Oh, dinner time, why do you have to be so difficult!

I don't know about the rest of you mommies out there, but dinner time is a difficult time around our house. The kiddos instinctively know when I have to focus on something like making dinner, so utter chaos is normally breaking out somewhere else in the house while I'm working away in the kitchen.

In addition to prayer on the matter, I thought I would introduce some new tactics. So, last week, I printed out some dinner appropriate color sheets and had the kiddos sit down and color while I finished up dinner. I thought it would be fun to have the color page coincide with that night's meal (although it didn't make them any more excited to eat there veggies!).

I'm happy to say it worked! Something about just having one sheet to color instead of a whole coloring book helped them focus a bit more. They also got a kick out of mommy playing "teacher." Asking them, "What color is the carrot?","What letter does carrot start with?", etc. And it bought me just enough time to finish up the meal and get it to the table.

Here are the results....

And here's dinner...

I am so loving roasted veggies these days. For these carrot "fries," simply slice carrots into small sticks (I used approx. 7-8 regular size carrots, peeled) and coat with approximately 2 T. of olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Roast in the oven on 425 degrees for approximately 20-25 minutes. Our other favorite veggies to roast are cauliflower and potatoes.

You can find the carrot coloring page here. Happy coloring (and cooking)!