. Most of the "heavy lifting" for those dishes can be done in advance.

And, of coarse, I was thrilled to see the decorations we used. They changed a bit each year but usually consisted of a red, yellow and black color scheme and used school themed decor. And, wouldn't you know, I knew right where I could put my hands on some.

Yep! Exactly where I left it. Lol Now all I'll need to add are the fresh flowers, some apples and some gummy "book worms"..and of course, the family and the food! Finger crossed we can pull this off. Stay safe and stay tuned.

And this just in. The Eagle has set sail and my grandson was on 4a.m.-8a.m. watch so he got to see the sunrise on this glorious sight! I can't wait to see him and hear all about his incredible adventures! That is some impressive ship-praying for smooth sailing!

It's hard to believe that somewhere on that huge ship stands my little "Thomas the Train" loving grandson! Sigh Time just goes much too fast.